Viewing: Lifeforce

[samanthabryant]

Yesterday's Retro date was to see Lifeforce, an 80s horror/scifi movie that I had never even heard of, but which Sweetman remembered fondly from his boyhood. If you've seen it, you probably remember it as "that one with the naked vampire lady from outer space."

It was, of course, a bit cheesy and dated in some ways, but overall I really enjoyed it. That naked vampire lady was Mathilde May and she was really rather amazing. That eerily smooth walk and quick changes in position definitely made you feel that she was not human; the physical/body acting was effective in a similar way to Elsa Lanchester's Bride of Frankenstein. The nudity actual made some scenes creepier and more frightening, like when the "space girl" (the character was never named) blew out a bunch of windows than just walked across the broken glass like it was a flower filled meadow.

I also really liked the puppet and special effects work with the desicated victims who came back to life. The eyes were better done than the production date would have led me to expect.

Very creative and interesting take on vampires. I may have to check out the source material, a novel called The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson.