General Witchfinders
39 - Lifeforce AKA Space Vampires
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Episode notes
Lifeforce (aka Space Vampires) is a 1985 science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, adapted by Dan O'Bannon (writer of Alien!) and Don Jakoby, and starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. It also features John Forbes-Robertson as ‘The Minister’ The film is based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel, The Space Vampires. It portrays the events that unfold after a trio of humanoids in a state of suspended animation are brought to Earth after being discovered in the hold of an alien spaceship. This was the first film of Hooper's three-picture deal with Cannon Films, the other two films are the remake of Invaders from Mars and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Prior to Lifeforce, Hooper was originally offered the script for E.T. but turned it down. Spielberg then suggested Hooper direct Poltergeist, a project he had written himself and had planned on directing. he took the job and Spielberg went on directed E.T. (and most people also believe Poltergeist as well) Before Hooper, Michael Winner was offered the Lifeforce director's gig, but it didn't work out. And Billy Idol said he had been offered a lead role as a vampire by Hooper, who had directed the video for "Dancing with Myself", but turned it down due to touring commitments. It has been suggested that this is a remake of Hammer Film Productions' Quatermass and the Pit. In an interview, director Tobe Hooper discussed how Cannon Films gave him $25 million, free rein, and Colin Wilson's book The Space Vampires. Hooper then shares how giddy he was: "I thought I'd go back to my roots and make a 70mm Hammer film." Hooper came up with the idea of using Halley's Comet in the screenplay, rather than the asteroid belt as originally used in the novel, as the comet was going to pass by Earth one year following the film's release. Colin Wilson, the author of the source material, was unhappy with the way the film turned out. He wrote of it, "John Fowles had once told me that the film of The Magus was the worst movie ever made. After seeing Lifeforce I sent him a postcard telling him that I had got one better." According to interviews with Bill Malin, who plays one of the male vampires, the film went over schedule during production. Because of this, some important scenes were never shot, and the film was shut down at one time because the studio had simply run out of money. The film marked the fourth project to feature special effects produced by Academy Award winner John Dykstra. Dykstra who has worked on 38 films including: Star Wars, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, Spider-Man 1 and 2, and the last three Tarantino films. His last IMDB credit is a fan man Spiderman film that is getting some heat because of racist slurs used by some of the cast whilst promoting the film. The umbrella-like alien spaceship was modelled after an artichoke, while the miniature London destroyed in the film was actually the remains of Tucktonia, a model village near Christchurch, United Kingdom, that had closed not long before the shooting of the film. The initial Director's cut was 128 minutes long. This is 12 minutes longer than the final version, which had several scenes cut, most of them taking place on the Space Shuttle Churchill. According to an interview he gave on the UK talk show Wogan in 1985, most of Nicholas Ball's performance ended up on the cutting room floor Mathilda May had to learn her lines phonetically, for her audition as Space Girl, because she didn't know any English at the time. She then went on to learn the language during the six months she spent in England on this movie. Patrick Stewart has said several times that Tobe Hooper was his favourite director to work with (which is rather unkind to Jonathan Frakes I thought).
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