Event Horizon is one of my favorite films of all time. I’ll be as unscientific in my approach as to say it just plain kicks ass. I’d make the argument that the story is essentially what you’d get if you made Hellraiser in Space, except that Hollywood already churned that movie out a year before in 1996’s Hellraiser: Bloodline, and that turned out to be a tightly coiled lump of concentrated failure. So instead, I’ll give you a short summary in case you didn’t get a chance to see this masterpiece yet.
Written by: Frank Whitecastle
Ninja rating: 
In 2040, mankind builds the Event Horizon, a ship that can create black holes to travel at faster-than-light speeds, only to disappear on its maiden voyage. Many years later, a distress signal is detected on a ship orbiting Neptune, and it turns out to be the Event Horizon. Enter Lawrence Fishburne, Captain Miller of the Lewis & Clark, and his plucky search-and-rescue team including the likes of Kathleen Quinlan and Jason Isaacs. Rounding out this batch of victims, err, crew, is Sam Neill as Dr. Weir, a man internally tortured with the suicide of his wife. She killed herself while he was busy being a workaholic designing the Horizon’s gravity drive.
Once the team begins trying to put the puzzle of what happened to the Horizon together, things start to go downhill fast. The cast experiences all manner of unpleasantries, until they discover the piece de resistance, an unscrambled video log depicting the original crew doing horrible, horrible things to one another. At this point, wise Captain Miller decides it’s time to leave the Horizon before they all end up as so much red mush plastered to the wall, but the ship isn’t done with them yet. Escape plans get ruined, Dr. Weir gives in to the dark forces consuming the ship, and the rescue team starts dropping like flies in very nasty ways.
So what separates Event Horizon from every other science fiction horror movie out there? There is a satisfying sense of dread dripping from every frame of this film, which sets it apart from a lot of the other genre fare currently available. The ship itself looks like a giant meat grinder, from the spike-covered doorways to what I can only refer to as a blender hallway. Its great details like the sinister set that help set up the creepy mood.
When D.J. (Jason Isaacs) fully translates an audio log in Latin left by the previous crew revealing that the Horizon really made a dimensional jump into Hell, and that the ship is now crawling with the evil of that place, the chaos dial gets turned to 11 and all heck breaks loose. Interesting artistic choices such as revealing the ship’s original destination in Latin, the control room’s main cross-shaped window and the crucifix design of the ship itself give off a holy-terror-of-hell vibe to the bloody proceedings.
One thing that sets this movie up as one of my favorites is that it isn’t a safe, predictable slasher flick to watch with your girlfriend on date night – there are some truly disturbing moments and gory images that quickly flash across the screen to remind you that you aren’t in Kansas anymore.
Of course, I happen to like practical gore effects, so I ended up pausing the movie to savor each tasty morsel of macabre manslaughter. One of my favorite death scenes was where D.J. is disemboweled by a possessed Dr. Weir, his body left hanging on hooks over the surgical table containing his innards, and another is Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) running after an image of her crippled son until she falls onto (and into) a grated metal walkway.
There are a few flaws in this otherwise entirely entertaining flick that should be mentioned, such as the some of the special effects show their age worse than Helen Thomas at a press conference, and Lawrence Fishburne’s occasionally hammy line delivery. Another sore point is the subplot in the final act of the movie involving Cooper (Richard Jones) as the wisecracking recue technician that got shot out into space. It was just a tad goofy in a movie with an otherwise serious tone.
My overall impression of is that while this movie may be a little too over the top for some viewers, most horror fans will enjoy this hellish romp. So if you are down for a night of sci-fi-flavored dismemberment, put down your copy of Alien and give this movie a shot. You may be surprised by how much fun it is to pull out your own eyeballs, because as Dr. Weir says, we don’t need eyes to see where we’re going.
Good writeup, Frank. I sort of sit on the fence about this one. When I saw it at the theaters in 1997, my dad and I went in expecting what the creators had kept telling us it was; a haunted house in space. With the film centering on the relationship between blackholes and the ship’s disappearance, I also expected something uniquely ‘sci-fi’. The film’s first 1/3rd did not disappoint, and I was loving the cast, the excellent sets that made up the Event Horizon, and the sinister/ominous atmosphere.
After that, I felt like the movie began to lose interest for me by degrees, culminating in an ending that was no doubt a bit ghastly but that I didnt really care about.
I recently saw the movie again for the first time in years, and realize I was probably a bit too harsh on it initially. It just jumps tones too quickly and too completely. One minute it’s a compelling sci-fi flick and the next it’s a bit of brain-burning psychological/supernatural horror. It’s like watching the first half of 2001 and then following it up with The Exorcist. . That being said, it’s probably Paul W. Anderson’s most succersful and visually accomplsihed film. Nothing he did after this had even half as much polish or professionalism.
Good point Bartleby. I should mention that I did get the chance to see this with a clean slate and no expectations of what it would be, and liked the jump from sci-fi into insanity. I’m generally not a big fan of Paul W. Anderson’s films, and I have no idea how it would have turned out if it ended up being the full-blown 2 and a half hours it originally was before the studio cut the run time to 90 minutes. Sadly they destroyed the footage so I’ll never know. It might be better that way.
Good review, Whitecatle! As you know, this film freaked me out the 1st time I saw it, but it was downright interesting and really drew my attention the 2nd time. It does get a bit insane, but I have to say I am curious what was on the additional 30 minutes of footage! Perhaps the original transition was more drawn out, or maybe the ending wasn’t so abrupt. At any rate, it seems to be a horror flick that will stand the test of time!
I actually hated this movie when I saw it at the cinema. Hated it. However, over the years Event Horizon has grown on me and I think it probably is PWSA’s best movie (unfortunately that’s not saying a lot).
The main problem I had – and still have, to be honest – is this: there isn’t a single original idea in Event Horizon. I can sit there and pick out every film ‘homage’ (that’s me being diplomatic), almost like ticking off a checklist. It’s distracting. But I can watch EH now without becoming enraged! The main reason I can watch it is the cinematography, tis a wonderful thing to behold – Adrian Biddle (RIP) was a top notch lensman.
I got hold of the R4 limited edition EH on DVD a couple of years ago. The plastic box is moulded as part of the hull of the Event Horizon. Very cool…
Nice one, Frank.
I recently bought this movie on blu ray. I loved it when it first came out, one of the scariest movies I had ever seen. I was a teenager when it was released and I have seen a few times again over the years; I believe I had it on VHS for awhile. Then a good 6 or 7 years went by and I hadn’t seen it on DVD, so I jumped at the chance to buy it on blu ray. The problem is it seems like the movie has been cut? It feels like it is much shorter and I can swear that there are specific scenes that were cut out of the theatrical release. It’s running time is 95 min, but it has “bonus features”, so I am curious if anyone else has had this problem?
This is the second blu ray I have bought that has been cut up really bad. The other was also an older movie re-done on blu ray. I don’t get it, why am I paying more for less movie? Is it only certain studios that do this? I am very hesitant to buy any more blu rays now, it’s not as if they’re cheap. Very frustrating!
I fell in love with the art direction of this film at first sight, and that puppy-love got me through all the iffy bits.
Personally I think the gravity drive is the single most dread-inducing piece of technology ever put on film. I could just sit there and watch it run for 90 minutes and be just as creeped out.
And the Orbital assisted soundtrack was genius. The main title is one of my favorite cinema pieces.
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I was 11 when this came out, saw it with my stepdad. Bad parenting. Left me with nightmares for weeks. Scared the absolute bejesus out of me! The DJ death scene was amazing in it’s callousness, so after all these years I’m going to watch it again. Hopefully with a controlled heart rate…