Review: Lifeforce (1985)

While watching Lifeforce, I couldn’t help thinking about how many possibilities were squandered, not to mention the talent involved. Director Tobe Hooper is responsible for classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its sequel (both of which I loved in different ways), Poltergeist, and the often chilling made for TV adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot. Co-writer Dan O’Bannon was one of the scribes on 1979’s Alien and wrote and directed the 1985 horror classic Return of the Living Dead. Add special effects by John Dykstra and music by Henry Mancini to that combo and it should have been the recipe for a sci-fi/horror classic.

So why did Lifeforce go so horribly wrong in so many ways?

As the film opens, a joint expedition of British and American astronauts aboard the space shuttle Churchill discovers an alien vessel hiding within Halley’s Comet. When a small group led by Colonel Carlsen (Steve Railsback) enters the ship, they find bat-like creatures drained of all bodily fluids as well as three perfectly preserved naked humanoid bodies in suspended animation. The crew remove one of the creatures and the three bodies and take them back to the ship before returning to Earth.

Mission control loses contact with the ship, sends another to investigate, and are shocked to discover a lifeless crew presumably killed by a fire that raged throughout the Churchill. However, the three bodies (one female, two male) are found intact and taken to a space research center in London. The female (Mathilda May) awakens and siphons the “lifeforce” out of a guard as well as some energy from one of the doctors before escaping into the city where she proceeds to leave bodies in her wake. Anyone who has had their “lifeforce” drained becomes a dried husk that eventually reanimates and, in turn, attempts to feed to infuse new life into themselves, much as a legendary vampire would. If they fail, they explode into dust.

Colonel Carlsen is found alive in an escape pod and teams up with SAS Colonel Caine (Peter Firth) to destroy the vampire like creatures before they decimate all of London and then the rest of the world.

And this is where the tale begins to break down. Suddenly the female vampire can shape-shift, the victims act more like zombies than vampires and all logic pretty much goes out the window. Carlsen shares a psychic bond with the female vampire (because, hey, that works when the actual plot runs into a jam) and the “lifeforce” of humans become souls that are harvested to the ship.

Lifeforce begins well enough with some really sharp special effects that look gorgeous in high definition (I happened to catch it on the MGMHD network where, in the past few months, I’ve found more than a few gems from the studio’s huge library), but degenerates into a near convoluted mess as it progresses. The film lacks an identity because it tries to involve too many elements from different genres. While it should be a pretty straightforward sci-fi/horror flick, Lifeforce adds dashes of action, romance and a bit of metaphysics and religion into the mix.

Can all of that work? Certainly, if done correctly. I’d even go so far as to recommend remaking this movie with a modern view. However, Lifeforce in its 1985 incarnation is akin to one of those large pizza chains who try to churn out one gimmicky pizza after another to keep people interested instead of just trying to make a damned good, simple pie.

Lifeforce grade: D+

Review: Horror Express (1972)

While on an expedition in Manchuria, anthropologist Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee, Horror of Dracula) discovers the frozen remains of what he believes to be a missing link in the evolution of humanity. After packing up the crate containing the creature, Saxton stashes it on the Trans-Siberian Express and travels from Shanghai to Moscow in the hopes of further examining the rare archaeological find upon his return. On board with him as his compartment mate is colleague Dr. Wells (Peter Cushing, Torture Garden) who is also eager to get a glimpse at the specimen. Before the train leaves the station, a thief attempts to break into Saxton’s crate but is killed, his eyes glazed over milky white, leading a local monk to proclaim the contents evil. Is he right? Of course he is. After all, the film is entitled Horror Express.

It’s probably been a good 30 years since I last watched Horror Express which, as I recall, was a somewhat regular staple on the old WOR-TV Superstation. Back then, it scared the bejesus out of me. Now? Well, it’s certainly not the scarefest I remember, but it’s still one hell of a fun little movie.

What I wasn’t aware of at the time is that Horror Express is based on the  John W. Campbell novella, “Who Goes There?”, a significant work in the sci-fi horror genre that inspired 1951’s The Thing From Another World, John Carpenter’s 1982 remake simply titled The Thing (one of my top 5 all time horror films) and even 1979’s Alien (screenwriter Dan O’Bannon claims he used the films based on the novella as inspiration). To be honest, it had been so long since I’d seen it that I’d forgotten the creature isn’t just a mindless beast with the power to kill just by staring into the eyes of its prey–it’s an intelligent being that’s able to use the bodies of those it claims to mimic them. The creature leaves the victim with a smooth brain, thereby stealing the intelligence and memory of whomever it kills and using the knowledge and information to its advantage. As an added bonus, it can reanimate those it kills, using them as a zombie army when necessary.

To modern audiences, Horror Express probably isn’t going to be all that appealing unless you’re a film buff or a die hard horror fan. But it does have a lot more charm than expected. Not only does it re-team genre veterans Lee and Cushing, but it also features a brief appearance by Telly Savalas (Kojak) as Captain Kazan, a zealous Cossack searching for smuggled rebels aboard the train.

Many would probably hastily dismiss Horror Express upon first glance because both the title and poster make it appear as if it’s a rather cheesy entry into the horror genre. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Obviously there’s no way it could compare to modern day horror films because of the lack of quality special effects, but that shouldn’t rule it out as an option for anyone when searching for something fun to watch. It’s pretty decently paced and rather well directed and acted and I’m not certain as to why the film doesn’t receive more exposure.

Horror Express, like The Monster Club, will always hold a special place in my heart because I enjoyed them both so much when I was young. That said, I never completely allow nostalgia to cloud my opinions; rather, I take the films at face value, considering when they were made, what purpose they served at the time of release, and if they stand the test of time. Horror Express certainly holds up relatively well, is deserving of attention and more than worth your time, especially as part of a double feature with one of the films mentioned above. You can pick up a Blu-Ray copy of the film at Amazon.

Horror Express grade: B+