Editorial Reviews

Everything but the kitchen sink. It’s a phrase tossed around lightly. But it’s no exaggeration to say that LIFEFORCE tosses everything in but the kitchen in an attempt to entertain you. Actually, scratch that, it tosses everything including the kitchen sink. By the time the movie is complete, you may have to watch it again just to verify that you actually saw what you just saw. The movie is a mess of enormous proportions which I absolutely loved. Any movie that tries this hard to entertain you deserves credit – and it’s not just A for effort, the movie actually succeeds at its mission.

The plot (and I'm serious that this is the plot) begins with a space shuttle going to examine the tail of Hailey's Comet. In it they are startled to find a huge spacecraft in which there appear to be frozen some naked human bodies, including that of a beautiful naked woman played by French actress (and failed singer) Mathilda May. The astronauts take these bodies back to their shuttle. For some reason, which you find out later, everyone on the shuttle ends up dead, except for one American (Steve Railsback) who escapes in a pod.

Another shuttle arrives on a rescue mission and discovers the frozen bodies and takes them back to earth. BIG mistake. They turn out to be these weird vampires who walk around naked and suck the life out of people, who are left with no force. Wait a minute! Life...force...life...force...LIFEFORCE!!! Sometimes I impress even myself. Anyways, soon the people who have no lifeforce need it back and they in turn become vampires. Can you see a pattern emerging?

Meanwhile, the chase is on to find the original space vampiress, Ms. May, and a chase ensues which takes Railsback across the English countryside to places as random as an insane asylum run by Captain Picard! Yes, there actually is a celebrity in this movie, Patrick Stewart. But even Stewart cannot save the day, however. The vampires have done their dirty work and London has already been turned into a vast pit of crazed vampire people. There is a secret held inside Railsback which ends up being the key to the whole plot – leading to a finale so outrageous you won’t believe your own eyes.

LIFEFORCE was directed by Tobe Hooper. Yes, the guy who once directed the TEXAS MASSACRE films now is making crap about space vampires. Now, it's crap I say, but it's also so ridiculous you can't help but have fun. There are some great special effects in LIFEFORCE and there are some awful ones. There are some good performances and there are some awful ones. But, you just can't help but wonder who dreamed up the plot for this horror/sci-fi mess. It's as if a bunch of college kids got together, dropped a lot of acid, and the result was the screenplay to LIFEFORCE.

Still, you have to give them credit. The movie has gore, a lot of nudity (merci Madame May), and it is extremely fast-paced. It is certainly a busy film and holds your attention. In fact, I don't even know if I could call this movie a good one or a bad one, it's too ridiculous to even judge. Therefore I just have to give it a strong rating, because I don't even know what to think. It's that weird. I say, see it. It's fun, but you'll need a shower after seeing it.

Plot Summary

• Plot Synopsis:

  It's August 9, in the year of Halley's Comet. The space shuttle Churchill, on a joint British-American mission, approaches the comet. When an alien vessel is found 'hidden' in the comet's cone, Colonel Tom Carlson [Steve Railsback] investigates to find big dead bats and three humanoids in suspended animation. The humanoids are brought to the shuttle but, when the shuttle returns to earth, the crew is dead, the cabin is burnt; only the aliens are intact. They are sent to the European Space Research Center in London where they are watched over by Doctor Bukovski[Michael Gothard] and Professor Hans Fallada [Frank Finley]. When the spacegirl [Mathilda May] awakens and sucks the life out of a guard, she starts a 'plague' which spreads geometrically. Each victim must in turn suck the lifeforce from another human every 2 hours or die. If this progression is not stopped, earth is doomed.

  Meanwhile, in Texas, the Churchill's escape pod is found with Carlson still alive. He tells a story of the crew being drained one by one, culminating with Carlson setting afire the shuttle cabin and escaping in the pod. Under hypnosis, Carlson reveals mental contact with the spacegirl. Carlson and Doctor Cane [Peter Firth] race her to the body of a nurse at the Ristone Hospital for the insane in Yorkshire. Then, thinking that the entity has moved into the body of Dr Armstrong [Patrick Stewart], they trap it there with pentothal and morphine injections only to discover it was a ruse to lead them away from London.

  London is in shambles. The two male aliens have escaped and been 'feasting' on Londoners. Fallada kills one of them with a lead shaft through his energy center 2" below the heart and theorizes that these are vampires, perhaps the vampires of legend, having visited earth once before. Carlson admits to opening the spacegirl's case while on the shuttle and exchanging energies with her. Carlson is drawn to her as she lies on the altar of a cathedral, transferring earth's life energies to her spaceship. Cane finds Carlson and the girl in an embrace, throws Carlson a lead shaft, and Carlson uses it to stake the girl -- but not until he discovers that he is one of the creatures, planted on earth many years ago during a previous visit. The cathedral blows up, propelling them up to their spaceship. It departs from earth.

Product Details

• Actors: Steve Railsback, Mathilda May, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Patrick Stewart
• Directors: Tobe Hooper
• Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Disc Origin: Region 1 (USA) Original
• Region: All
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1 (1 x DVD5)
• Rating R
• Studio: Fox/MGM Home Video
• DVD Release Date: May 27, 1998
• Run Time: 116 minutes