Tobe Hooper’s 1985 sci-fi vampire film “Lifeforce” is one of the strangest genre exercises of its time. It was produced by the Cannon Group, an exploitation film studio founded in Israel by B-movie greats Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, and so it has a cheesy imprimatur from the start. “Lifeforce” also has many traditionally cheesy elements, including space vampires, amazing monster effects (it has one of the best living corpses in film history) and lots of nudity. The first detail many will remember from “Lifeforce” is the vision of actress Mathilda May wandering around a space lab without a scrap of clothing.

The rules of the space vampires in “Lifeforce” are not entirely clear, as Texas director Hooper was more concerned with creating a sense of fear than a clear plot. It seems that the space vampires can not only change their shape, but also survive by “drinking” flashbulb energy from the faces of their victims. They are also psychically gifted and can take the form of any person in their mind. For this reason, the vampire has decided to look like a naked Mathilda May; the vampire has penetrated the mind of Dr. Carlsen (Steve Railsback) and found there the ultimate example of femininity.

Later in the film, the vampire takes possession of a character named Dr. Armstrong, played by Patrick Stewart before his “Star Trek” fame. When Dr. Armstrong was injected with a sinister hypnotic drug, the vampire spirit within him emerged. The vampire sought to lure Carlsen closer and closer to him and “kiss the life force out of his body.” However, Hooper chose to portray Carlsen as getting closer and closer to a kiss with the seductive Patrick Stewart. When the vampire finally touched Carlsen with his mouth, it was between Railsback and Stewart. As surprising as it may sound, this was Stewart’s very first kiss on screen.

Stewart’s presence added to the odd tone of Lifeforce, as it seemed to be an old-fashioned production from England’s Hammer Studios. Lifeforce also featured other British veterans such as Peter Firth, Aubrey Morris and Frank Finlay, giving the film a unique atmosphere specific to British horror films. The film does get pretty out of control at the end, however, which was the late, great Tobe Hooper’s habit. There’s a lot of screaming, interior lighting and Lifeforce bullshit.

According to the special features on the Lifeforce Blu-ray, Stewart himself had never kissed on screen in 1985. No doubt he had kissed others on stage, but his film and television career kept him from making out. He might not have predicted that Steve Railsback would be his first kiss, let alone when he was playing a man possessed by a young female vampire monster.

Stewart, of course, had already been acting for decades when he made Lifeforce. He started on stage in 1959, when he was just 19 years old. His first television appearance was in 1967, playing an accidental fireman in an episode of the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. He made his big-screen debut in the 1975 film Hedda. He was known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Claudius in the BBC’s 1980 version of Hamlet. In terms of major Hollywood productions, Stewart had appeared in films such as Excalibur and David Lynch’s Dune (playing the role of Gurney Halleck).

Despite dozens and dozens of roles, however, Stewart was rarely cast as a romantic lead and was not often paired with lovers. Kissing just wasn’t something he was asked to do often. Railsback corrected that.

American actor Railsback has also had an illustrious career, albeit with more time in feature films than Stewart. Railsback began his professional acting career in 1972 in the Elia Kazan drama The Visitors, and has since starred in some great – and some not-so-great – films. He played Charles Manson in the 1976 film version of Helter Skelter and appeared in the excellent The Stunt Man in 1980. In 1987, he starred in Nukie, one of the most notoriously bad films of all time. He has also appeared in television shows such as The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, and The Practice. Railsback has never had a shortage of work. He appears to have retired in 2018.

Lifeforce was another monster movie on Railsback’s resume. For Stewart, it was a rare gig with a major studio. It wasn’t until 1987 that Stewart appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation and experienced a surge in fame that his career had not seen before. Stewart was a very serious actor, however, and you can see that he took his role as Dr. Armstrong very seriously. He was also devoted to playing a young woman, and probably had no qualms about making out with a sweaty, screaming co-star.

Stewart didn’t play a queer character on screen until 1994, with the release of the indie comedy “Jeffrey.” Stewart said the experience was liberating. It’s amazing that a respected actor like Stewart went so long without getting kissed on screen. Since “Lifeforce,” however, he has had several opportunities to get kissed.