film #30 of hoop-tober 2.0 lifeforce is a great idea for a film that fails in the story execution. tobe hooper's sci-fi horror flick has some great special effects and an effective concept of vampires as energy-draining space creatures, but there's just too much goofiness to take seriously. foremost among those elements is the idea that protagonist tom carlsen, played by steve railsback as if he was honey-glazed, has a psychic link to mathilda may's female vampire. while an interesting idea, it mostly serves to provide clunky exposition and to muddle carlson's motives which just drags down the potential fun of the plot. the rest of the acting isn't much better. may has the screen presence but is mostly defined her by the fact that she spends most of the film fully naked. peter firth displays a workmanlike attitude to his performance and no one else in the cast registers as particularly important. hooper takes the film all too seriously considering the crazy concept; he gives it an almost ponderous quality until the over-the-top climax. it must be said again however that the effects work is pretty spectacular for a low-budget film of its level, especially in regard to the desiccated victims of the space vampires. it was a noble idea, but this one is ultimately another example of how the '80s was a bad time for genre filmmaking.