There is a sub-history when it comes to Tobe Hooper films, the man had been famous for a few standouts that caught the public eye (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist, Salem's Lot, etc...), but the best stuff, where he really got to run wild, the movies that often went unnoticed or fizzled out of existence, are some of the most shocking and unique films you could ever see. Now, I didn't check out Lifeforce because of his recent passing, it was more to do with me searching through 80's SciFi trailers online. But me watching it has lead me to a deeper appreciation of what he's done, and a desire to seek out some of those more obscure works of his, so expect to see more of that here on Forever Phantasy. Lifeforce is a explosive adaptation of Colin Wilson's The Space Vampires, full of brutality, sexuality, wild effects, and surprisingly good storytelling. Sadly, it never really captured the story of the book proper and so, was shunned by fans and the author himself. Media outlets saw it as little more than big-budget exploitation, as the movie is full of nudity (mainly the breasts and butt of Mathilda May), death, explosions aplenty, and a rather hilarious scene where Steve Railsback kisses Patrick Stewart - surely meant to be shocking, but it just made me laugh uncontrollably for a good two minutes. Essentially it is about Vampires from space, they've been to earth before, and this is why legends and myths of vampires exist. And, that is probably the simplest thing about the movie. Lifeforce almost a role-reversal on Dracula, whereas the male becomes hopelessly ensnared in the vampire female's grasp. A straight talking, overly serious SAS operative acts as the movie's Van Helsing. Seeing a man corrupted by a female, drawn into a maddening existence where one can see the darkest desires of those around them, is genuinely interesting. Sexuality and deviancy is used against every person, shown as a weakness, and even the audience is included in this equation. Mathilda May's full-on nude figure is used constantly shown throughout this movie, she is almost always naked. And a lot of the film draws attention to her very attractive form, clearly being used to drawn the attention of either those interested in seeing it, or offended by sheer amount of nudity - no matter what, people are watching her. However, because of this, the other vampires - nude males, are left to run free. Everyone's attention, characters and viewers, is drawn to May. And so, this leads to the vampires plan's coming to fruition and the world falling to pieces. The only character's truly able to combat the situation are those with the willpower to act beyond themselves, their base desires. How does it all end? A little goofy but effectively nonetheless. I can't help but wonder if Tobe Hooper's aim for this film was to expose the weakness in physical desire, and the destruction a lack of willpower can bring. His films have always used the baser aspects of humanity to shock the audience, be it hunger, curiosity, or ignorance. It isn't so hard to think so. Even if not, you've got a movie full of great practical effects, action scenes, and monsters. More than enough to keep a SciFi or horror buff occupied. -L. BROOKS
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Numenera: The Night Claive releases this November. Keep an eye out if you're interested... Muad'dib bless your soul. Numenera is a franchise which includes both a pen-and-paper RPG and PC game, two things I really like. And, now, it seems that the creators have some idea about getting into novelizations - much like Dungeons and Dragons, Dragonlance, and, for a little while, Magic: The Gathering. The idea is great, I love when a franchise based on a book-contained game works to expand its universe and express the function of character classes and their places within this imagined world. Sadly sometimes the idea and vision doesn't always translate well or is handled badly by the writer at hand. I couldn't tell you which is the case with Numenera: The Night Clave, as it's co-written, apparently, by the creator, but for everything this book strives to be - it fails to do much more than be annoying. No doubt, there is a lot of passion behind this novel. A lot of attention to the details of the world, but that all falls flat as the story is utterly forgettable. It all begins with an assassination plot, of a man who may or may not be evil, or maybe he is just evil to the characters at hand. It is honestly hard to tell what the motivations or exact goings-ons are as the writing tends to be over bloated and circular in execution. If a character has even one indication of a prior event, even something as mundane as preparation, then you are immediately presented with a bulk of expository information about something else that happened, or paragraphs upon paragraphs of equipment descriptions. The first chapter took me almost an hour to read, page upon page of this - meanwhile the characters at hand have literally done nothing besides move to a position and fire. There is just way too much exposition and, sadly, things do not get better. Continuing on, viewpoints switch, and you have to deal with a character who is written in spotty sentences. For. Some. Reason. I think it’s to provide a sense of urgency, but I didn’t feel it worked at all. Not to mention, there are still expository instances abound and it’s a layered event - the same thing is still going on as before, just another character is coming to make some change in that particular instance. Worse yet, the same details are mentioned over and over again, merely paragraphs from each other: he’s about to fire the launcher, he’s going to fire the launcher, I can’t watch him firing that launcher, I got to go the guy with the launcher. As much as I want to get into this book, I’m just pulled out completely by redundancy and poor stylistic choices. Horrible writing and pacing aside, the characters are not much more than generic slates and flat, blank, characters. Perhaps this is due to the RPG being based on character creation and classes, but characters cannot just be the weapons and things they carry, or the powers they have. They need to have some real substance, and being mad at the bad guy, the only dilemma being if he’s truly good or bad, is weak at best. The setting, as well, is all over the place. Everything but the kitchen sink is thrown into the equation, and when the given writer can’t explain something, they simply say that whatever an element is, the character didn’t understand the purpose - so it just can’t be explained (didn’t stop every single other little thing from being explained). You can tell that, whomever the cover artist was, they really couldn’t get past the fatty boring chapters and instead opted to describe the setting of the first chapter. Why not, it’s there for way longer than it should be anyhow. Numenera, what a place I’d like to learn about! But I couldn’t with this book, instances of the game's mechanics are here but they are the peanut butter on a hair sandwich. Yes, that metaphor was bad - but at least you didn’t have to read about for an eternity. I’ll take the sandwich over this book any day. -L. BROOKS As I peel back the pages of Frank Herbert's Dune, I can't help but think of how I came to read the magnificent story within. You see, Dune, when I was a young man spending my free time in libraries at lunchtimes rather then participating in the usual social activities, was little more then a interesting cover among hundreds. I had been to many schools, and they'd had little fear of stocking more adult titles (long before school libraries had strict rules on the content they provided), but the book had always appeared. Sadly, my focus was more on books that depicted monstrous creatures and massive battles, on the cover, because at that age I hadn't realized how clever book covers could be - rarely reflecting the content within. Therein, I'd completely missed out on Dune, and countless other amazing titles. It was SciFi's Dune that had captured my interest in the movies, even though I'd felt that the marketing for this particular entry was completely deceptive (William Hurt is barely in the mini-series, even though some versions call it 'William Hurt's Dune', what do you expect for a Scifi movie though? Am I right?). This had mostly been because I didn't understand what was going on, and I'd heard a bit about there being a Dune movie with tonnes of wild practical effects and grim atmosphere. Clearly, this wasn't the movie I'd heard about, but I did eventually discover Twin Peaks, and through that David Lynch - eventually leading me back to the 1984 version of Dune. I've got to say, though the SciFi adaption of Dune does have far less offensive discrepancies when it comes to the source material, this version is far more interesting, risky, and full of design choices I can't help but adore. David Lynch does present a far more structured story then most else he's made (aside from maybe The Straight Story), but he keeps all of the intrigue and grim implications, his staples, intact. Usually he finds horror in the mundane here, and he does it Dune as well, but it's more for the characters within the story then the viewer. Everything that happens is mundane to the people of this futuristic universe, it's all about deserts and mining, and the life of nobility. Behind it all, like in the books, there are prophecies at work and the nature of everything is less a product of humanities struggle and more to do with outside forces setting things on a certain path. Big things happen but occur slowly, incrementally, and inevitably. However... This movie is highly truncated, a product of wallets dictating the final product, rather then the visionary. Because of this, the movie had been cut to pieces - losing nearly a entire film's worth of content. Wherever Lynch had tried to tell the story as it happened, the studios had felt it to be highly confusing and too long, so they forced content to be cut and voice overs and narration to be put in place. Because of this, the movie is told a little too bluntly at times, and while battles are happening, you are told of the implications and effects rather then being shown. It feels like a abridged form of Dune, however, due to certain things being changed, it fails on that level and provides a questionable experience. At times, three or four chapters of the book are compressed into one scene - such as Paul's training, which crams the brief teachings of his mentors into one scene. At these times, the movie seems to move in far too fast a motion. To this day, fans of the film are dying for a full cut of the movie and, sadly, it most likely won't happen. There is, however, a extremely rare Extended Edition, which, if I can obtain it, I'll do a second review for. As damning as those flaws seem, Dune is a highly entertaining movie and the vision presented here, of Frank Herbert's unique universe, is like no other. Every actor takes their roles seriously, and the effects are tremendous. To this day I cannot think of a film that captures the terror and scale of a creature such as the Sandworms, or the provides such tense and interesting battle scenes. In fact, the entire strength of the movie is its presentation, the performances, set design, and effects. The story is interesting enough to keep you invested, interested, and waiting to see what comes next. Kyle Maclachlan as Paul Atredies was a excellent choice, and he outshines even the talents of Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, and Jose Ferrer. As with most of these book-to-movie films, especially those that couldn't possibly fit within a 2 hour run time, I can't help but think of what could have been. But, there wasn't any way Dune could have been portrayed in film form correctly, books are a difficult thing to translate as they rely on vast descriptions, character thoughts, memories, dreams, and so much more. For what it is, this 1984 adaption is probably the best anyone can hope for. Better yet, its not even close to as bad as some people claim. You either like it, or you don't. -L. BROOKS |
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