TOBE HOOPER'S LIFEFORCE

Based on the 1976 novel, The Space Vampires, by Colin Wilson, Lifeforce (1985)was the first of a three picture deal Tobe Hooper had signed with Canon Films. It was also the follow up to his Steven Spielberg collaboration Poltergeist (1982). Hooper had made a name for himself with the notorious 1973 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 77's Eaten Alive, and 81's The Funhouse. Poltergeist, despite it's PG rating was a phenomenal film that split the difference between Spielberg and Hooper's aesthetics, giving us the goriest, scariest kid friendly film I've ever seen. Hooper was next set to tackle the living dead Return Of The Living Dead, which would have been called Tobe Hooper's Return Of The Living Dead, but left the project when the Canon deal came through. Writer Dan O'Bannon (who wrote the screenplay and wrote Alien) was brought on to direct and was also tapped by Hooper to adapt The Space Vampires.

Though it was a critical and financial bomb at the time, Lifeforce is an ambitious film with a sturdy cast, really good, if not great special effects, and a truckload of memorable moments. For me, it's only second to
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 as Hooper's most enjoyable film to watch. There are apparently some call backs to Hammer Films' Quatermass films, but I'm not familiar with those and can't speak to that, but I did catch some nods to Lifeforce in this summer's Universal The Mummy. Also, we've seen the idea of vampires from space before with Vampirella and Mario Bava's Planet Of The Vampires (which was one of the films that inspired O'Bannon's Alien). Lifeforce and Planet Of The Vampires would make an amazing double feature, by the way.

The story is about the space shuttle Churchill intercepting Haley's Comet to study it and discovering a 150 mile long spacecraft that's full of bat-like creatures and three pods each containing a nude humanoid, one female, two males. The pods are brought back on to the Churchill and thirty days later the Columbia is sent to rescue the Churchill which is drifting off course back to earth with no communications. The Columbia crew finds the ship gutted by fire with only the three pods remaining intact and bring them back to earth for study. As the original title suggests, space vampire wackiness ensues.

If you haven't seen Lifeforce, Scream Factory's Blu-ray is an absolute treat and I don't say that lightly. The colors and visual effects really pop in this restoration. As sci-fi horror flicks go, it tends to be a bit more bonkers than scary, but that just makes it more fun. O'Bannon's script is solid, and if anyone knows sci-fi horror, it's the guy that wrote frigging Alien! As a director, at least up to 93's Night Terrors, Hooper had been really solid and consistent, working in film and television. His filmography may not be as distinguished as John Carpenter's, but I think Hooper's less loved films, particularly Lifeforce and Invaders From Mars is due a reassessment. Even TCM2 tends to get some undue hate to this day.
Lifeforce stars Steven Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, and Patrick Stewart, but Mathilda May owns the film. Her bold, fully nude performance is without a doubt the centerpiece of the film. Her background in dance gave her the ability to move in a way that communicates both threat and allure. Lifeforce was her first feature and she barely spoke English, but you'd never know from her confident and commanding performance.

John Dykstra did the special effects, mixing puppetry, animation, and miniatures. Sometimes the effects look a bit dated, but no less charming and still beat out most CGI by a country mile.  Friday The 13th's Henry Mancini did the score with additional music from Michael Kamen (The Dead Zone, X-Men). I haven't read Wilson's novel, but apparently he hated the film. The Canon group was very excited about the project though and gave Hooper $25 million, in hopes of elevating the film above their usual low budget fare and getting the film taken seriously. Unfortunately, this wasn't meant to be as critics and fans didn't get it and didn't care and the film flopped, not even making back half its budget. But like Halloween III, Lifeforce is simply too good of a film to be relegated to the dustbin of history and has been kept alive by a steady cult following. Any flaws the film has are minor compared to its many strengths.

    

"THE TRIBE'S OF THE MOON EMBRACE YOU" NIGHTBREED DIRECTOR'S CUT IS AMAZING

The thing that I connected with Nightbreed the first time I saw it on VHS almost twenty five years ago was the story of outsiders fighting rednecks. I came from a small town and grew up getting bullied by jocks and rednecks on a daily basis. For a while I had shaggy hair and listened to metal and later I cut my hair short and listened to punk, but I always had my nose stuck in a book. I stuck out like a sore thumb and was punished for it. I always wanted a Midian to escape into.
For those unfamiliar with Nightbreed, it's based on Clive Barker's novel Cabal and tells the story of a troubled man named Boone, who is framed for a series of gruesome murders. He's unsure of his own innocence and tries to escape to Midian, a place where monsters are rumored to dwell and all your sins can be forgiven. I don't want to give away too much more of the plot and ruin any surprises, I think this is enough to get you going.
This was a film for all of us who got called faggot, freak,  and pussy and had nothing but dread at the beginning of each day for what abuse lay ahead. The producers wanted a monster movie and didn't understand the monsters weren't the bad guys. Did they read the book? So they took the film away and changed it and released a lesser film than author/director Clive Barker had originally made. (I want to make it clear though; regardless of what faults may have lain with the original cut, I always loved it.) As a result the film fared poorly, but gained a cult following that grew over the last quarter century.
A couple of years ago we got the Occupy Midian movement, with fans demanding the release of a director's cut, or Cabal Cut, and the announcement that there would indeed be a director's cut coming to Blu Ray. It felt like another twenty five years between the announcement and Scream Factory's release of Nightbreed the director's cut, but by god it was worth the wait.
Until now I've only watched Nightbreed on VHS, so the Blu Ray adds an even greater feel of "newness" and the there's the more than 40 minutes of new footage. It's bigger, deeper, more sweeping, and beautiful and still just as mean and scary. I rented Nightbreed the week it came out on VHS originally and read it's source novel, Cabal, immediately afterwards and of all of Clive Barker's work it's my favorite of his stories. So this release definitely has a great emotional weight for me, and I'm so grateful to Scream Factory, Mark Allan Miller, Andrew Furtado, and everyone else who helped bring Barker's original vision back to life.
As far as a critique goes, I've got nothing bad to say about this film, at all. Except that it's too short and I want a sequel. If there is anything wrong with Nightbreed, I've been blind to it all along. Some people have knocked director David Cronenberg's performance as Dr. Decker as wooden, but I think that was purposeful, because he's far from wooden once he dons the  mask, before doing so he's cold, clinical, detatched-as if he's trying to force a 'normal' facade until he can put his real face back on.
Living in your true face is one of the themes running through Nightbreed. Narcisse (Hugh Ross) tells Boone (Craig Sheffer) he needs to show him (Boone) his true face and the residents of Midian spend there lives hiding from the daylight and the 'natural' world. As a metaphor that reaches across a wide cross section of marginalized people.
For me, coming from a small minded small town, a broken home and living under strict rules against having long hair and listening to certain music or wearing certain kinds of clothing, Nightbreed really resonated with me. Eventually punk rock became my Midian and I started living at night more and more until putting on a work short and combing my hair down felt like putting on a mask.
Nightbreed is the type of sweeping epic we need more of in the horror genre. With so many mindless zombie, remake/reboots and cookie cutter found footage films out there, Nightbreed is a breath of fresh air and sets a standard to strive for.

Out Today...

• The Theatrical Version and the Television Cut with added footage not seen in the theatrical version
• Audio commentary with director Rick Rosenthal
• Audio commentary with stunt co-ordinator/actor Dick Warlock
• The Nightmare Isn’t Over – The Making Of Halloween II, featuring Rick Rosenthal, Lance Guest, Dick Warlock, Alan Howarth, Dean Cundey and more..
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: Revisiting the original shooting locations
• Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer, TV and Radio Spots

• Audio Commentaries — In the first track, director Tommy Lee Wallace is joined by fans Robert V. Galluzzo from Icons of Fright and Sean Clark of Horror Hound magazine. The discussion is mostly a Q&A commentary as Rob and Sean keep instigating Wallace to keep talking while also interjecting a few choice remarks in between by Rob and Sean. Although not very engaging with a few pockets of silence, there is a very good deal of insightful information being related, mostly on the cast, origins of several ideas and locations.
  
  In the second audio track, documentary filmmaker and producer of the DVD Michael Felsher sits down with actor Tom Atkins. More entertaining and lighthearted than the first, the two men clearly enjoy each other's company while talking about the movie's legacy and a bit on its history. There's nary a moment of silence as Atkins shares lots of great memories and his eventual involvement with this production. Of the two, this is arguably the better, but they're both honestly good commentaries with a great fan-made appeal to them.


• Stand Alone: The Making of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (HD, 33 min) — Presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the new retrospective documentary is a surprisingly frank discussion on the plot and the production. With several recent interviews of key players, everyone involved shares a wealth of great memories and anecdotes of the cast & crew while also giving honest critiques of the movie and characters. Comments of the finished product and its legacy towards the end are the highlight of the doc.


• Horror's Hallowed Grounds: The Locations of Halloween III (HD, 20 minutes) — Sean Clark of Horror Hound magazine takes fans on an awesome tour of the various locations where the movie was filmed as they appear today with a great unexpected appearance from Wallace.


• Still Gallery (HD) — A large collection of promotional pictures and production stills.


• Publicity (1080i/60, HD) — Two TV spots, one commercial for the television premiere, a cool teaser and the original theatrical preview.