Customer Reviews

Lifeforce

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was originally titled The Space Vampires. The copy I read had a picture of a seductive woman on the cover with fangs and a trickle of blood. I put off reading it for a while because I thought it would be cheesy.

However I was pleasantly surprised. While the movie wasn't bad, and was visually stimulating (especially the female "vampire), the book is much better. It contained more detail and contained many significant plot threads that were omitted from the film. If you have a chance to read this book, do so. I also enjoyed The Mind Parasites, also by Colin Wilson.

Nine years after first attempting a Lovecraftian sci-fi novel in The Mind Parasites, Wilson made another stab at essentially the same plot, and wrote it much better, as The Space Vampires (Lifeforce). The major difference between the two - aside from a noticeably more mature approach in The Space Vampires - is the addition of plentiful story-required sex.

Wilson's plots never move briskly, but they often make up for it by being intellectually engaging. The Space Vampires is a quick and interesting read, contrasting extraterrestrial criminals with the more common garden variety found on Earth. Discussions abound on predation, and the precise nature of sex in general.

Filmed as Lifeforce in '85, the movie retained the basics of the plot, but went inexplicably overboard in directions Wilson wisely avoided. It is still a watchable movie, but not as good as Wilson's original novel.

Loved the campy horror movie from the 80s...who knew it was based on such a dark and well written story. This is a surprising little gem of a novel...quickly read and "absorbed" if you will...gives a much more believable backstory that the movie ever attempted. A nice find after all these years...give it a try and be pleasantly rewarded...search for both titles in your local used bookstores...I found mine under Lifeforce...

It is not often you see this in a dedication, not in a story:

I must also express my warmest thanks to Count Olof de la Gardie, both for his hospitality at Raback, and for allowing me to inspect family papers relating to his ancestor Count Magnus.

Energy sucking vampires from space, you got it.

Some not too swift characters, as well :

"That's easily explained. We both had a session with the Prime Minister two days ago. He doesn't believe these vampires are dangerous. So neither of us trusts him."

It takes a lack of belief in vampires to not trust a politician? No wonder the space vamps went for your area.

Get this book back in print! With popularity of Anne Rice, one would think this little gem which was made into a movie would be readily available. A good science fiction twist on an age old theme provides insights into what may be the most modern explanation of vampyrism to date. Wilson is an avid researcher of the occult and other topics not easily explained, so this fictional work, presents a look at this thinker's theories as well as entertaining. Hope you can find it either in writ or as a movie

It has an unusual twist that the film barely explored....no zombies but a solid story of an ancient race who use sex/life-energy as their 'blood' of choice.