Lifeforce. 1985. USA. Directed by Tobe Hooper. Written by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby, adapted from The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson. With Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Mathilda May. 35mm. 111 min.
During a mission in outer space, the crew of the spacecraft Churchill are deceived into bringing a trio of intergalactic vampires to Earth, unleashing a plague of apocalyptic proportions on London. Following the collaborative restraints of Poltergeist, Lifeforce represents what Hooper champion Scout Tafoya describes as “Hooper unchained.” The first film he made under a three-picture deal with Cannon Group producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Hooper’s self-indulgent adaptation of Colin Wilson’s novel The Space Vampires (1976) has divided critics and the fans like no other. Shot in Britain, the film is modeled on the country’s Hammer Studios–produced Quatermass films (1955–67), a quintessentially English blend of science-fiction and horror admired by generations of filmmakers. The staunch British cast of Lifeforce brings a sense of serious purpose to its fevered mix of genre tropes and Hooper’s intense, signature palette of kaleidoscopic color and lighting effects. Led by a lust-driven American colonel (Steve Railsback), the film’s space-age vampire hunters do battle with the mummified undead, blood-spurting corpses, gender confusion, and a healthy dose of soft-core nudity.