For tonight’s movie I’m going back to the 80’s for a movie I somehow missed back in the day, the Tobe Hooper directed sci-fi vampire movie from 1985 “Life Force”. Based on Colin Wilson’s book “The Space Vampires” and adapted into a screenplay by the great Dan O’Bannon (Writer on “Alien”, “Return of the Living Dead” and “Total Recall” as well as one of last Octobers films “Dead and Buried”). The other name of note behind the screen is Henry Mancini providing the score, not a name I expected to see on an 80’s science fiction horror.
The film stars Steve Rallsback as Col. Tom Carlsen and Peter Firth as Col. Colin Caine, with support from Frank Finlay as Dr. Hans Fallada, Mathilda May as the Space Vampire Girl and has little cameo from Patrick Stewart (Who popped up in a lot of sci-fi and fantasy even before Star Trek). Let’s dig in to the plot summary (Which has some spoilers, but doesn’t blow the ending). Be aware this is a dense plot and I’m compacting it for the summary (So it may sound rushed).
October Review Challenge – Day 13
The movie begins with the Space Shuttle “Curchill” discovering a derelict ship while investigating Hailey’s Comet. On inspection they find the bodies of bat like creatures and three humanoids (including one particularly attractive female), in suspended animation. The crew decide to bring these back to Earth but on the way mission control loses contact with the ship.
A rescue mission discovers the ship has been gutted by fire, the escape pod is missing but the three alien humanoids are intact and so at taken to earth. On Earth the female alien awakens and drains the life force out of a guard before escaping. The other two aliens similarly revive but appear to get blown up by grenades. It seems though every victim of this female vampire would return from the dead two hours later and be compelled to feed on another life form or turn to dust, then in turn any they feed on will also turn. Effectively putting a zombie like element into the film. Col Caine of the S.A.S. is called in to take charge of the situation.
Space Vampires From Space!
Meanwhile the escape pod touches down in Texas with Col. Carsen inside. Carsen is flown to London where he explains what happened to the crew (Short story, it never ends well for people transferring vampires to a new home), but through hypnotism they learn that he has a psychic connection to the female vampire and they utilise this to try and track her down.
It is discovered that these vampires can move into other bodies, meaning all three are still alive and in new bodies. Fortunately though Dr. Fallada has found a way to kill them. This leads us to the final act, where the Vampires ship has moved into an orbit above London and it seems the whole thing is about collecting human souls. Carsen and Caine must stop them before it’s too late.
Quatermass and the Soul Thieves
While watching the movie it was clear to me what Hooper was going for and that was a Quatermass style British sci-fi. Indeed so much so, I had to check if Nigel Kneale was involved somewhere (He wasn’t). If you aren’t familiar with the franchise, it was originally created by Kneale in the 1950’s for the BBC and ran as three separate serials all with a sci-fi/horror theme. Bernard Quatermass was the central character of these.
Sadly most of these are lost or in a bad state due to the BBC not looking after their archived material back in the day. However Hammer Studios remade all three serials as movies between 1955 and 1967 and these are generally what people think of when they talk about Quatermass. The final movie “Quatermass and the Pit” is probably the most famous and it’s a real cracker!
Style and Substance
As it happens I’m not the first person to notice this similarity and it seems in interviews with Hooper, this was exactly what he was going for. Apparently as soon as the deal was done he was determined to make a Hammer style film. That may explain the very British cast and setting and also why the movies conclusion is so similar to that of Quatermass and the Pitt.
As a Quatermass/Kneale fan I appreciate the style and flow of the movie. The plot while perhaps a little over complicated does it’s job and allows for a steady flow of information and increase of dramatic tension. However against this there is the characters and I can’t say I found any of them particularly interesting. Col. Carlsen has no real personality outside his obsession with the Lady Vampire and while Peter Firth attempts his best Quatermass, but the character doesn’t have the strength of personality to really work. It felt like Carsen was the lead in this, but it probably should have been Caine.
Epic Space Opera
The soundtrack is as I expected, rather good. It does however push much more in the direction of epic science fiction than horror. It’s interesting to note that James Horner was originally down to do the score, but was replaced by Mancini who then created a soundtrack very similar to Horner’s work. That’s not to say that it is a rip off, it’s a bit smoother and less aggressive than Horner’s space operas, but it is just very much of that 1980’s epic space adventure feel.
Honestly, if you get a chance just listen to the soundtrack sometime, then you can really appreciate it (I’m listening while writing this review). While it gains points for quality, I’m not convinced it was the best fit for a movie that was really a lot more down to earth than the “Space Vampires” premise may lead you to believe.
Right Film, Wrong Time?
I can’t help but feel though that 1985 was probably not the right time for this kind of a movie. Some of the effects have aged badly (though not a big issue for me) and perhaps would have been better had the film been made in the 90’s, but the audience would probably have been more susceptible to a Quatermass style of film in the 1970’s. I have no doubt the audiences in 1985 did not want this and no doubt it is why the movie flopped, but fortunately over time it has found an audience to appreciate it and become a cult hit.
Conclussion
Overall, I have to say I liked the film, but it’s one I can see not being everyone’s cup of tea and ultimately I won’t be adding this to my physical media collection. I like the style, I love the music and I quite like the plot, but I don’t care about any of the characters so I can’t push this up to a 7/10. I think this just about hits the 6.5 mark.
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