lifeforce start in outer space where the hm churchill track haley comet and it equipment detect a 150 mile long alien spaceship in the head of the comet and unable to contact earth because of interference colonel tom carlsen ( steve railsback ) decide this be the one and only chance to investigate it . go outside in spacesuit carlsen and some of his crew enter the mysterious spaceship and find the remains of a bat like race of creature and three perfect look humanoid and two men ( chris jagger and bill malin ) and a beautiful woman ( mathilda may ) all of whom they take aboard the churchill . thirty day later and back on earth the churchill be detect on radar and a rescue mission be send up only to discover the spaceship be burn out and all the crew supposedly dead . the rescue team do find the three humanoid alien though and take them back to earth where in a space research center in london they come back to life and start to literally suck the lifeforce out of human victim who then in turn need to do the same to stop themselves turn into dust and thing look grim a the epidemic spread throughout london . this english production be produce by the notorious menahem golan and yoram globus who during the early 80 be responsible for lot of cheap low budget action flick under their production company cannon usually star chuck norris and they want to move into the big time and sign director tobe hooper up on a three film deal ( which be this lifeforce and the invader from mar ( 1986 ) remake and the texas chainsaw massacre 2 ( 1986 ) a sequel to hooper own classic ) all of which flop and basically bankrupt both golan and globus and cannon be no more . anyway and despite be a commercial flop at the box office i have to say i think lifeforce be a highly enjoyable and if rather silly sci fi horror . when originally release into theatre back in 85 lifefore be cut down to 101 minute by golan and globus but over the past few year the longer 116 minute cut have all but replace it on dvd and vhs and laserdisc and tv although apparently hooper original cut of the film run for 128 minute so there even more footage out there somewhere . i will be base my comment on the long 116 minute cut and the script by dan obannon and don jakoby and uncredited rewrite by michael armstrong and olaf pooley be base on the 1976 novel the space vampire by colin wilson and have many extraordinary idea and it scope be truly ambitious and one felt that it end up be a bit of a mess but a hell of an entertain one . it move along like a rocket and at heart there a really interesting story here although the film get itself into a tangle . there be also some hilarious moment in lifeforce and the scene when the security guard try to convince the naked female vampire to surrender by offer her a half eaten biscuit be a true camp classic and the horribly overwrought hypnosis scene include the one where railsback end up kiss patrick stewart and many and many more besides . i do not know and call me weird but i just think lifeforce be tremendous fun and highly entertaining in just about every way and from silly character and odd dialogue and strange idea that never quite come together and some terrific visuals lifeforce certainly isn not a film that will bore you . director hooper have just about more money here to play around with than he ever have ( double what he have for poltergeist ( 1982 ) even ) and he use every bit of it to bring this spectacular film to the big screen and john dykstra the guy responsible for star war ( 1977 ) and star trek represent the motion picture ( 1979 ) and more recently spider man ( 2002 ) be bring in to handle the visual effect and generally speak they look fabulous . the sequence set in out space with spaceship in particular look great and there also some really good visual effect back on earth include the destruction of london a 100 of blue soul fly around everywhere . there some nudity but not much gore and there be some withered corps and a few gunshot wound and the skin on someone hand peel off and blood spurt from someone eye and nose and ear and there a severed arm as well a some zombie . the special make up effect be also generally very good . i wouldn not say lifeforce be scary as such a it more of a sci fi film than horror and i love the way hooper shoot the out space sequence a he keep rotate his camera to effectively capture the feeling of weightlessness and that there be no olid floor a it be . with a supposed budget of about $ 25 and 000 and 000 it make less than half that in it theatrical run and hasn not set the world alight on video or dvd either which be a shame because although it a bit of a mess it very enjoyable to watch . shot on location in england . well film in 2 represent35 represent1 widescreen and the 4 represent3 crop image be horrible and cut huge chunk of information from both side of the screen and this be most noticeable during the opening scene set in outer space where sometimes it hard to make out what go on and the sense of the vastness of space and the alien spaceship be lose . the acting be ok in a very silly film and patrick stewart replace sir john gielgud and nancy paul replace olivia hussey and frank finlay replace klaus kinski while anthony hopkins turn the role of caine down . lifeforce be a bizarre film and no two way about it really and anyone look for something simple and straight forward should look elsewhere . anyone look for something a bit different in the sci fi genre than give lifeforce a go a it one of those so bad it good film with some impressive effect and it isn not your average run of the mill film by any mean .