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Lifeforce (Collector's Edition) [Blu-Ray/DVD Combo]
Additional Multi-Format options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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September 9, 2014 "Please retry" | — | 2 |
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| $14.99 | $8.60 |
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June 18, 2013 "Please retry" | Collector's Edition | 2 |
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| — | $22.21 |
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Format | Multiple Formats, Color, Anamorphic, NTSC, Blu-ray, Widescreen |
Contributor | Steve Railsback, Patrick Stewart, Tobe Hooper, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May |
Language | English |
Runtime | 1 hour and 56 minutes |
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Product Description
Product description
A mission to investigate Halley's Comet discovers an alien spacecraft. After a deadly confrontation the aliens travel to Earth where their seductive leader begins a terrifying campaign to drain the life force of everyone she encounters. Her victims in turn continue the cycle and soon the entire planet is in mortal
Amazon.com
An excessive failure in a decade known for excess at movie houses, Tobe Hooper's eccentric science fiction/horror epic Lifeforce (1985) has enjoyed in recent years a reappraisal from genre fans, which undoubtedly sparked the release of this deluxe Blu-ray/DVD presentation. Despite the best efforts of an impressive array of behind-the-scenes talent, from director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and writers Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby (Alien) to special effects designer John Dykstra (Star Wars), Lifeforce never quite blossoms into the phantasmagoric spectacle its producers--Cannon Films' infamous Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus--envisioned when they optioned Colin Wilson's The Space Vampires in their mid-'80s bid for respectability. Instead, it's a curious blend of pulp outer space adventure, with American astronaut Steve Railsback discovering a trio of aliens, including the comely Mathilda May, in a ship attached to Halley's comet, and apocalypse horror, with the aliens laying waste to London by draining its occupants of their vital energies. Hooper delivers some impressive set pieces in the picture's opening and final, manic third, as Railsback and SAS colonel Peter Firth attempt to track down May's hiding place as London collapses into anarchy, but often falters in his attempt to keep the high-minded, blockbuster-focused concept on track in the face of exceptionally purple dialogue and wildly varying performances (especially Railsback, who seems very uncomfortable throughout the film, and Frank Finlay as a babble-spouting professor). The decision to depict May in the nude throughout the film, while an obvious audience draw and one of the key reasons for the film's lasting appeal, also hampers the tone, pushing it towards drive-in territory when it clearly hoped to cleave towards the Star Wars/Star Trek ticket. The result is a genuinely offbeat film (a label that can be applied to nearly all of Hooper's CV), neither camp nor underrated classic, though it's never a dull ride, thanks to its bristling energy and the (literally) eye-popping special effects.
Audiences and critics dismissed Lifeforce upon its release in 1985, but years of (heavily edited) TV broadcasts and home video have provided it with a fan base that should be pleased with Scream Factory's typically impressive Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Its chief appeal is the inclusion of both the 101-minute domestic cut by Tri-Star pictures, and the 116-minute international theatrical edit, which features more graphic material than the American version as well as composer Henry Mancini's complete score (which was replaced in part with cues by Michael Kamen). Two commentary tracks are also included: the first features Hooper with filmmaker Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs), whose enthusiasm occasionally overshadows the director's understated but informative contributions, while the second pairs special makeup effects supervisor Nick Maley (Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) with DVD producer Michael Felsher. Hooper, Railsback, and May are all showcased in short interview featurettes in which they discuss their experiences on the film, as well as the effect that Lifeforce had on their subsequent careers, while an electronic press kit created to promote the theatrical release offers vintage interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Two theatrical trailers, a TV spot, and an HD gallery of production stills round out the two-disc set. --Paul Gaita
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 6.75 x 5.25 x 0.75 inches; 0.01 ounces
- Director : Tobe Hooper
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Color, Anamorphic, NTSC, Blu-ray, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 56 minutes
- Release date : June 18, 2013
- Actors : Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, Patrick Stewart
- Studio : Shout Factory
- ASIN : B00AWWX6XY
- Number of discs : 2
- Best Sellers Rank: #79,802 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #3,006 in Horror (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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Director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, TCM Part 2, Poltergeist, Funhouse) is a horror master! Many know of Steven Spielberg’s heavy-handed involvement in Poltergeist and thus question Hooper’s contribution as a director. True. Spielberg is awesome and the family-urgency was likely a product of his influence. But have these Poltergeist nay-sayers even seen Lifeforce!?!?! Get ready for an AMAZING experience!
An investigative space mission is graced with the discovery of the millennium! The astronauts unexpectedly encounter a 150-mile-long space vessel during an exploratory mission of Hailey’s Comet. The influence of H. R. Giger is undeniable as the vessel’s interior has an organic motif, as if the explorers were entering the anatomy (even the womb) of a leviathan being—much as in Poltergeist (1982; late in the film) or Alien/Aliens (1979, 1986). The spaceship’s inhabitants are all deceased, and they resemble bat people. You may be thinking “Are we really only 6 minutes into the running time?” The answer is YES. This film has a LOT to offer and it wastes none of your time!
While most of the bat-like inhabitants are long dead, the explorers find three preserved, naked, uncannily human lifeforms in stasis chambers—two men, and a woman. Then…something mysterious happens and the mission returns home with zero contact for thirty days. So what happened on that ship that returned with no living crew members? It’s not as obvious as you may think.
It’s not until mid-story that Colonel Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback; Alligator II: The Mutation, Barb Wire, Ed Gein), who was on the original exploratory mission, is recovered as the sole mission survivor in an escape pod to inform the military that an alien vessel was encountered...and what happened on that ship. He comes back a changed man, and the only hope of hunting down the escaped female who is now wandering the streets of London and draining its inhabitants.
Our interstellar succubus (Mathilda May; The Jackal) is beyond stunning, supernaturally manipulative, and clearly is on some sort of life-draining mission of her own. Her abilities infect our sexual weaknesses as well as our subconscious desires. So much so that a grown man might feel compelled to kiss Patrick Stewart (Green Room, Dune).
For 1985 the special effects are fantastic!!! Utilizing Star Wars-like rotoscoping for space scenes and Ghostbusters-style ectoplasm for supernatural life-sucking effects, you almost forget this film is over 30 years old. The life-drained bodies are desiccated husks and the zombie-esque animatronics of their movement is impressive.
Not only are the effects genuinely fantastic, but the concepts are as well. Classical vampire notions like the charming gaze, life-draining, telepathic links, and shapeshifting are clearly present, although cleverly modified. When the astronauts first enter the alien spaceship, it feels “strangely familiar” and when Tom sees the preserved female (Mathilda May) he seems to be entranced. And one can’t argue here, Mathilda May has entrancing boobs and a serious enthusiasm for kissing. Most men would be powerless.
The first 20 minutes of this film are more substantial than most entire horror films. I know…you’re thinking “really, John, but all the nudity.” But you’d be wrong. This film remains something special even if there was not a nipple to be seen.
Most interesting to me is how this 1985 movie, in the early HIV/AIDS era, captured the raw pansexuality of the vampire. Much as Anne Rice’s Lestat, even a withered male husk can allure another man to his charm. Although the “kiss” is admittedly more distant when male-to-male than when Mathilda tongue-wrangles her drained prey, infectious male-male kissing (or, at least, its implication) is quite frequent. It seems that Hellraiser (1987) and Hellbound (1988) were influenced by the exquisite life-draining effects, which set the bar high.
The final segment erupts into an epidemic owing much to Dawn of the Dead (1978), with London immersed in a contagious essence-feeding maelstrom. The effects are consistently high quality and the bat monster is awesome, but the gore doesn’t properly kick in until this third act.
Is this movie a work of film art? No. Is it an amazing horror film? YES! Does it have its fair share of heavy exposition? Sure. Do I care? Not at all! They deliver it well and in plausible context.
This excellent horror film has my 100% backing. I may have fallen in love with it as a teenager (understandably for the boobs, at that age), but now I would love it if there were not a single nipple to boast. This film is smart, oddly elaborate without getting carried away with itself, and 96% serious in its delivery. Unusual in many respects, and noteworthy in more, this is not the film to miss.
For full-frontal Brazilian unabashed exploitation scenes, Ms. May’s extended (like twenty minutes worth) of unadorned reclining and upright acting puts “Lifeforce” head, shoulders and other parts above other space fantasy pictures. Top this, George Lucas! In your face, Star Trek! “Interstellar” has nothing on this.
As for the rest of this oddly enjoyable mess, well, what do you expect of a movie made from a novel titled “Space Vampires”?
Space vampires, of course. And we get ‘em! Three of them, in fact, although the two naked guy vampires get a lot less screen time than Ms. May, and a lot of effort and camera angles had to be taken to keep them fig-leafed.
So! A British space shuttle rendezvous with Halley’s Comet discovers a larger than average alien spaceship hovering in the coma. Astronauts wearing Union Jacks enter a space tunnel. Remember the huge alien vajayjay that the Nostromo crew clambered into, way back in “Alien”? Well, the “Lifeforce” ship gets even deeper into the whole, ahem, business. This is one roomy introitus! The Space Captain hilariously muses that he feels like he’s “been here before”. Cap’n, we all have. Unless we were born by C-section, I mean. With spacesuits and MMUs, we traverse this dark and rugose canal in a sort of reverse-birth, and find ourselves in a space uterus. And a spacious one it is! Full of bats, and who hasn’t had that problem? The Captain takes a fallopian wrong turn and what does he encounter in the next room? Three naked beautiful space vampires in glass boxes, as if one needed to ask.
Now let’s say right here that the John Dykstra special effects in the space parts are excellent! The space suits, complete with MMU’s, are first rate, and the wire work simulating microgravity is pretty darn good. I’ve seen worse effects in more expensive movies. And the interior of the Euroshuttle is very nice indeed. Good work, Dykstra! These suits are better than Kubrick had for “2001”.
A kind of somber note: when the now-derelict Euroshuttle reaches earth, the NASA shuttle sent up to dock with it is the Columbia. Little did we know in 1985, right?
Moving on to the outbreak of space vampirism in London, there are lovely practical effects again, with fires, collapsing buildings, a whole model of the city going up in flames, culminating in the explosion of St. Paul’s. Looks great, too. The only off-note would be the blue wisps of the space vampires’ soul-sucking vapor flowing through the sky. This looks like it might have been done on an Atari home computer. And in 1985, it might have been. But the models are entirely likable, especially for an inexpensive epic like this.
Except maybe the giant space umbrella ship, which looks frankly ridiculous. But no matter, because we’ve got Patrick Stewart! Jean Luc Picard himself, as the head shrink at the loony bin. He’s great, hasn’t shaved his head yet, and after a lot of shouting and carrying on, Stewart has one of the coolest and goriest death scenes in a movie full of them.
Directed by Tobe Hooper, the putative maker of “Poltergeist”, but more importantly, written by Dan O’Bannon. O’Bannon, of course, made the superb “Return of the Living Dead.” There are plenty of ROTLD riffs in “Lifeforce”, too. Extensive but appreciated nudity, in both pictures, for example. The animated and emaciated corpses could also plug into either movie. More of them in “Lifeforce” but excellent in both films. Detached but still lively severed limbs. Streets full of marauding high-speed zombies. The idea that the best way to deal with outbreaks like this might be the thermonuclear option. ROTLD is funnier, but “Lifeforce” has its moments.
But also plenty of uniquely British tropes. The Man from the Ministry, for example, who never has a clue what they’re dealing with. The calm, cool, collected scientist who does. In this case, he’s a “thanatologist”, which sounds like what I should have majored in. As is de rigueur for these movies, he’s got that Dr. Who/Quatermass thing going, and he happens to own a “leaded iron” sword which is just the ticket when you’ve got vampire trouble.
A hot-headed ultra-competent SAS officer. And the Space Captain, who’s telepathically linked to the hot naked vampire woman. Which moves the plot along, saving a lot of investigating and stuff. Crowds in the Tube, London cabs, the P.M.’s War Room, it’s all so English!
“Lifeforce” is oddly long; I see on IMDB that cuts have been up to 128 minutes, and there are scenes that just go on and on to no particular effect. Lengthy meetings are held, long, long helicopter rides are taken (real helicopter, courtesy of the MOD!) and the Royal Grenadiers mill about to little effect.
Thrillers like this used to fit into about an hour and a half. Hammer Films used to raise Dracula from the grave, have him bite a half-dozen heaving bosoms and get the Count staked again in like 88 minutes. So the extended length feels sort of strange, with the actors running in place until something more interesting happens. But enough does happen to keep us interested, in hope that Mathilda May will get nekkid again (hint: she does).
Taken for what it is, “Lifeforce” is entertaining trash. This is not thought-provoking or intelligent or meaningful. We’ve got “Arrival” or “Annihilation” for that intellectual stuff. Nope, this is unpretentious hot naked space babes, and I like that.
Top reviews from other countries
ディレクターズカットと劇場版、各1枚入っていました。
以前、スターチャンネルBS放送が日本語字幕版で放映したときにBDに録画しましたが、それよりも高精細で鮮明な画質です。海外版で言語は字幕も英語だけです。
Reviewed in Japan on August 15, 2020
ディレクターズカットと劇場版、各1枚入っていました。
以前、スターチャンネルBS放送が日本語字幕版で放映したときにBDに録画しましたが、それよりも高精細で鮮明な画質です。海外版で言語は字幕も英語だけです。
Video quality is a solid 4 our of 5 stars.. Audio is 5 out of 5 it's really busy and will envelope you in uni-directional sounds. Extra's are excellent 5 out of 5 and the packaging is sharp to round things off.
This film is an oddity by Tobe Hooper but even today after all these years it does not look dated and the plot moves along nicely and if you by chance come across this collectors edition (it will say it on the front cover) buy it and dive into the extra's the beautiful Mathilda May awaits you to suck your soul dry!
True, there's enough promise in the raw material to have made something genuinely creepy and thought-provoking (at a time when AIDS hysteria was approaching its height, a sexually transmitted 'plague' offers ample opportunity for allegory), but in the hands of the Go-Go boys at Cannon, what could have been another Quatermass and the Pit quickly turns instead to be more Plan 10 From Outer Space. It's full-to-bursting with delirious inanity, be it Frank Finlay's hilarious death scene ("Here I go!"), Peter Firth's grand entrance ("I'm Colonel Caine." "From the SAS?" discreetly shouts Michael Gothard across a room full of reporters: "Gentlemen, that last remark was not for publication. This is a D-Notice situation" he replies to the surprisingly obliging pressmen), the security guards offering Mathilda May's naked space vampire a nice biscuit to stop her escaping, reanimated bodies exploding into dust all over people, the sweaty Prime Minister sucking the life out of his secretary ("Miss Haversham! Miss Haversham!") and London filling up with zombie nuns, stockbrokers and joggers as the city gets its most comprehensive on screen trashing since Mrs Gorgo lost junior at Battersea Funfair and went on the rampage. And that's not mentioning the "This woman is a masochist! An extreme masochist!" scene or the great stereophonic echo effect on the male vampire's "It'll be a lot less terrifying if you just come to me" line while a lead-stake wielding Peter Firth adopts his best Action Man voice to reply "I'll do just that!" In one scene alone you have a possessed Patrick Stewart embodying the female in our deeply confused astronaut hero's mind, Steve "I-never-got-over-playing-Charlie-Manson" Railsback and his amazing dancing eyebrows in full-on "Helta-Skelta!" mode trying to resist the temptation to kiss him, the inimitable Aubrey Morris (the only man who makes Freddie Jones look restrained) playing the Home Secretary Sir Percy Heseltine as a kind of demented Brian Rix, Peter Firth (one of those actors who always looks like he must have been a Doctor Who around the time no-one was watching it anymore) hamming up the blasé public school macho in the hope that no-one will ever see it and the peerless reaction shots of John Hallam as the male nurse who keeps on opening the door mid-psychic-tornado to bring in more drugs. As if they needed any more in this film. It's just a shame that Frank Finlay's mad-haired scientist who isn't qualified to certify death on alien life forms (a role originally intended for Klaus Kinski) missed out on the action in that one.
No matter how mad you think the film is, it still manages to get madder still, whether it be a zombie pathologist ("He too needs feeding") exploding all over the Home Secretary's suit, Patrick Stewart's blood and entrails forming a naked Mathilda May or the space vampires turning St Paul's Cathedral into the world's biggest laser-show to transport human souls from the London Underground to their geostationary mother ship. I loved every gloriously insane moment. In it's own truly unique way, this might be the greatest film ever made.
While the DVD offers a non-anamorphic transfer of the 116-minute version with a trailer the only extra, both Shout Factory's US Region A-locked Blu-ray and Arrow's region B Blu-ray offer both the original 116-minute version that opened in the UK and the heavily edited 101-minute US version, which loses most of the spectacular opening and a lot of entertaining inanity in its misguided desire to up the pace. The longer version not only offers much more hilarity for your dollar, but also fully restores Henry Mancini's score to its original glory (the US version covered a lot of the gaps with additional cues by Michael Kamen and James Guthrie). Although a somewhat surprising choice at first sight, Mancini cut his teeth on many of the classic Universal sci-fi horrors of the 50s and his score is quite superb, with a terrific driving main title that offers a rare reminder of just how interesting he could be away from Blake Edwards.
There are some subtle differences between the transfers on the two pressings - the UK edition is spread over two discs (with the extras all on the same disc as the long version) while the US edition crams both versions of the film and the extras onto a single disc, with some resulting minor compression issues. The grading on the US edition has also been slightly tweaked by Hooper to make Ms May's flesh tones look colder, the UK edition following the original grading.
Both versions share new interviews with Mathilda May, Tobe Hooper and Steve Railsback, two audio commentaries and trailers, but each has unique extras as well - the US release the original making of documentary, the British one an additional commentary by the VFX artist and, best of all, a terrific new 70-minute documentary with Hooper, Nicholas Ball, serial overactor Aubrey Morris, script doctor Michael armstrong and various members of the crew recounting an endless shoot (long enough for May to learn perfect English) with a director described as a demonic dwarf with impeccable manners fuelled by caffeine, cigars and other substances and doesn't stint on the problems of, er, downstairs grooming for its leading lady.
Let joy be unconfined!