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The film ‘Lifeforce’ which was released in the summer of 1985 was met with a lot of negativity towards it as well as indifference towards its marketing. The film itself is a sci-fi horror hybrid. Due to these few factors, the movie had no commercial success and has been in a state of being forgotten for the past 28 years. The only reason this film managed to hit the spotlight was because of its huge financial loss. That loss forever destroyed the future of the company that produced the film as well as the director. As of today, the movie is perhaps best known for the taste of a specific group of people, Mr. Skin, which has helped the movie garner more attention than it deserves.
Now, just as unpredictable as anything that can be seen in the film ‘Lifeforce’, it seems as though the movie is about to experience a revival. This movie was never famous in the first place which begs the question, ‘Why does it need to be revived? The film will be released on Blu-ray in April this year, and for some weird reason, Chicago’s Music Box Theatre decided to place it in its festival alongside ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘The Master’, which is straight up audacious. I do respect the theater considering some exploitation films classics, but it’s honestly unheard of to claim putting ‘Kubrick and Tati’ alongside Lifeforce as anything less than madness. But this is what I’ve been waiting for, for so long. To see an underrated classic finally get the cred it deserves after being in the dark for so long.
In the West End of London, speculative fiction was scribbled from the mind of the famed British screenwriter, Dan O’Bannon, for the film, “Lifeforce” From the beginning of the movie, “Lifeforce” is set in the distant future in the year 2020 where a manned space shuttle called the Churchill operated by both countries’ crews, the United States and Britain, goes to investigate the Halley’s comet. While probing it, they notice a 150-mile-long spacecraft situated in the tail of the comet. Upon exploration of the deserted vessel, the crew finds pupils suspending inside curious crystal chambers. They bring the vessel back with them without much thought because what could possibly go wrong.
Even with the strict security measures in place because “no one is going to get out of this complex”, she manages to vanish into thin air. As the dried corpses begin to pile up, the police cannot figure out her identity or even her intentions. The Churchill’s missing escape pod landing in Texas provides some answers, however, containing its sole survivor: Col. Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback). He desperately explains that the alien is a cross between a vampire and an energy parasite, who not only drinks blood, but also feasts upon the energy from a center located directly beneath his victims’ hearts. And, for his victims to survive, they have to consume energy themselves.
Carlsen understands everything because of a special relationship he has with the female alien which gives him the ability to see and feel her actions. Unfortunately, he does not seem to be able to comprehend that he is being sent on a wild goose chase to a rather isolated asylum where it seems like she is masquerading as a doctor (Patrick Stewart). By the time he gets to know the plan and learns about her real intention, the City of London has transformed into a state of wreckage with hordes of creatures moving through the streets in search of new victims, beaming the energy they harvest from their victims to their ship through the altar at St. Paul’s Cathedral. (Not surprisingly, St. Paul’s Cathedral, unlike some other landmarks has chosen to stop listing this film on its resume).
Considering Lifeforce’s description, “Lifeforce” seems to be an ordinary genre film but a simple exploration of the movie can barely express the pure insanity that overflows in almost every scene. This is, quite frankly, one of the flattest ridiculously produced movies ever, especially scoopand scale. Picture the raging nightmare of an adolescent boy who is obsessed with sci-fi and with a heart pounding for the opposite sex, and you might start to get an understanding on what is in store. Although, most of you probably would not fathom the awkwardly energizing Henry Mancini background score.
Things start off as expected and proceed to get really exciting when aliens are brought to Earth and accidentally released. The contrast between the panicked passivity of the British officials and the shocking actions of the naked aliens is astonishing. The events of the plot can only be described as a mix of a Penthouse magazine and a E.C. comic book, yet none of the officials seem to be agitated. Even one doctor bewitched by a female creature remains calm when the “v” word comes up. He conveys the deathless sentiment, “In a sense, we are all vampires. The difference is in the degree.” (Fun fact: this role was not originally meant to be played by Frank Finlay, but rather Klaus Kinski, an actor whose madness was made for a film like this).
So far, it sounds ridiculous, but when the supposed American hero of “Lifeforce” comes crashing into the Earth and the story, that’s when it gets bonkers.
Not only is Britain culturally polite, but they also exhibit much restraint. In this manner, Carlsen looks like someone who indeed requires restraints. He begins by snarling, shrieking, and howling which is quite similar Jack Nicholson left off in “The Shining”. From there, he goes in many ways that feel excessive for someone portraying a lunatic. This man is excessive in every sense of the word. In Peking, his form of weirdness is just as infectious as the strange creatures that he was pursuing. Inside of no time, even the reserved Brits are chewing the scenery as well. Patrick Stewart happens to be the most or the worst of the bunch depending on which point of view one stands on.
Finding who is to be praised or blamed for this unique approach, which could have been seen as an uninspired mix of features taken from genre classics like “Planet of the Vampires” or “Alien” is quite hard. Having been unsuccessful in my attempt to make it through the 1976 Colin Wilson novel “The Space Vampires”, I can’t say how much of the film’s story or style sticks to the original source material, but I have a very strong hunch that there is not much in the way of correlations between them. Other writers Dan O’Bannon and Don Jakoby had a strange humor and love for outrage in their other works, especially O’Bannon (who wrote the original “Alien,” as well as the parodies “Dark Star” and “Return of the Living Dead”). It is said that some of their work was altered against their will, and they were wholly dissatisfied with the outcome, particularly the parts pertaining to Haley’s comet.
Issue here and there one has to submit to reason the bizarro tone that defines “Lifeforce” will almost certainly have to go to Tobe Hooper. He is the man who landed into the horror gall of fame with his infamous 1974 debut film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In the wake of that films success Hooper had some what of an uneven career until Steven Spielberg decided to collaborate with him for the ghost story Poltergeist. Even now there are questions regarding whether or not Spielberg took control of that films directing, however, Hoopers other films were not as conventional. But the end golusive was that Hooper finally got instantaneously established as a commercially viable filmmaker.
He ended up with a three-movie deal with the young and unrefined Cannon Group who was attempting to capture the world market with a strange mix of art films like those of Zeffirelli and low-budget blockbuster action films starring Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris, starting with “Lifeforce” With a large budget and a producer who wasn’t creatively stifling, Hooper was able to supply what he used to call controlled lunacy. Faced with a bonkers premise, Hooper seemed to reason that the only way to resolve the absurdity was to meet it with absurdity, and the outcome is the sort of film that makes you wonder how much weirder it can get, only for it constantly living up to that thought.
For instance, when other movies of this ilk would have likely included an unclothed lady character, who would be awarded an gown or use an “Austin Powers” type of technique to prevent eyeing any private parts, Hooper made sure that Mathilda May was naked for most of the movie. It looks like the poor individual who had to prepare a suitable copy of the movie for commercial television had to put in a lot of overtime. Then there are the scenes that are so unconventional that it is ridiculous: mine comes when Carlsen tries to psychically extract something from a woman and learns that she is “an extreme masochist” who wants him to slap some sense out of her before anything is given. (That part is immediately topped when his British colleague dryly states, “After all, I am a natural voyeur,” while pulling up a chair and warning that he should leave the room before the slapping starts.) The psychological condition of “Lifeforce” is evident from the fact that the closest thing it has to a hero is a man who is best known for playing Charles Manson in “Helter Skelter.”
With respect to all the absurdity, there are a numerous additional factors that make “Lifeforce” enjoyable.
Even if looking at some horror films of the 1980s, it can be tempting to interpret them, especially those which deal with vampires, as symbols of AIDS. This form of reasoning is quite extreme, particularly when concerning a movie that was released at the period when AIDS was starting to enter public consciousness. From a technical point of view, the movie is always, at least, impressive with the inspired special effects of the legendary John Dykstra some, though, may appear a bit cartoonish today. Strangely, they do assist in contributing to the more hallucinatory parts of the proceedings. If nothing else, even the detractors of “Lifeforce” will have to credit it for having a wonderfully wasteful last thirty minutes as London is glowing in chaos before the incredibly frenetic climax, which renders the last scenes of “The Black Hole” tame in comparison.
Unfortunately, very few movie fans were fascinated by Lifeforce (the name chosen by Cannon at the last moment, as they feared ‘The Space Vampires’ was a bit too silly), while critics generally impugned it, audiences did not pay attention to it to again enjoy ‘Rambo’ and so it was pulled out of cinemas within a few weeks. Much worse than just failing financially, it turned out to be a vocational death sentence for almost everyone who worked on it. All of the stars from this project have never really bounced back from this mathilda may, who was meant to be the primary showcase star is said to currently scrub it from her film repertoire, and Hooper, after failing to redeem himself with two other Cannon films a horrific Invaders from Mars reimagining and his classic Texas Leatherface Massacre 2, which is both an amazing over the top slasher and one of the bitterest pieces of political comedy of cinema’s golden age, retreative to obscurity, hiding in the realms of low budgets, where he still is. As for Cannon, the company’s suspension was inevitable after a handful dozen fantom financial lifeforce headquarter blows they managed to receive within one decade.
“Lifeforce”, in my opinion, is much better now than most genre films both during its time and even now. As a film that may be tasteless, chaotic, and lurid, it certainly is better to watch than Peter Jackson’s incessant take on The Hobbit. I would readily prefer the glorious excesses of The lifeforce to the turgid ones offered by the other films. Now, since enough time has passed, I believe that the film would attract the audience it initially struggled to reach. Though whether this is deemed as a good or bad thing would certainly differ from person to person, one thing is for sure; viewers, regardless of whether they watch it in its 70mm glory on the screen or at home on Blu-Ray, will find it to be an unforgettable experience.
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