The trouble with Lifeforce<\/em> began with the script, which Hooper admits on the 2013 Scream Factory release (upgraded to 4K last year) was still being written while cameras were rolling. Of the two credited screenwriters, Dan O\u2019Bannon was hired because he had worked on Return of the Living Dead<\/em> while Hooper was attached to direct it. (When Hooper jumped ship to Cannon, O\u2019Bannon replaced him in the director\u2019s chair.) Along with his writing partner Don Jakoby, O\u2019Bannon took on the task of translating Wilson\u2019s cerebral novel, which has deep discussions about all kinds of vampirism, into cinematic terms. They also transposed its story, set in the far-off future of 2076, to the present day. Not only did this avert production headaches \u2013 $25 million was a lot of money, but it would only stretch so far \u2013 it also allowed the film to incorporate Hooper\u2019s idea of tying in Halley\u2019s Comet, which was set to return the year after its release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While they invented a more apocalyptic finale than the one in the novel, O\u2019Bannon and Jakoby kept the opening mostly intact, changing the spaceship Hermes<\/em> to the Space Shuttle Churchill<\/em> and having it discover an alien craft in the coma of Halley\u2019s Comet rather than an asteroid field. Once the crew decides to bring back three of its occupants (found in suspended animation), the film diverges wildly from the book. Instead of being branded a hero, as the commander of the Hermes<\/em> is, the Churchill<\/em>\u2019s Col. Carlsen disappears for an entire reel while his ship is found approaching Earth with no one at the controls and three unidentified humanoids in the hold. When the Churchill<\/em>\u2019s escape pod is found with Carlsen alive inside, he describes what happened during the return trip \u2013 a sequence reminiscent of the log of the captain of the Demeter<\/em>, to which Bram Stoker devotes a chapter of Dracula<\/em> \u2013 but by that time all hell has already broken loose at London\u2019s Space Research Centre (along with one of the aliens, which are revealed to be energy vampires).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also impressive are the special visual effects, supervised by Academy Award winner John Dykstra, although many of the shots of the interior of the alien ship were trimmed down in the theatrical version to get through the first act that much faster. (Fully half of the cuts are in the first 34 minutes.) Likewise lost in the shuffle was much of Henry Mancini\u2019s score, such that he shares his title screen with Michael Kamen and James Guthrie, who are credited with additional music. Cannon and TriStar\u2019s alterations did little to enhance Lifeforce<\/em>\u2019s commercial prospects, however, and in a summer crowded with would-be blockbusters, it crashed and burned, grossing less than half its budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In spite of Lifeforce<\/em>\u2019s failure at the box office, a three-picture deal with Cannon was a three-picture deal, so Hooper got to do his effects-heavy remake of Invaders from Mars<\/em> (again scripted by O\u2019Bannon and Jakoby, with visual effects by Dykstra) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2<\/em>, which returned him to his down-and-dirty roots. Jakoby, meanwhile, was drafted to write Cannon\u2019s notorious Death Wish 3<\/em>, and eventually penned the screenplay for John Carpenter\u2019s Vampires<\/em>, which shares many thematic elements with Lifeforce<\/em>. Just no naked space vampires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLifeforce\u201d is available to stream, rent, or purchase on <\/em>a variety of outlets<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lifeforce2-1024x576.jpg\")
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Few would deny that the main reason for Lifeforce<\/em>\u2019s cult (outside of Tobe Hooper completists) is the performance of Mathilda May as the Space Girl, who spends the majority of her screen time unclothed. (Unsurprisingly, Hooper had great difficulty casting the role.) As such, May tends to overshadow the contributions of some of the other actors, but the ensemble \u2013 led by Steve Railsback as the haunted Col. Carlsen \u2013 is top-notch, treating the material with the utmost seriousness and not allowing it to tip over into camp. And while her male counterparts don\u2019t get as much of an opportunity to strut their stuff before being blown to bits, their physiques are similarly impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n