Lifeforce (1985) (Collector's Edition)

[BrianS]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

Either way I'd love to see the even longer version out there one day...or at least the deleted scenes from the 128 min. cut with Mancini's original score over the opening.

Now that would be something! Are you reading this, Cliff?

[JGD]

"Lifeforce" was released on laserdisc twice in the US. The short or US theatrical version was pan and scan and the longer European release was widescreen. The US DVD is also the longer version. The longer version or the director's cut is vastly superior. I won't make a purchase if it is the short version.

Henry Mancini didn't want to make a John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith score and he sure didn't. It's an absolutely fantastic score. If you don't have the 2-disc limited edition score consider getting it.

[HyperRealist]

apparently the Italian disc sucks.

Originally Posted by ghidorah

Well LIFEFORCE fans, I received the Italian Blu today and gave it a spin.
Getting the good points out first, it is the longer cut ( containing one of the most hilarious lines ever..."It'll be much less terrifying if you just come to me"!!)
The picture looks ok...not razor sharp but on a first flick through it, I've seen worse.
That's the end of the good stuff. First off the back of the box states its 1080i. Haven't been able to confirm that yet but someone else probably can. This potentially means PAL speedup with the slightly higher pitched sound.... HOWEVER don't worry about being bothered by this because the sound is so terrible you wouldn't really notice!! It says on the back Italian 5.1 and Italian and English 2.0. The English isn't even surround and sounds like mono.
I've saved the best till last though.There's something wrong with the soundtrack. Right off from the beginning when Henry Mancini's sensational music starts there's a weird sort of phasing 'echoy' quality to it. It just sounds wrong. I checked on the Italian tracks and its the same. In fact the Italian 5.1 sounds as if they've souped up the crappy Italian 2.0 track as everything is pushed to the back speakers. i quickly checked my old MGM dvd in case I was imagining it but no it is extremely evidently ...off!
I love this wee film and am hugely disappointed by this. I can't imagine any fan of the film being remotely happy with this. Even if you watched it just through your telly speakers that weird sound quality would hit you.
Ah well..back to the long wait for the US version coming out.
All i need to figure out now is how to sell this turkey on Ebay without conning some poor fan.!!

[HyperRealist]

For you purists, the original U.S. theatrical poster (the one with the eye and Earth) will be on the flip side of the wrap.

[kinkyqueen]

I'm going to use this image if it's the reversable

[kinkyqueen]

Guess not...

[stephenwilson04]

Originally Posted by kinkyqueen

Guess not...

Nope Not being used because of legal issues/it contains nudity.

[jrsl76]

I like this Lifeforce cover!

[retablo]

Originally Posted by kinkyqueen

Guess not...

I have it in hi-res, so I'd make you a custom for a decent price.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

I like it. I might not flip that one (like I did for Halloween III and the very cool one for They Live).

[miller_time22]

Wow- love that Lifeforce cover.

[Argento77]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

I love this cover. Looks great!

[Ndume]

Originally Posted by kinkyqueen

I'm going to use this image if it's the reversable

Phallic!

[NoirFan]

From Scream's FB:

The special effects "kitchen sink" extravaganza LIFEFORCE from Director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Funhouse) and THE VAMPIRE LOVERS from Hammer Film Productions both unleash on April 30th! You can pre-order them now at ScreamFactoryDVD.com.

These two wild cult favorites debut for the first time on Blu-ray. LIFEFORCE will be presented as a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray™ & DVD combo pack that boasts the rare original theatrical version of the film (available on the Blu-ray disc only) and its longer international cut, plus newly rendered retro-style artwork and a reversible wrap with original theatrical key art . THE VAMPIRE LOVERS will be available as a blu-ray only and features the original theatrical key art.

EXTRAS for LIFEFORCE:
- Both Theatrical & International Versions of the film (Theatrical cut available on the Blu-ray only.)
- New Commentary with Director Tobe Hooper
- New Retrospective with Cast & Crew including Star Steve Railsback, Tobe Hooper and others!
- Original vintage “Making-Of Lifeforce” Featurette
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spot
- Still Gallery
- And more to be announced!

[cmac]

Originally Posted by stephenwilson04

Nope Not being used because of legal issues/it contains nudity.

It has nothing to do with legal issues.

[Monroville]

Love that cover, Cmac! It still has that "mass of photoshopped heads" thing going on, but it seems to be more focused (I like how the souls are going to where Mathilda's heart would be). Then there is this custom DVD cover someone made:



Regardless, I preferred this one over the poster linked to in KinkyQueen's post:



(full sized version here)

larger image here (this one would be great for the blu-ray, as it is a horizontal poster as opposed to vertical)

Cmac: is there any way to get some decent hi-rez scans of the poster art onto the blu-ray? I know there are some decent sources on Google:

Wrong Side of the Art

BTW, does anyone know how to create thumbnail links to the original, larger images (that way the post doesn't have to crash Firefox when a huge pic loads up)?

[stephenwilson04]

Originally Posted by cmac

It has nothing to do with legal issues.

I only posted what Scream Factory told me. But if it's just the breasts, it's not like it was going to be displayed in stores. No matter.

[budious]

Everytime I see that T-Mobile girl, I always think of lovely Mathilda "space tits" Mays...

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by budious

Everytime I see that T-Mobile girl, I always think of lovely Mathilda "space tits" Mays...

Mathilda could fill that racing suit much better than the T-Mobile girl.

[jonmoz]

Originally Posted by indisposed

I would love to own this on Blu-Ray (an anamorphic transfer is long overdue, let alone a 1080p transfer!), but it's a shame that it will probably be Region A locked

Blu-rays are not anamorphic as they are presented in native 16x9,and then the ammount of the 16x9 frame that is used up depends on the movies aspect ratio.

Dvd's were anamorphic because at the time many people still owned 4.3 displays,so in the past you had letterboxed movies as this was the only way to show widscreen movies on this type of display,but when 16x9 sets came out you had to stretch the image which made the picture worse than on a 4.3 set even though you used more of your displays size.

Dvd's had the perfect answer to this with anamorphic dvd's or enhanced for widscreen displays whichever you prefer,this worked by setting your dvd player to either work with a 16x9 or 4.3 display,and when you popped a anamorphic movie in the picture was made for a 16x9 display without the need for your t.v to stretch the piucture,on a 4.3 display the machines anamorphic feature would resize the image to fit a 4.3 frame without any loss in quality so everybody was happy,there were as people have said many dvd's which wer not anamorphic and these worked pretty much the same as letterboxed vhs tapes.

With Blu-ray being designed with 16x9 displays in mind,and delivered pretty much by hdmi across the board then it has no need to be anamorpic as it does not have to cater for older 4.3 displays.

I don't no if people have noticed but on many displays when you connect a blu-ray player with hdmi you can't use your displays zoom feature as the hdmi output will not permit it,this is because it wants you to watch the movie as intended,and not zoom the picture out to get rid of the bars on 2.35.1 movies.