Revisit: Lifeforce

A TriStar Pictures release 1985

Directed by Tobe Hooper

Written by Dan O'Bannon & Don Jakoby
Based on the novel by Colin Wilson

A space shuttle mission investigating Halley's Comet brings back a malevolent race of space vampires.



80's horror masters Wes Craven, John Carpenter, George Romero, and Tobe Hooper all enjoyed mixing pop genres with psychoanalytic sex, and Lifeforce is no exception -- in fact, it's entirely built upon that idea. Combining elements from Alien, Night of the Living Dead, and Nosferateu, Lifeforce happily borrows elements from sci-fi to horror and throws a bit of eroticism in the mix to create a silly mess of genre conventions, B-level special effects, and sexual commentary. The Species-like plot follows two British Secret Agents as they try to track down a (very) naked girl-alien-vampire-from-space who's sucking the life out of the unknowing public and turning her victims into bone-dry zombies who crave souls.

Really, this movie is only worth your time if you fall into any of these categories:

1) You're a sucker for mixed horror/sci-fi genre fare or enjoy the lesser known work of famed horror directors.

2) Constantly topless women and an insane amount of B-level special effects (explosions, people turning to dust, zombies, etc.) is your idea of a good time.

Keep an eye open for a young Patrick Stewart, and the fantastically hilarious faces he makes throughout the film.

Revisit: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

A Warner Brothers picture 1985

Directed by:
George Miller
George Ogilvie

Writing Credits:
Terry Hayes &
George Miller


Mad Max (Mel Gibson) is a former cop who finds himself in a post-apocolyptic desert town called Bartertown. He is hired by the leader of the city to fight in a gladiator like arena called Thunderdome, so he can kill Auntie's (Tina Turner) rival Master Mlaster. Later banished, Max finds a group of children that survived a plane crash during the war. Some of the children leave to find their fabled tomorrowmorrow land, so Mad Max has to save them from the desert and from Auntie's Bartertown.



Absurdity abounds in this third installment in Mel Gibson's post-apocalyptic Mad Max series. The Thunderdome sequence is cool as hell, and the car chases are sweet, but this thing starts sucking whenever it tries to go "Beyond Thunderdome". Coherence and logic are not one of the film's friends. And another thing - why do women find Mel Gibson attractive? The man grunts and groans his way through this flick looking like the missing link. I mean, I guess if you like illiterate drunk Australian douchebags you'd find him attractive. But at least its got some strange ideas (Tina Turner as the evil queen?!) and funny moments (Mel Gibson almost kills a retard!). They don't really make ridiculous action flicks like this anymore - insincere and totally insane - so the humor and spunk are definitely something to cherish.