When a space shuttle crew finds a mysterious spacecraft containing three human-looking creatures in a state of suspended animation, they bring them back to Earth for further investigation.

It’s only then that scientists discover that they are in fact a race of space vampires that feed off people’s life-force, rather than their blood. So when they escape and run amok in London, the consequences are apocalyptic – and the shuttle crew’s only survivor (Steve Railsback) seems to be the only man who can stop them.

Based on Colin Wilson’s novel The Space Vampires, with a screenplay co-written by Dan O’Bannon (Alien, Return of the Living Dead) and directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist), this lively sci-fi horror romp has a stellar cast including Peter Firth, Frank Finlay and Patrick Stewart – although it’s Mathilda May’s appearance as the seductive alien leader that attracts the most attention to this day.