The film writer Meg Shields returns to the podcast from Vancouver for a show to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Tobe Hooper’s schlock sci-fi horror masterpiece, Lifeforce.

Cannon Films’ big swing for the fences, Lifeforce had an astronomical budget for the time, with huge practical sets, hundreds of extras and innovative special effects from the great John Dykstra including massive miniature work and cutting-edge optical effects, all in the service of a bonkers tribute to Hammer horror. The runaway production was a cocaine-and-Dr Pepper-fueled vision of naked space vampires hiding in Halley’s Comet (led by the beautiful Mathilda May) who arrive on Earth and unleash havoc on the city of London.

We discuss 1955’s The Quatermass Xperiment and 1967’s Quatermass and The Pit, huge influences on John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper, before diving into the madness of Lifeforce, rejected by audiences in 1985 and setting off the eventual collapse of Cannon Films. We also compare the two cuts of the movie (as the American distributor Tri-Star changed the title from Space Vampires and shortened their version by 10 minutes against the director’s will) and how this crazy movie has stood the test of time to become a cult favourite.

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Follow Meg Shields on Bluesky.

Trailer for The Quatermass Xperiment aka The Creeping Unknown (Val Guest, 1955)

Trailer for Quatermass and the Pit (Roy Ward Baker, 1967)

Teaser trailer for Lifeforce (Tobe Hooper, 1985)

Full trailer for Lifeforce

“Cannon Fodder: The Making of Lifeforce” documentary (Calum Waddell, 2013)

Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself music video, directed by Tobe Hooper (1981)