Cat People

This past Saturday the Kalamazoo Alamo Draft House had a four horror movie marathon, which sounds great on paper but by hour eight sounded less great. Anyway, the gem of the night was Paul Schrader's Cat People, a movie I would never have guessed was a horror movie by the cover. It's about a couple of were-cats who turn into panthers after having sex with non-were-cats and can't turn back into people until they kill somebody. You know, typical were-cat fare. It's really well directed, and great performances from all the cast and you also (SPOILER) get to see Ed Begley Jr.'s arm ripped off. The other movies were Night of the Creeps, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and Humanoids from the Deep in case you were wondering.

RATING: 78%

Lifeforce

A spaceship hidden by Halley's Comet unleashes sexy space vampires and boredom upon London, mostly boredom. Tobe Hooper directed Lifeforce for Cannon Films, the notorious studio behind countless Chuck Norris flicks and the American Ninja franchise. I was actually surprised by the special effects and production value featured in Lifeforce, but even with all the spiffy spaceship sets and exploding vampire zombies, there isn't too much to get excited about in this movie. The mostly British cast come across as too prim and austere, even as an apocalyptic vampire plague threatens to end all life on Earth. Not even a sexy vampire chick, who spends most of the movie completely naked, and a slightly unhinged performance from Steve Railsback can save the film. But I suppose if you're in the mood for a movie that features Patrick Stewart being forcibly drugged and restrained, then Lifeforce just might be the perfect film for you.

Rating: 57%

(Image from impawards.com)