LIFEFORCE (1985) in '80s and '90s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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LIFEFORCE (1985)

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skelton knaggs		#61	[-]
Jan 17 08 1:02 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Name: Mathilda May Date of Birth: February 08, 1965 Place of Birth: Paris, France Biography: Mathilda May is the daughter of French playwright Victor Haim. She is known for the films Lifeforce (1985), Naked Tango, and Becoming Collette outside of Europe, but her work is primarily in French for the European market. She also appeared in the 1996 space adventure game Privateer 2 - The Darkening, which also featured Clive Owen, Christopher Walken, and Jürgen Prochnow. Mathilda May has been married three times and has two children with Gérard Darmon, her second husband. She is presently married to Philippe Kelly. "You can't smell any reefer, can you"?
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Adolf Kitler		#62	[-]
Mar 14 08 6:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This film needed more of naked Mathilda May. Hey, I'm a regular guy. Why should I lie?
drmedula		#63	[-]
Mar 17 08 6:09 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I saw this when it first came out, and while I and my friend liked it, the audience we were with HATED it (except for Miss May, of course).In fact it was one of the three worst reactions I've ever seen a crowd have (the other two were the GODZILLA and PLANET OF THE APES remakes, which should tell you how negative the vibe was). I've always wondered exactly WHAT turned the crowd off so thoroughly....
Dr Acula		#64	[-]
Mar 17 08 1:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Adolf Kitler wrote: This film needed more of naked Mathilda May. Hey, I'm a regular guy. Why should I lie? Can't all movies use some of that???? But I have to agree with Dr. Medula as well - why exactly is this film so disliked by fandom? Could part of it be disgruntled Spielberg fans who seeks to discredit a Tobe Hooper sci-fi credit to help them make their claim that Hooper didn't have anything to do with Poltergeist. If Hooper did well with a big-budget sci-fi film, then maybe it would be be harder to dismiss his direction of Polt. My God, what's Bond doing?... I think he's attempting re-entry, sir. http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/ Cole's Comics: All About Jack Cole http://colescomics.blogspot.com/
Adolf Kitler		#65	[-]
Mar 17 08 6:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	drmedula wrote: I saw this when it first came out, and while I and my friend liked it, the audience we were with HATED it (except for Miss May, of course).In fact it was one of the three worst reactions I've ever seen a crowd have (the other two were the GODZILLA and PLANET OF THE APES remakes, which should tell you how negative the vibe was). I've always wondered exactly WHAT turned the crowd off so thoroughly.... It could be that movie audiences were trained by 1985 to not have the patience to sit through a long set-up, and by the time the action really kicks in, they already gave up. Not to mention that Lifeforce's story is coming from several directions. Is it horror? Sci-fi? Detective drama? Short attentions spans combined with a complex story makes Hulk's head hurt. Not that I'm defending Lifeforce. I find parts of it confusing unless you repeat viewings, and it does drag in places. But it's nice to see a (relatively) contemporary film use the Quatermass template with the added assets of Mathilda May in her birthday suit.
skelton knaggs		#66	[-]
Mar 17 08 7:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I thought the "setup"(the first 35 minutes) of LIFEFORCE was the best part of this film. After that it just turned into a Sci/Fi mumbo jumbo mess. I stand to correct myself. I'll say the first 45 minutes were great. "You can't smell any reefer, can you"? Last Edited By: skelton knaggs Mar 17 08 9:22 PM. Edited 1 times.
oldmanster		#67	[-]
Mar 18 08 8:56 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	And I gasp must correct you again, Dr. Sknaggs. The entire film, as Herr Kitler points out, is a definite homage to Professor Quatermass and the Nigel Kneale School of British Disasters. It escalates nicely from the beginning until the whole blinkin' city of London is under siege, and the finale, with indifferent aliens finally satiated/tank topped off, then moving along in their quest/whatever drives alien lifeforce vampires, places humanity in such an insignificant position that is truly refreshing to find in genre filmdom. If this film is truly reviled by genre fans, it must be the group who can't connect with such former examples as X-The Unknown and the Quatermass series. ... Reed
Adolf Kitler		#68	[-]
Mar 18 08 10:15 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	skelton knaggs wrote: I thought the "setup"(the first 45 minutes) of LIFEFORCE was the best part of this film. Oh, I'm not saying it wasn't. It just wasn't paced to appeal to your average cinema-goer at the time of release, who wanted zombie action from minute one. Here be's a review that I stumbled across this morning, and (IMO) is pretty dang close to the mark - http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsh-m/lifeforce.htm Last Edited By: Adolf Kitler Mar 18 08 10:27 AM. Edited 1 times.
skelton knaggs		#69	[-]
Mar 18 08 2:47 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	oldmanster wrote: And I gasp must correct you again, Dr. Sknaggs. The entire film, as Herr Kitler points out, is a definite homage to Professor Quatermass and the Nigel Kneale School of British Disasters. If this film is truly reviled by genre fans, it must be the group who can't connect with such former examples as X-The Unknown and the Quatermass series. ... Reed Well, well my dear antagonistic Oldmanster, As you know, I am a graduate of the BERNARD QUATERMASS SCHOOL OF BROADCASTING. Broadcasting what you ask ? The gospel and virtues of anything Quatermass the Unknown Xperiment. I too was quite aware of the homage paid to Professor Q by Hooper & O' Bannon. I just feel they went way off course in the editing department. I agree that the pacing was off and took me out of the film a few times. High marks for the filmmakers intentions, but a C for execution. Val Guest & Leslie Norman had a much better handle on the material. Yours combatively, Scarington S. Knaggs "You can't smell any reefer, can you"? Last Edited By: skelton knaggs Mar 19 08 12:11 AM. Edited 1 times.
oldmanster		#70	[-]
Mar 18 08 5:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	My dear, dear, dear Obfuscatingly Officious Offalmeister Sknaggs: Heh! The game appears to be afoot (that's all that was left of the last victim of the dastardly EX (Unknown to those in the Know). Your broadcast has been de-sanitized by Professor Q's Ultimate Filtering Organism (UFO), so it falls on deef hears without the Knumbing Effect you usually include. While I certainly respect your tenacity in attending such an ahem worthy institution, I cannot help but feel you slept through the most important classes. I cannot fathom how the pacing of this film sent you racing away from the screen, unless colorized nekkid space vampires somehow offended your obviously youthful (at the time) idmonster. I found Ms. May's pulchritudinous pacing to be perfect, sucking (as it were) the very essence of boredom out of the audience (those taken out of the film were left flat by the experience). I suspect you have something against Steve Railsback (but that is another story). Yr Mst Grudgingly Obsequious Anti-Reagent, ... Reed
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Zombie Dad		#71	[-]
Mar 18 08 11:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Mathilda May nude in this movie. ZD Zombie Dad's Online Art Store www.zazzle.com/zombiedad
Rick		#72	[-]
Mar 18 08 11:58 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Is she? Hmm, I'll have to rent it. Sometime.
skelton knaggs		#73	[-]
Mar 19 08 7:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Mizz May would wow me with clothes or without.... "You can't smell any reefer, can you"?
Jeffrey Allen Rydell		#74	[-]
Mar 19 08 7:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Stupid sexy librarian leopard lady! - Jeff
drmedula		#75	[-]
Mar 20 08 4:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"Librarian Leopard Lady" would be a great idea for a comic book character!
ARGumshoe		#76	[-]
Mar 25 08 9:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	After reading the comments here, I cashed in some movie club points and picked this up for a couple of bucks. Sure wish all of my purchases were as inspired! Watched it for the first time this evening and enjoyed the heck out of it. So much so that I was tempted to sit right back down and watch it again. And I think I'll be humming the opening/closing theme the rest of the night.
oldmanster		#77	[-]
Mar 26 08 5:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm with you 100%, ARG. I'm glad you had such a good experience. It definitely is a film I can watch several times a year. ... Reed
blackbiped		#78	[-]
Mar 26 08 6:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ARGumshoe wrote:And I think I'll be humming the opening/closing theme the rest of the night. Fortunately, that was one of the things I downloaded for free before Napster became a pay site! Legend, oh legend, the third wheel legend...always in the way. Porfle's Secret Blog HK and Cult Film News Andersonvision.com
John T Chance		#79	[-]
Mar 28 08 12:46 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, reading this thread spurred me on to watch this crazy flick. Like Skelton Knaggs, I was quite impressed with the first half or so of LIFEFORCE. Then it goes a bit off the rails by the end, and doesn't end up making a whole lot of sense. But what a fun film! Where else can you see naked space vampires, a decimated London overrun with zombies, Patrick Stewart blowing mass quantities of blood out his nose to form a floating naked space vampiress in mid-helicopter flight, a severed zombie arm being casually tossed into the backseat of a Range Rover, the Prime Minister sucking the lifeforce out of his prim secretary ("Oh, Ms. Havesham..."), Duane Barry locking lips with Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, a naked Mathilda May being offered a sandwich by a security guard like she's a flighty squirrel, BDSM interrogation techniques -- all performed by a straight-faced cast of game, veteran British film and TV actors? This has got to be the most expensive, handsomely-mounted Golan/Globus film ever. The opening 10 minutes or so are fabulous, with excellent space effects and astonishing set/matte design as Capt. Carlson and the Churchill crew investigate the strange space derelict in Halley's Comet. A real sense of cosmic mystery and dread is established here. Then of course we have another 20 minutes or so of the stunningly beautiful Ms. May walking around starkers. At times it almost seems like an Austin Powers movie, though, as Hooper finds every means possible to screen out male and female space vampire genitalia -- bars, window frames, stairway railings, etc. There is definitely a Quatermass vibe to the film, even if it is a severely dumbed down version. I doubt I would have enjoyed this nearly as much as I ended up doing if it weren't mostly a British picture. The stiff upper-lippedness of it all made it more palatable. Good, goofy fun, with impressive zombie effects, impressive space effects, and extremely impressive Mathilda May "effects." Definitely a one-of-a-kind movie. Glad I finally caught up with it. Last Edited By: John T Chance Mar 28 08 12:56 PM. Edited 2 times.
opticalguy	Just a Theory	#80	[-]
Oct 1 09 11:57 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The 1985 Tobe Hooper film Lifeforce is a lot of fun for the reasons others have already cited. The European/Director's cut that is now available improves the film immensely.The Original US release had a lot of the first part of the film radically compressed with many a spectacular-looking scene turned into a background for a superimposed title. The idea was to get things started at full speed and then to accelerate things even more. So the audience reactions cited previously had little to do with a slow pace. In the film's original version it both steadily ramps up the pace and starts with quite a spectacular sequence. It also sets up the rather peculiar psycho-sexual subtext of the film so that when it moves quickly to the fore it's not so much a surprise. As to what the psycho-sexual subtext of the film is … well … now you've got me. There is something really strange and unwholesome about the film which I suspect may be what rubbed audiences the wrong way. First of all most folks don't like being aware of subtexts (many fellow CHFB'ers are among that group as well) and there is something clearly going on other that just Space Vampires and bodacious Ta-Tas. There is an obvious AIDs element. The passing of the "vampire infection" is presented as sexual and just to rub folks in the mid 1980s the wrong way it's almost always heterosexual. There is the misogyny angle which is a recurrent theme in many a film. Genre films are often tinged with misogyny but Lifeforce puts it so far forward that the slow learners in the audience may have been discomforted. The beautiful "space vampire" is both desired and feared (the two naked, vampire guys are pretty much ignored) and her shear femaleness seems to be an affront to all the males only groups in the film. I think the fact that she can possess other bodies (including Patrick Stuart's character) while being perceived as the "sexy space vampire woman" (always referred to as "the girl") kinda threw off some folks in the audience. The absence of any religious elements would disturb a lot of people today. In spite of having the climax set in a major Christiansite there is almost no reference to religion. There is the rather drab, dirty look of most of the film. There is a lot of ambiguity in the film. Most folks like things clear and simple. Not the "good" kind of ambiguity either. The Frank Finlay character (Dr.Fallada) becomes infected but he is aware of what's going on, kills one of the vampire men,and gives Peter Firth's character (Col.Colin Cain) the necessary information to save the human race. He refuses to give in to the urge to drain another and bravely - if creepily - goes to his death. That was good and the audience probably was OK with that. The idea that Tom Carlson (Steve Railsback's character) was a vampire hence his link to "the girl" wasn't a big surprise to anyone but when they both were impaled they were supposed to die. Instead they appeared to zoom up to the alien ship (can you say "Rapture") and they appear to make a clean getaway until the next time Haley's comet comes near earth. HUH? Also apart from the obvious "subtexts" I have already listed there is a lot of WTF stuff going on that I haven't quite figured out. Just what is/are Tobe Hooper and the screenwriters thinking? The level of sexual hysteria in the film throws me for a loop.Any ideas gang? opticalguy1954@yahoo.com (Spencer Gill)
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LIFEFORCE (1985)