Creature (1985)

Obviously, the world’s most blatant ripoff / blend of Alien and The Thing (both the John Carpenter version and the original “space carrot” film). I’ve wanted to see this movie since I was probably 12 years old, but I can’t remember why. I think I read about it in Starlog magazine or something, or maybe I was intrigued by a Movie Guide review that (probably) warned of nudity and rated it a Turkey.

Boobs: check. Turkey-quality: check, but against all probability there’s some random talent involved. Some designers who went on to work on Aliens provide some not-entirely-awful work here — the fog and lightning are nice, there’s an almost-convincing Nostromo interior in one set, and the titular creature, though rubber-dinosaur material, could have been worse, if only slightly. Also, Klaus Kinski is in this for some reason, maybe because he got to grope Simone from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

Make no mistake: I am not recommending that anyone watch this movie unless they have a penchant for hopelessly 80s awful sci-fi, and even those people should at least make time for Lifeforce first. But 12-year-old me is very happy that I finally got around to this piece of crap, even though he would probably have had nightmares.

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  1. Jeff Lampert · February 10, 2016

    Lifeforce is a *classic*, I tell you!
    – Fantastic theme. I blare it on my way to work sometimes.
    – Mathilda May. ’nuff said
    – A Patrick Stewart performance that makes his Gurney Halleck look restrained
    – Batshit nuts story. (The book was interesting in its own way, and it starts out the same as the movie, but when it swerves off in a different direction, it does it with gusto)
    – The vampire/energy transfer effect scared the hell out of me as a kid.
    – I can’t stand Manos (there, I said it) because it’s a lifeless movie. This, no pun intended, is anything but. It’s absolutely *perfect* Riffing material.
    – Did I mention I really really like the theme? (Seriously, I’d put it up with John Williams’ best)
    Oh, right, we were talking about Creature…never saw it 🙂

    • encyclops · February 10, 2016

      I agree with everything you’ve said here about Lifeforce. I adore it.