Short Film Commentaries - LIFEFORCE

Short Film Commentaries
by Timothy Liebe

Lifeforce

Tobe Hooper’s “European Cut” (included in the Blu-Ray package) doesn’t turn Lifeforce into a classic, but it makes his intent to craft a homage to Nigel Kneale’s work, especially Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth in the US), much clearer than the (US) Theatrical Cut did. The added scenes ground Steve Railsback’s Col. Tom Carlsen so that when he seems to go off the rails later in the movie, we have a better understanding as to why he seems to be attacking people at random, and Peter Firth’s Col. Colin Caine also has enough additional development that we better comprehend why he so willingly backs Carlsen’s apparent irrationality.

The US version of the movie (also part of this Shout Factory set) comes off as disjointed and poorly-directed, while the European Cut feels much more of a piece, and some of the weirder scenes and performances come off as intentional comic relief. After watching the European Cut, I could see creating a series around Col. Caine as he investigates paranormal threats for MI-6 (which is kind of what happened to Firth with SPOOKS aka MI-5, absent the paranormal part).