LIFEFORCE

The Churchill spacecraft is on a mission to discover more about the passing enigma, Halley's Comet.

As they get closer, the crew - led by Carlsen (Steve Railsback) - become aware of a huge unidentified object at the comet's core. Exploring further, they discover a spaceship which appears to be barren save for the carcasses of many bat-like creatures.

A bright light leads Carlsen and his men deeper into the alien vessel, where they come across three human-like beings - two men and one beautiful woman (Mathilda May) - cocooned naked inside glass coffins.

They take their finds back on board Churchill and ... that's the last anyone back on Earth ever hears from them. A month later, a rescue mission is deployed. Unfortunately the crew of Churchill appear to have vanished - but the three strange beings remain serenely encased in glass.

Back on Earth, the beings are brought to the attentions of military doctor Hans (Frank Finlay), British colonel Colin (Peter Firth) and the Home Secretary, Percy (Aubrey Morris). They soon deduce that these strange creatures are not human, nor are they dead. Rather, they prey on the lifeforce of mortals a la vampires in a bid to strengthen their cause.

Before long, the 'vampires' have escaped their research centre confines and are on the loose in London. Colin is particularly Hell-bent on curbing their trail of destruction. Imagine how pleased he is, then, when an escape shuttle containing Carlsen is discovered in Texas.

Carlsen is swiftly flown to London, where his telekinetic connection to the female vampire may be able to help him and Colin bring her life-sucking spree to an end.

Following the Global success of 1982's POLTERGEIST, Hooper - despite a controversial post-production dispute over how much of that film was actually directed by its producer, Steven Spielberg - was propositioned by Cannon Group with an offer to make any film he wanted. Choosing to helm an adaptation of Colin Wilson's 1976 novel "The Space Vampires", the company threw a reported $25 million at him - a budget that, at the time (1985), was colossal.

With that kind of money, Hooper was able to get some pretty impressive names on board. Dan O'Bannon and Michael Armstrong both contributed towards the screenplay and script respectively. Henry Mancini, with a little help from Michael Kamen, worked on the score. Special effects were overseen by STAR WARS man John Dykstra. The cast comprised of the best British TV and theatre had to offer (look out for Patrick Stewart in an unintentionally hilarious cameo).

Despite all of the above, and a formidable marketing campaign upon its theatrical release, the film was almost universally panned.

Indeed, it is best described as an epic failure. As such, it can be viewed in two ways.

If you choose, you could watch it with a cynic's eye. You could take all the cheap-looking sets, ludicrous over-acting and truly terrible dialogue to heart. You could shake your head in disbelief as the film spirals wildly out of control, at one moment wanting to pay homage to sci-fi classics such as QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, before incoherently becoming a possession flick, then a nod to the 'enemy within' paranoia of THE THING, and eventually a zombie movie. You could become fixated on the dated FX work (miniature London landmarks being blown up, GHOSTBUSTERS-type electric bolt effects etc), or perhaps mutter at the theatrical facial expressions of Finlay and Firth - looking like Tim Vine's younger brother - who undermine any potential tension of every scene they're in.

Or you could embrace all of the above. Grab a beer and simply smile at a film that, yes, is a disaster. But in many ways a fabulous one. LIFEFORCE, you see, never flags - not even in its longer cut, which is almost 2 hours long.

Much has been made over the years of May. She is gorgeous here, and often naked - without wishing to sound overtly sexist, I can't think of a finer pair of breasts exposed on screen during the 1980s (Jamie Lee Curtis', perhaps, in TRADING PLACES?). She has a definite presence about her but is hardly required to act. That's left to Railsback, whose performance is so intensely OTT that it rivals Zalman King's in BLUE SUNSHINE. It's very entertaining, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

Mancini's score gets into the spirit of things and throws back to melodramatic 50s sci-fi B-movies, while minor gore and decent-for-their-time animatronic effects serve to remind us we're in the '80s. Stunt-work is often clumsy and workman-like, but at least it's plentiful: the action rarely lets up.

Quite what the film wants to be is anyone's guess. Hooper's lack of cohesive direction is embarrassing. Or, that is, it should be. In his favour, the film roars along from one exaggerated set-piece to the next and thus can't help but carve a smile on the faces of all but the most joyless.

Though recently released onto US blu-ray by Shout!'s Scream Factory chain, Arrow Films Video's 2-disc blu-ray set really does stake a most convincing claim to being the most definitive release of LIFEFORCE we're ever likely to see.

For a start, the film - presented in its complete 116-minute director's cut on disc 1 - looks amazing. The panoramic widescreen photography is honoured in its original aspect ratio, while vivid colours and amazing depth of detail finally make it possible to see the budget on the screen. Clean, pin-sharp and entirely filmic throughout, the 1080p presentation here truly is a thing of wonder.

English audio is provided in lossless PCM stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD mixes. Both deliver clean, robust playback. The latter has the clear edge, with intelligent channel balancing and meaty bass to accentuate Mancini's bombastic score.

Optional English subtitles are well-written and easy to read.

The main menu page on disc 1 is animated and set to the film's breathlessly melodramatic theme score. From there, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

Extra features on disc 1 begin with no less than three audio commentary tracks. The first finds Hooper in conversation with Tim Sullivan, originally recorded for the US release.

The director is more animated than usual here. I normally find his voice tedious, but Sullivan's enthusiasm does a good job of keeping Hooper lively throughout this packed track.

Nick Maley, make-up effects designer, is the subject of the next commentary track. Michael Felsher moderates Maley through what he thinks is his best work, despite his admission at times that the production had its troubles. A well-spoken Briton, Maley makes for an affable, engaging narrator.

The third commentary track comes from Douglas Smith (visual effects supervisor). Howard Berger is the moderator on this slightly more restrained, at times awkward chat.

"Cannon Fodder" is a fantastic 70-minute Making Of documentary which does a great job of filling in the blanks that the audio commentary tracks were too polite to delve into. Tales of drug-taking, crazy unapproachable direction and people not knowing what the fuck was going on on-set. Hooper comes across as truly eccentric, per his colleagues' recollections: permanently clutching a cigar and can of Dr Pepper, obsessing over the removal of May's pubic hair ... This is a fascinating, well-editing and slickly produced feature containing new interviews with plenty of original cast and crew members.

Ported over from the Scream Factory region A blu-ray, we get "Carlen's Curse" - a 7-minute chat with Railsback. He looks a tad like Ray Davies as he speaks about being typecast as a villain after making HELTER SKELTER, and finally being offered LIFEFORCE. This is a nice addition, as Railsback doesn't feature on the above documentary.

Also originally filmed for the Shout! release, "Space Vampires In London" sees Hooper in amiable mode as he speaks for 10 minutes about how he got to make the film. As in the "Cannon Fodder" feature, he retains high regard for Cannon Films.

Next up is a most welcome 15-minute interview with May. She came to the film as an 18 year-old ballerina from Paris who fancied breaking into films but couldn't speak a word of English. Here, she speaks the language fluently and looks great while she reminisces over her big break - and the less-than-comfortable shoot that ensued.

Finally, disc 1 proffers the original trailers for the film from distributors Tristar and Cannon. They're interesting to compare in terms of marketing.

Over on disc 2, we're treated to a 1080p HD rendition of the 101-minute theatrical cut. Complete with different opening titles, introductory text in place of the director's cut's narration and alternate music cues, this is far more than simply a shorter version of the film. Though, of course, it is that too. Does it play better? Maybe. Despite making even less sense than the longer version ...

This too comes with the same audio and video specifications as disc 1's film presentation, including optional English subtitles. Again, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

As is tradition with Arrow, the set also comes with a collector's booklet (unavailable for review purposes). The regular keepcase packaged release also comes with double-sided reversible cover art.

LIFEFORCE is a bad film. Like, MST3K bad. And yet, its combination of absurd performances, cringe-inducing dialogue and breakneck throwback action is difficult not to succumb to. I enjoyed it. A lot.

Arrow's release should have fans ejaculating. The presentations of both cuts of the film are outstanding; the extras are awesome. "Cannon Fodder" alone is one of the best Making Of features I've ever seen.

Also available as a limited edition Steelbook blu-ray release.

Review by Stuart Willis