A beautiful, female, space vampire (Mathilda May) and two lesser males are brought to Earth by a space shuttle that was studying Halley’s Comet. The vampires escape and steal the lifeforce from most of the citizens of London, changing them into zombies. An SAS officers (Peter Firth) and a survivor from the shuttle (Steve Railsback) attempt to capture the vampires before it is too late.
What a glorious mess. Few films succeed and fail in such a grand fashion with brilliance intertwined with absurdity. Let’s start with the absurdity. It’s a bad idea to make a movie that is out of date when it is released. Lifeforce has the British Space Agency’s shuttle “Churchill,” which has artificial gravity, traveling to Halley’s Comet. Now the problem there is that Halley’s Comet returned in 1985 (and was still around in ’86). By the time the film hit screens, we should have all heard about the “Churchall” on the news. Not absurd enough for you? How about the British Space Agency having a professor of theoretical death? This “thanatologist” does experiments to determine life after death and just happens to know how to kill a vampire (a lead sword two inches below the heart). Then there is a major character that disappears from the story with a quick statement of “Oh, he’s dead.” I have the feeling there was another 20 or 30 pages of script that might have dealt with some of the tossed aside characters, but they ran out of money. At least that explanation avoids the idea that they planned it that way. And let me not forget the acting. No expression is too broad, no gesture too extreme, no statement too loud. This is over-acting as an art, and Steve Railsback, as the astronaut, is the master. He tosses believability out the window with his first overly emotional, breathless, radio call to his ship. I can’t imagine he would inspire confidence from his colleagues. Then again, this is a zombie film; when was the last time a zombie film was nominated for an acting award? There is a slapped-together feeling about the entire film. Did anyone check the script or did they just pull the first draft from the typewriter?
So why do I like it? Because it is big, over-the-top theater at its finest. The FX are great (in general). They destroy London, with flame and explosions and streets full of zombies, and it is a sight to behold. Peter Firth, as the SAS officer, puts in a humorous performance that fits his noir character. Plus there’s nothing cooler than him, dressed in a black turtleneck and trench coat, pistol in one hand, sword in the other, fighting his way through hordes of zombies. I’m a sucker for blue lightning, and every vampiric life-drain has electricity shooting from the victim’s eyes and mouth into the attacker. There’s also Patrick Stewart, before he became Captain Picard, having his first screen kiss, and it’s with Steve Railsback. Let’s not forget the score by Henry Mancini that sounds like it belongs in a Roman epic. If that isn’t enough entertainment for you, there are the beautiful nude vampires. The males tend to be hidden most of the time, but not so for Mathilda May, whose breasts defy gravity in a way that will amaze most viewers. She is beautiful and there to be scrutinized, a lot. No quick peeks, she strides about naked, shooting lighting and sucking men dry. And it makes perfect sense because why would a space vampire wear clothing? It would have been nice if the filmmakers had put a bit of effort into making this a film that would not offend my brain, but as it is, it’s a lot of fun.