Lifeforce is a film I have tried to review a couple of times, but somehow never got around to. I think I have deduced the problem. Lifeforce certainly has neat ideas and very cool scenes, but who cares if the story is hardly compelling.
Let me explain. The premise and concept is interesting. But how it's executed, was unnecessarily slow and convoluted. Writer / director Tobe Hooper probably wanted people to take the story seriously and have fun at the same time. And to some extent he succeeds in this. In large part, though, it takes far too long for the film to kick into second gear. Previous times I dozed off or lost interest. So this time I wanted to make sure I was paying attention. Even then, I missed important elements that should have drawn me into the film. To be fair, most of this can be blamed on the editing. Very deliberately, you aren't shown certain events to keep things mysterious. This didn't reach the desired effect. Every bit of suspense one could have was squashed down by the fact that the Space Vampires, act exactly like you would expect them too. Only in a couple of scenes they manage to surprise the viewer. One sequence in particular is very impressive. It's where blood floats and then turns into something. Extremely cool scene.
The mayhem and chaos occur far too late and without dedicating some scenes to show why the chaos is increasing, the audience is robbed from potentially scary and creepy moments. If these vampires have the ability to take over people, why not infuse the film with some paranoia a la The Thing. Now, the main characters barely react to the impossible and dangerous situations they are put in. I mean, the prime minister of England turned into a vampire surely must be devastating for the country and eventually for the world. Lifeforce barely makes this clear. I guess that having serious actors like Patrick Stewart, Steve Railsback and Peter Firth does give this film some credibility, but not enough to make this film memorable.
Ok, there are some memorable moments, like Mathilda May walking around naked for a large part of the film. That never gets tiring. Thank god for these films where this was possible without people freaking out about it. Granted, Mathilda May herself didn't speak English and was wondering if she accidentally was part of a porn shoot. She was assured this wasn't the case. But it sure doesn't look like she was uncomfortable, and haven't been able to find articles or videos where she complains about it. Some of the special effects are impressive. It's more the overall impression you have after watching the film. Overall, I had fun while it lasts, but it I feel it could have been better.
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