Todd.pasa@Xerox.ARPA (07/01/85)
From: Todd.pasa@Xerox.ARPA
from Donald.Schmitz@CMU-RI-ARM
> the new movie Life Force, which had what I considered a good preview
and touts lots of people from big name movies, is in actuallity a poor B
movie. The plot has been blatantly ripped off from Alien and Dawn of the
Dead
I have not seen this film, but I understand that it is an adaptation of
an absolutely dreadful Colin Wilson novel called /The Space Vampires/.
(which predates Alien and Dawn of the Dead). It would not surprise me a
bit if Life Force was similarly horrid. The part about having lots of
big-name actors disturbs me though. It seems like the only SF films
(this one should probably be better classed as Sci-Fi) that get any
consistently decent actors nowadays are the ones that suck. Vehicles.
Give 'em lots of nifty special effects and the writers don't REALLY need
to paid that much, do they? Gah.
- JohnnyT
"In space, no one can hear you blow chunks."leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (07/02/85)
LIFEFORCE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Everybody is saying that the big science fiction film of the summer is
COCOON. I have heard very little negative comment on COCOON and very little
positive comment on LIFEFORCE. Based on this I get a strong impression that
LIFEFORCE is not a film I should recommend. Let me say then as a minority
opinion that for me LIFEFORCE is THE big film of the summer and that it is
the kind of film that I wish more people were making.
The filmmakers have remembered that what makes a science fiction film
is ideas and showing the viewer visually the effects of these ideas. You
will see sights that could only occur in science fiction films. Unlike in
TERMINATOR, you won't see car chases that could be from a "Dirty Harry"
film. You won't see Don Ameche break-dancing either. You will see a
science fiction/horror/fantasy film with science fiction or horror or
fantasy in virtually every frame of the film. There is too much story here
to fiddle around with cute characters or standard human drama.
This is not to say that the film is totally original--far from it.
There are elements of FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH, ALIEN, DAWN OF THE DEAD,
GHOST BUSTERS, a number of 1950's British science fiction films, even
DRACULA, but there is also a great deal of metaphysical speculation that
belongs to this film alone.
LIFEFORCE is a film that has more right with it than wrong, and it has
more wrong with it than a film like COCOON has right or wrong. This is a
film densely packed with ideas and visual effects. The story begins with an
expedition to Halley's Comet discovering a 150-mile-long spacecraft filled
with dead aliens, Yes, in some senses it is not all that different from
ALIEN. And it stays like ALIEN for a good five or ten minutes. But while
you are watching the film, don't think you have it pegged as a particular
kind of film; it won't stay that way for long.
John Dykstra, who was pivotal in the special effects of STAR WARS,
created the effects for LIFEFORCE and they stand as a showcase of just about
every special effects' technique seen in modern fantasy films. The story
calls for blue screen effects, for laser light effects, for some effects I
don't even know the names for. There are also make-up/model/prosthetic
effects and those play an important role in the film.
Along with Dykstra there is an odd collection of familiar names
associated with this film. It was directed by Tobe Hooper, who directed
such diverse films as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, 'SALEM'S LOT, and
POLTERGEIST. It was produced by Golan and Globus, two Israelis who usually
do films of the Chuck Norris ilk with pricetags a good deal beneath this
film's $23 million budget. The screenplay was co-authored by Dan O'Bannon,
known for DARK STAR, ALIEN, BLUE THUNDER, and STAR CHAMBER. The source
material was the novel THE SPACE VAMPIRES by Colin Wilson, a philosopher who
is a sometimes science fiction writer. The surprisingly riveting score is
by Henry Mancini (of all people), who used to score such horror films as
TARANTULA but is better known for soft music such as "Moon River" or "Days
of Wine and Roses." The film stars Steve Railsback (Manson in HELTER
SKELTER, and THE STUNT MAN), Peter Firth (the disturbed boy from EQUUS), and
Frank Finlay (who played Van Helsing in the PBS/BBC version of COUNT
DRACULA). LIFEFORCE was released by Tri-Star, the film-making arm of Home
Boxoffice.
The reason that LIFEFORCE runs into problems is that there is simply
too much story for a 101-minute film. Often the plot line becomes cryptic.
The viewer often sees something that is clearly spectacular, but also is a
little hard to interpret. Some scenes of destruction become a little
repetitive, but are required to convey the scope of the events of the film.
In general the plot runs quickly and in several unexpected directions.
LIFEFORCE will not do well at the boxoffice and most who see it will
not care for it. Still, it is a remarkable and an unusual film. I gave it
a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale on leaving the theater, but on some reflection I
might drop that to a +2. But I had a whale of a good time and a lot more
pleasure out of LIFEFORCE than I got out of E. T., STARMAN, and COCOON
combined. This is a film for a narrow audience, but I found it straight on
target.
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeperJAFFE@RUTGERS.ARPA (07/08/85)
From: mtgzz!leeper (m.r.leeper)
LIFEFORCE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Everybody is saying that the big science fiction film of the summer is
COCOON. I have heard very little negative comment on COCOON and very little
positive comment on LIFEFORCE. Based on this I get a strong impression that
LIFEFORCE is not a film I should recommend. Let me say then as a minority
opinion that for me LIFEFORCE is THE big film of the summer and that it is
the kind of film that I wish more people were making.
The filmmakers have remembered that what makes a science fiction film
is ideas and showing the viewer visually the effects of these ideas. You
will see sights that could only occur in science fiction films. Unlike in
TERMINATOR, you won't see car chases that could be from a "Dirty Harry"
film. You won't see Don Ameche break-dancing either. You will see a
science fiction/horror/fantasy film with science fiction or horror or
fantasy in virtually every frame of the film. There is too much story here
to fiddle around with cute characters or standard human drama.
This is not to say that the film is totally original--far from it.
There are elements of FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH, ALIEN, DAWN OF THE DEAD,
GHOST BUSTERS, a number of 1950's British science fiction films, even
DRACULA, but there is also a great deal of metaphysical speculation that
belongs to this film alone.
LIFEFORCE is a film that has more right with it than wrong, and it has
more wrong with it than a film like COCOON has right or wrong. This is a
film densely packed with ideas and visual effects. The story begins with an
expedition to Halley's Comet discovering a 150-mile-long spacecraft filled
with dead aliens, Yes, in some senses it is not all that different from
ALIEN. And it stays like ALIEN for a good five or ten minutes. But while
you are watching the film, don't think you have it pegged as a particular
kind of film; it won't stay that way for long.
John Dykstra, who was pivotal in the special effects of STAR WARS,
created the effects for LIFEFORCE and they stand as a showcase of just about
every special effects' technique seen in modern fantasy films. The story
calls for blue screen effects, for laser light effects, for some effects I
don't even know the names for. There are also make-up/model/prosthetic
effects and those play an important role in the film.
Along with Dykstra there is an odd collection of familiar names
associated with this film. It was directed by Tobe Hooper, who directed
such diverse films as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, 'SALEM'S LOT, and
POLTERGEIST. It was produced by Golan and Globus, two Israelis who usually
do films of the Chuck Norris ilk with pricetags a good deal beneath this
film's $23 million budget. The screenplay was co-authored by Dan O'Bannon,
known for DARK STAR, ALIEN, BLUE THUNDER, and STAR CHAMBER. The source
material was the novel THE SPACE VAMPIRES by Colin Wilson, a philosopher who
is a sometimes science fiction writer. The surprisingly riveting score is
by Henry Mancini (of all people), who used to score such horror films as
TARANTULA but is better known for soft music such as "Moon River" or "Days
of Wine and Roses." The film stars Steve Railsback (Manson in HELTER
SKELTER, and THE STUNT MAN), Peter Firth (the disturbed boy from EQUUS), and
Frank Finlay (who played Van Helsing in the PBS/BBC version of COUNT
DRACULA). LIFEFORCE was released by Tri-Star, the film-making arm of Home
Boxoffice.
The reason that LIFEFORCE runs into problems is that there is simply
too much story for a 101-minute film. Often the plot line becomes cryptic.
The viewer often sees something that is clearly spectacular, but also is a
little hard to interpret. Some scenes of destruction become a little
repetitive, but are required to convey the scope of the events of the film.
In general the plot runs quickly and in several unexpected directions.
LIFEFORCE will not do well at the boxoffice and most who see it will
not care for it. Still, it is a remarkable and an unusual film. I gave it
a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale on leaving the theater, but on some reflection I
might drop that to a +2. But I had a whale of a good time and a lot more
pleasure out of LIFEFORCE than I got out of E. T., STARMAN, and COCOON
combined. This is a film for a narrow audience, but I found it straight on
target.
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeperboyajian%akov68.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (08/03/85)
From: boyajian%akov68.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
This is long overdue. I wanted to give my opinions on LIFEFORCE
a month ago, but wanted some time to think through just what I
thought of it. Besides, I read and enjoyed the novel on which it
was based --- Colin Wilson's THE SPACE VAMPIRES --- back when it
first came out about 10 years ago, and I wanted to re-read it in
order to see how close the movie was to the book.
When I saw it, I was given one of those ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
rating cards, and I ended up giving the movie a "C". I thought it
was an OK movie, but not as good as I'd hoped.
Wilson, like Whitley Strieber later did in THE HUNGER, gave the
vampire a science fictional rather than a supernatural background.
Again, like Strieber, he had the vampires drain human's life force
rather than blood. Wilson's novel was a mixture of criminal
psychology, sex, alien invasion, vampirism, and a touch of Lovecraft.
Tobe Hooper (the director of the film) took the superficial aspects
of the novel and made a Grade B monster movie out of it. What is
surprising is that Hooper (and writers Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby)
was quite faithful to the ideas, concept, and many of the details
of the novel. Nevertheless, the feel of the film was that of a
simple monster movie.
The story would have been fine, but I had three major quibbles.
First, that Fallada, the Eminent Scientist, constantly lept to wild
conclusions about the aliens with no evidence to support him. The
novel had such, but the details of his (and Commander Carlsen's)
investigation were skimped over in the movie. Secondly, the vampires
were dispatched in so hackneyed a manner. And thirdly, the whole
Halley's Comet bit was just too topical. What bothered me about it
was that it sets the movie in 1986 rather than some nebulous near
future, which strained my credulity a little too much. Face it, we
just don't have the technology for a manned trip to Halley's Comet.
The acting, other than that of Fallada (played by Frank Finlay ---
Porthos from the Musketeer movies) and Colonel Kane (Peter Firth ---
whose name is familiar, but I can't place him), was abyssmal.
Marie Mayer, who played the lead vampire, wasn't a very good actor,
but she had an unearthly (very appropriately) beauty that was quite
striking.
The special effects were uneven, but when they were good, they were
spectacular! The animation of the corpses (especially the scene where
one of the corpses fills out back into life while his victim shrivels
up into a new corpse) was terrific.
All in all, though I had some problems with it, there was enough in
the film that I liked to feel that my time and money were not wasted.
P.S. It struck me that the scenes of chaos in London were very similar
to the end scenes in FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH. I wonder if Hooper
meant this as an hommage.
--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)
UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA