Synopsis
A space shuttle mission investigating Halley's Comet brings back a malevolent race of space vampires who transform most of London's population into zombies. The only survivor of the expedition and British authorities attempt to capture a mysterious but beautiful alien woman who appears responsible.
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Cast
- Steve RailsbackCol. Tom Carlsen
- Peter FirthCol. Colin Caine
- Frank FinlayDr. Hans Fallada
- Mathilda MaySpace Girl
- Patrick StewartDr. Armstrong
- Michael GothardDr. Bukovsky
- Nicholas BallRoger Derebridge
- Aubrey MorrisSir Percy Heseltine
- Nancy PaulEllen Donaldson
- John HallamLamson
- 75
Slant Magazine
Watching Lifeforce now is to be reminded that even big-budget films were once allowed to be adventurous and idiosyncratic, even in the 1980s, and that American horror movies were once capable of being fun, sexy, and subversively empathetic. - 75
Chicago Tribune
In film circles there's a name for pictures like Lifeforce. Film Comment magazine has dubbed them guilty pleasures, movies you're embarrassed to admit you like. Maybe somebody spiked my popcorn, but I can't deny that I liked Lifeforce. - 75
IndieWire
It has everything a growing horror freak needs: extreme violence, tons of nudity, vampires, mummies, and apocalyptic bedlam. The movie is slyer and smarter than people give it credit for, and absolutely gorgeous-looking. - 60
Time Out
Lifeforce is a near-impossible film to review, at once indescribably awful and hugely, brilliantly entertaining. - 50
Variety
Pic [from the novel The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson] descends into subpar Agatha Christie territory. - 50
Chicago Reader
Director Tobe Hooper seriously overplays his hand, losing the shape of this 1985 film in a barrage of overblown special effects and screaming Dolby stereo. - 40
CineVue
As a piece of extraterrestrial-tinged whimsy, Lifeforce occasionally shows weak signs of life, but in the end it falls well short of achieving classic status. - 40
The New York Times
Lifeforce shows off Mr. Hooper's way with a whirling mass of protoplasm, just as Poltergeist did. But its style is shrill and fragmented enough to turn Lifeforce into hysterical vampire porn.