Vampires and Zombies, revisited

I’ve generally thought of Vampires and Zombies as being on opposite ends of the pop culture spectrum, and I’ve written before in these pages about the dialectic created by such perfectly contrasting monsters.

But I’ve just discovered the wonderful gem Lifeforce. Directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist), with visual effects supervised by John Dykstra (Star Wars) and music by Henry Mancini (just about everything), in its own cheesy way this neglected 1985 film is a pop-cultural masterpiece.

It is, in the grand tradition, a space opera / monsters from outer space movie.

But it is also a wonderful vampire movie.

And it is also a wonderful zombie movie.

It is also, I am happy to say, an example of a movie that just gets kookier and more out there as it goes along. Watching it was a hoot. Just when I thought things couldn’t get more nutty, they got more nutty. Highly recommended.

If you’ve ever wondered how a vampire movie and a zombie movie can be seamlessly combined into one sublimely crazy package, you definitely need to check this out.

Happy Canada Day!

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