Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce is certainly one of the more ambitious films to crawl out of Cannon Films' 80s catalogue. Most films try to stick to one genre. But Lifeforce begins as an alien invasion film, becomes supernatural horror, and somehow ends up as a zombie flick. It's a mess, but a fun mess. The plot doesn't much sense, and neither does the lore. But there's just so much effort put on screen: effort in the effects, effort in the atmosphere, effort in the scope they were trying to achieve. Many of the film's images have lodged themselves into my brain: the astronauts flying through a greenish haze in outer space towards the derelict spacecraft, the discovery of the suspended vampire bodies, the first time one of the drained corpses comes back to life in the operating room, the blue phantasms of the eponymous "lifeforce" swirling over London.
7/10
Congratulations Nate, you've now seen the greatest movie ever made. You can stop watching films now, it doesn't get any better than this. ;)
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I love Lifeforce. It's a fun B movie on a big budget and like an 80s Hammer movie. I'm a proud owner of the director's cut on blu ray which is chocked for of special features! And how did you not mention Mathilda May?! ;) Smart casting to get a ballerina for the role.
She was a ballerina?!
DeleteYeah they talk about it in the Blu ray bonus features. Her movements are so graceful and calculated they stand out and fit a space vampire... I mean alien ;)
ReplyDeleteI guess. Course, I'm a bit ashamed to say I wasn't quite paying attention to her MOVEMENTS...
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