Event Horizon (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) Reviews

• Much better than the previous spotlight reviews credit it for.

  
  By A2VUOO5RVB78A7 on 2005-10-25
  Update: 1/23/06
  
  Some comments edited due to this writing being included in the spotlight reviews section.
  
  -end update-
  
  Event Horizon.
  
  First of all this isn't a perfect film. It is, however very good and worthy of purchase.
  
  Many other reviewers have savaged the film for being too slasher, too weak or open to intrepretation. I would offer many of them were expecting general science fiction not a bloodbath in space. The gore is what makes them take a step a back. The gore serves the story very well. Hell isn't a primrose path.
  
  Many other reviewers have covered the plot in detail. So I'll avoid being redundant in that aspect.
  
  What makes the movie good is that its a taunt piece of space horror. You hit the ground running almost immediately. Pacing and storyline are well done (amazing some people don't get the story details - made perfect sense to me). The set design and visuals are simply sublime. There is good character development. Sam Neill plays Dr. Weir to creepy perfection. The Event Horizon calling to him in his dreams by using his deceased wife is disturbing.
  
  Lawerence Fishborne as Miller delivers a good performance with edge.
  
  The other actors hold the story up well too.
  
  One of the other elements that makes the movie enjoyable is that it doesn't lay it all out for you. Sure, we see the hell the Event Horizon crew endured in limited blips. The movie lets your imagination run wild just how bad things got. I kept wondering to myself - ok its bad, but just *HOW* bad is it? Not until almost 3/4 of the way through do we get some answers as to the fate of the original crew.
  
  The ending also is open to intrepretation - makes you think. The short latin message recieved also built the story nicely too. "Liberate Tutame Ix Inferis..."
  
  In the end analysis, this movie is a combination of science fiction and horror. Its a uneasy marriage, as the combination isn't done very often (vs. regular sci-fi). To that end, many of the people who wanted to see science fiction got the unpleasant surprise that this was more of a hellraiser in space than a 'star trek.'
  
  It also didn't help with cinematic audiences that the cliched "good guy saves the day and himself" doesn't fly here. Good guy does save the day, but gets dragged into hell with Wier. Not a pleasant end for Miller.
  
  If you are a fan of both genres (scifi/horror) you'll enjoy this like I did. If you are more inclined towards sci-fi only this one probably isn't for you.
  
  Falls just short of brilliant in my opinion. The bashers need to be honest with thier tastes instead of bashing for gore. Event Horizon isn't Star Wars. EH accomplishes what is sought to do quite effectively.
  
  There are rumors of an extended edition with deleted scenes being re-edited in. Length is said to be over 2 hours. Lets get this out on the market!
  
  Not recommended of course for the kiddies either.
  
  ****
  
  

• Cash cow and flogging a dead horse

  
  By AYVTJDKG5LNEO on 2006-04-11
  This DVD is a bit of a rip of to be honest. Many times I've read online forums and read copious preview blurbs stating that there was going to be a directors cut of this movie, restoring 40 minutes of blah...blah....blah...Yawn.
  
  You get 2 DVDs. The first disc is where you will find the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION. Yes you heard it right...THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION. Gasp, how can this be, what about the deleted scenes....etc. Well, there are deleted scenes but they have not been put back into the movie, something which will be explained later on.
  
  I already had bought the first DVD release and was looking forward to seeing deleted scenes put back into the movie. This release IS better though as you get a very nice looking anamorphic version and you get DTS which sounds sweet. But this still is the original.
  
  The second disk contains a good making of documentary and some other supplemental behind the scenes stuff however the best part of this disk is the deleted scenes and after listening to the commentary it soon becomes apparent why there wont be a directors cut. Also the quality of these deleted scenes are terrible. The print is covered with pen markers and edit markers and looks like its been made by a first year film student.
  
  You find out that a lot of the "CUT" stuff was actually from different versions of the movie that was used during screenings to help gauge reactions from the audience and could no way be re-integrated into the film.
  
  Also, because this movie was made in the pre-DVD era the studio dumped a lot of the deleted stuff away as it was envisaged that none of this would ever see the light of day again. One example is the deleted crew torture sequence which was to be part of when weir was showing hell to fishburn. However this no longer exists on film and is only on poor quality video.
  
  
  So, to sum it up what you have here is this.
  
  
  1. A better looking and sounding version of the movie previously released (Nice DTS track!!!)
  
  2. An interesting commentary
  
  3. Some nice extras that put the rumours to bed about a directors cut.
  
  If you dont have the movie already then I would recommend you getting this one as this is probably the best version you will see until paramount release it in HD.
  
  

• Unknowable terror... where was Clive in all this?

  
  By A1F8QU9D6QKDKQ on 2000-02-12
  In scientific terms, the Event Horizon is the precipice of a black hole, the point of no return before one is hurled into the endless unknown. How appropriate for this Sci-Fi set gothic Horror. I loved this twist on the derilict spaceship plotline. At the beginning of the movie it feels like another Star Trek - Battlestar Galactica-esque movie; you are in deep space searching for a lost ship and then when you find it there are no life signs. The movie stays calm for exactly 15 minutes.. then all Hell breaks loose, literally. I have seen such darkness come from H.R. Geiger as and artist, and Clive Barker as a writer so you will understand my shock when I found neither name attached to the film. With a feel like "Hellraiser" and nonstop action like - well, anything with Bruce Willis - "Event Horizon" grabbed my attention from the first pulse-pounding chord of it's soundtrack to the very last (?) scream. I enjoyed seeing the dark transition of Dr. Weir from a seemingly normal scientist to an individual so obsessed that he becomes the darkness we all fear. Sam Neill has shown a tremendous expanse of acting through the past several years, from a Palentologist in "Jurassic Park" to the fantastic "Merlin" even as far back as "Dead Calm" he has unerringly played the good guy, it's a delicious twist to have him cast as the antagonist in Paul Anderson's horrifying tale. The one hard point in the movie is the decision one must make as a viewer, can you really hate this man? From the beginning of the movie we share his pain and loss, we share his desire and then are challenged to share his mania a truly unique psychological horror. I must give this a perfect "10" as this movie shows no signs of a "cheese factor," no overacting, nothing overdone and everything played and built to perfection. This is where reality and fantasy meet to push the envelope within the mind.
  
  

• You love it,you just don't want to admit it.

  
  By A17PZR2A00L3CV on 2001-02-25
  Laurence Fishburne, Joely Richardson, Kathleen Quinlan, Sam Neill, Sean Pertwee and Jack Noseworthy head up the cast of director Paul Anderson's Science Fiction horror picture EVENT HORIZON.

  Drawing from a multitude of sources, not least amongst them Andrei Tarkovsky's heady science fiction meditation SOLARIS, HELLRAISER, Kubrick's THE SHINING, ALIEN and even Bruce Clark's cheap 'n' cheerful GALAXY OF TERROR, this is a well put together, visually splendid big budget piece of science fiction schlock set in the year 2047 and concerning a mission to investigate the sudden mysterious reappearance of an experimental American spaceship (the titular) Event Horizon, which disappeared seven years previously and suddenly, out of nowhere, has pulled the old bad penny trick popping up unannounced in the orbit of Neptune. A salvage rescue team is required.

  Mission commander / [space]ship's captain Laurence Fishburne and creepy scientist Sam Neill (designer of the mystery vessel) accompanied by a T-shirt- and army-green-clad crew of smart-talking pro's head off into the outer reaches of the solar system only to encounter an 'empty vessel', one that's not making much noise. Dead and deserted, the Event Horizon is no laughing matter at the best of times, but when boarding and further investigation turn up blood, corpses, dismembered body parts, mysterious Latin utterances on a last desperate ships log message (no 'stardate...blah blah blah' here!) and a decidedly unearthly presence; the trip assumes somewhat more than most had bargained for in the way of fun and games. Transpires the ship is really a space-age haunted house where spooky (and clearly obviously impossible) visions lure various of the crew members into terminal situations. A presence 'not of our dimension' (as Rod Serling might have opined) has domain over the Event Horizon, this disturbing presence perhaps connected to the black hole designed to warp space through which the ship had ventured and it wants something... .

  EVENT HORIZON is a pleasing watch, superbly crafted on the technical side, the ship is gorgeously designed, borrowing from the dark, organic look of ALIEN providing the requisite sense of ominous foreboding, adding menacing touches such as teeth seemingly sprouting from bulwark doors and claw-like spikes inexplicably shooting out of the engine room floor. Adrian Biddle (101 DALMATIANS, FIERCE CREATURES) captures some of the more evocative, memorable images in recent times, assisted by a strong special effects crew and Production Designer Joseph Bennett. Unfortunately the films plotting is admittedly less inspired and inventive than the production design, hardly original, but it is nonetheless done with some style and seeming belief and the special effects are genuinely top-notch. The film is capably acted, competently penned and impressively helmed by director Paul Anderson (MORTAL KOMBAT and the underrated SHOPPING) and is an excellent mix of science fiction and horror movie genres. There is enough graphic violence for the censors to have been nervous about it's US 'R' rating whilst the setting is pure ALIEN. A special mention in dispatches for the soundtrack too; enjoyable and suitably creepy.

  Much of EVENT HORIZON's criticism stemmed from its obviously borrowed plot elements, the primary reason it was so poorly received by audiences being simply because they did not know what to expect. It is not ALIEN, nor pitiful feelgood tripe such as STAR WARS, nor the crudity that is Barker's overrated HELLRAISER. Anderson simply heists the best elements from all of them. Despite the film's narrative shortcomings, the film succeeds on several levels. It is in many respects an excellent central idea, the question posed: What if hell was indeed a physical place you could actually go to? and what if that place lay in the depths of space?.

  Ultimately the movie has a trashy 'B' movie charm about it and is destined to be seen as a classy, classic example of that 'something nasty in space' 'B' subgenre as typified by Norman J. Warren's equally impressive INSEMINOID / HORROR PLANET and of-course the ALIEN quartet.
  
  

• "I told you she won't let me leave - she won't let anyone leave"

  
  By A1VCPMT1RRS7K0 on 2006-05-25
  This is a fascinating idea for a horror movie. Unlike Jason X (yes, you can laugh), this is a true horror film set in space. Set in the year 2047, the crew of the Lewis & Clark, along with Dr. Weir, set out to investigate the Event Horizon: a ship that disappeared for seven years somewhere in space and suddenly reappeared in the orbit of Neptune.
  
  The Event Horizon (designed by Dr. Weir) provides the desolate and haunting setting for the movie. The darkness, the unknown and the inability to escape create a real sense of desperation aboard the ship. There is literally nowhere to run in space, which adds to these feelings of dread. The crew slowly begins uncovering the mystery of where the Event Horizon had been for the past seven years. During this phase of the movie, we are shown some horrifying images, conjured by the ship itself. These images play on the fears, memories and even the guilt of the crew members. There are some freakish occurances leading to the ultimate discovery of the truth about the ship and what actually happened to the original crew.
  
  As for the horror genre, this movie represents something different. It's a good departure from the slasher movie or the "teens go on a road trip, break down and are terrorized by a madman" movie... The fact that it is set in space is rather unique and, I feel, works quite well. Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill give great performances. I recommend this movie to horror and sci-fi fans.
  
  
• Easily Overlooked
  By AMBILV9TD7CEH on 2000-05-04
  Perhaps I am one of the only person out there that enjoyed thisfilm. True, there is a wealth of similarities to Alien and 2001. ButI believe that instead of a cheesy rip-off, what we have here is a very well laid out movie that, if viewed with an open mind, will shock you and horrify you at the same time. There is a good deal of gore, which I admit can be a negative. But as horror genius Clive Barker once said: "You can't make an omlet without breaking a few eggs, and you can't make a horror movie without breaking a few heads." There are also some great performances here by Lawrence Fishburne and Sam Neill. Also you may want to take a close look at a truly inventive production design, giving the interior and exterior of the ship the look of a seventeenth century torture chamber. All elements combined makes for a really freaky experience. Best viewed alone, in a really dark room with a great sound system.

  Also, check out the "written by" credit. Although the first draft was by Philip Eisner, A-list writer Andrew Kevin Walker penned the final draft. You may remember him as the screenwriter of "Seven", "Eight Millimeter", and "Sleepy Hollow."
  
  

• Scariest sci-fi horror thriller ever
  By on 1999-03-20
  Event Horizon is a truly scary thriller that was overshadowed by a typical, bad slasher flick called I Know What You Did Last Summer. Event Horizon successfully blends elements from other horror and sci-fi films such as The Shining, Alien, and Dune. The movie is about a deep space research vessel called the Event Horizon that creates an artificial black hole and disappears in it along with her crew for seven years. It reappears mysteriously over the Neptune orbit. USAC sends an eight person rescue team to the ship along with her designer, Dr. William Weir. Not long after they board the Event Horizon, their own ship, the Lewis and Clark is damaged and they must take refuge in the Event Horizon. It's then that the movie delves into true terror as the crew of the Lewis and Clark begin to believe the ship brought something alive back with it. I liked this movie more than Alien because it wasn't quite as predictable. All the performances in this movie were good, especially the British actors Sam Neil, Sean Pertwee, and Jason Isaacs. Neil plays the ship's designer, Dr. Weir, who is possessed by the ship. This is his most outstanding performance since Jurassic Park. Laurence Fishburne is almost as good as the courageous Captain Miller. He's the most likeable of the crew memebers and you know he'll try his best to help his men. This movie is also extremely bloody and gory with many scenes of people being cut apart and dying gruesome deaths. Despite all that, the movie delivers chills and shocks that many other horror movies released this decade couldn't. The only other more recent horror films of this caliber are Phantoms, Candyman, and Fallen. I'm also confused why critics said the events on board the ship were never explained. Maybe it's just me, but the explanation was stated a few times. It's brief, but there isn't more to be added to it.
  
  
• SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME
  By A1O8U0FEBTGRJP on 2000-11-18
  Event Horizon is a horror movie and a sci-fi movie. This combination is very effective and terrifying. An extremely imaginative storyline and top notch special effects. Event Horizon is very graphic as far as gore and somewhat disturbing overall. Not for the weak stomach or weak mind. A must for a horror fan and a sci-fi fan.
  
  
• Satanic Oedipus in space
  By A2B7BUH8834Y6M on 2002-06-14
  Sam Neill must have been out of his head to take this role... and I've got to wonder what  Laurence Fishburne was doing in this one, as well. Sam Neill's character in particular - yuck. What a freaking gore fest. This is like they took "Alien" (minus the alien) and "Hell Raiser" and put them in a blender. The space crew is very reminiscent of "Alien"... crew has a job to do they couldn't get out of, all in stasis for a flight to the orbit of Jupiter. They hear a distress beacon from "The Event Horizon," an experimental ship that disappeared 7 years earlier on it's maiden voyage of space-folding their way to the end of the universe.

  En route to the ship, it's creator, Dr. Weir (Sam Neill) is already having very disturbing visions of his wife with her eyes gouged out. This is just an appetizer... the entire film features disgusting disembowelments, eye plucking, blood spattering, head exploding gore.

  Sometimes the unseen is far more frightening than the seen... they would have been more successful without the gore in making it a more cerebral flick.

  When the crew docks with the Event Horizon, things start going wrong from the get-go... folks are hearing things, seeing things, feeling things... and they're not seeing angels... they're seeing people on fire, children with leprosy... just gross, disturbing stuff. They hear the crew's last log entry which includes blood curdling screams and someone yelling, "save yourself from Hell!" in Latin. That would be the cue for most normal human beings to get back in their ship and go back to earth without looking back... but no, this crew stays and stays, trying to find out what happened.

  They take a visit to the core of the ship that has a central drive that enables the space-folding (faster than light flight)... it looks like something from "Harry Potter." Lots of medieval looking gears and the sphere shaped room is full of pointy-sharp spikes... the minute you see it you know that at least one crew member is going to get accidentally impaled on one, and you're right -that's what happens.

  When there are sudden power outages, Dr. Weir crawls through some of the guts of the ship to find a shorted circuit... this is one of those purposterous sci-fi scenes that's spoofed in "Galaxy Quest".... a ridiculously shaped room that goes on forever, for no reason.

  There is some really good acting and there are some very believable scenes, but the film falls on its face.

  There are many scenes in which characters pluck out their own eyeballs... not for those with weak constitutions, that's for sure.

  Despite the few good concepts and scenes in this movie, I really can not think of one scene that makes sitting through this film worthwhile. It is a haunted-house gore-fest that happens to take place in a space ship - that's about it. The trailer led you to believe there was much more to this film... such are the beguiling ways of trailers. There are not enough special effects to make this film even worthwhile to those seeking eye-candy (pardon the ironic pun). This is not the worst film I've ever seen, but on the stink meter, I'd give it a rating of: rotting fish.
  
  

• THE BORROWERS
  By AAE2DUEMTR30I on 2004-04-12
  Considering how well this film starts, and how promising its basic theme is, it really is a monumental let-down. A secret space mission is on its way to rendezvous with the spacecraft Event Horizon, now orbiting Neptune after returning from an experimental outreach into hyper-space. On board the rescue vessel is the Event Horizon's designer, forthcoming up to a point about what its mission had really been but beyond that point evasive. All very promising so far. The camera-work and effects are excellent, and while I couldn't help noticing a certain resemblance between the spaceships and their counterpart in 2001 A Space Odyssey, and even more so between the interior of the Event Horizon and the Nostromo in Alien that did not trouble me in any way. The first sign of trouble came with the recorded transmission from the crew of the Event Horizon, which turned out to be in Latin, the shape of bunkum to come.

  The borrowings then start to come thick and fast, particularly, I am inclined to say, thick. The designer has to investigate a possible short-circuit in a way reminiscent of Bowman disabling the computer HAL in 2001. While doing so he encounters a hologram of his wife and I began to be reminded of Solaris, and the lights start to fail in a way reminiscent again of Alien. The Event Horizon has, I am sorry to say, been out into the unknown and unthinkable only to return as a kind of Hell House from hyper-space, possessed of some kind of sentience of its own, bent on consuming its crew and in contact with a wretched gaggle of revolting Latin-speaking mutants who would have disgraced many a B-movie and who make the Cellulites (or whatever they were called) in Hellraiser look brilliant. The crew's escape is again in line with the Alien series, and the final would-be coup de grace is some sort of ultimate in predictable hackneyed bathos.

  The acting does a certain amount to redeem a disappointing film, particularly Fishburne as the captain. The real pity, for me, is what it all might have been if more effort and imagination, indeed any effort and imagination at all, had gone into the plot-line. We are offered a glimpse of some of the ultimate secrets of the cosmos and all they seem to amount to could apparently be found in reach-me-down pulp magazines of a particularly downmarket kind. I hope someone will try again.
  
  

• Not Gigli, but nearly there.
  By A1CEOK5S6L3OMV on 2004-10-14
  Ok. I thought that "Gigli" with Ben Affleck was the worst movie I ever subjected myself to seeing (I rented it to see if it really sucked that badly)
  
  I was nearly proven wrong by "Event Horizon". The ultimate reminder to Hollywood that you can't make a movie based soley on special effects.
  
  Basically. The "Event Horizon" spaceship is supposed to like do some wierd star trek thingy and aherm "Fold Space". Well, we all KNOW that can be done with a quantum shirekeimajiggy, but noooooo. Wiseass Sam Neil decides, "Lets make a BLACK HOLE instead, SUUUURRREEE its the most destructive force in the UNIVERSE, but im sure if we use it like we know what we are doing it will turn out A OK!"
  
  No, No Sam Neil. Maybe you know how dinosaurs hump each other, but you do not, and i repeat DO NOT create a big assed black hole because you think you know what your doing.
  
  Anyway, as expected, the whole black whole thing kinda goes a smidgen wrong. The crew of the Event Horizon accidentally....... CREATE A GIANT HOLE INTO THE DIMENSION OF HELL..... whoopsie. Yeah well this place of evil and pixies makes the crew go nuts and pretty much rip the skin off each other until they all die.
  
  Anyways, a lameass "Top Secret" rescue crew is sent out to Neptune [Because by Uranas you just know you would be crying with laughter] to find the "Event Horizon"
  
  Instead of monsters there are small breasted apparitions and little children to "scare" you as everyone gradually goes insane. Apparently the ship is now "alive" [hmm i always found it interesting when my toaster starts talking after a trip to hell] and pretty much wants everyone to, uhm, poke their own eyes out, go nuts and just kinda hurt each other quite alot.
  
  Whats the coolest part? Not everyone dies! Wow! The ending is actually the worst ending I have ever been subjected to. An insult to my own intelligence, and the general movie going audience intelligence. This is Z-movie piffle of the highest order.
  
  Hardly scary, laughable and rarely chilling. The concept remains cloudy until the last 15 minutes. The shame is that the concept could have been explored in a much better way, the idea of heaven and hell being in different dimensions is definately one for non-religous people to explore. But It ends out turning to laughable violence and poorly written characters to provide its support. The strongest aspect is its polished but dated Computer Generated Images. Thats not saying alot.
  
  Littered with cliches, bad acting, a confusing and streched story and a clotty writing style, the pic is devoid of any real chills and instead tries to spook viewers with its admittedly dark concept.
  
  It replays as every poorly made box office disaster scifi flick your ever likely to see, clearly constructed to whip up controversy and make a mint. Instead "Event Horizon" will likely serve as an example of how NOT to make horror and scifi flicks.
  
  When a movie with Joely Richardson never fails to rise above "ZZZZZZZ" then you know theres something far, far wrong. Heres for hoping this film will simply fall into a black whole somwhere.
  
  
• A must see movie
  By A30H3NFHVUV00I on 2006-02-22
  I find it unfair, the people that shoot this film down so nastily. It's one of those films that if you see when you aren't completely in the mood, then it ruins it until you watch it again.
  
  I saw this film at the cinema and then bought the video. Both my brother and my wife find it a really good film. Yeah, the script is cheesey in parts but the whole premise centres on isolation and links to hell/or a hell-like place.
  
  There is a lot of gore, much was stripped out to get an 18 rating, but it's not overboard. Even the small video segments of the ships log have been put together well so when you play it back slowly it still looks good.
  
  This movie is certainly one of the best horror/gore movies of recent times and compared to any of the recent Hollywood supposed-horror trash, it is supreme.
  
  
• Event Horizon: Satan in a metal box
  By A2OVR63TMZ8FJJ on 2001-07-20
  The ship designs both internally and externally are interesting enough to provide a proper stage for a sci-fi horror flick of high caliber. But very soon even the ship designs reveal themselves to be portentous and overwrought satanic props you might find in a Spinal Tap concert. In the central bridge Larry Fishburne sits in command of his ponderous vessel. His chair mounted to a mechanical arm that slowly carries him about the room to see his crew members and deliver his orders. Visually its neat but you quickly realize if he would turn his head to the left and right and speak in a normal voice he could speak comfortably to everyone. Imagine if Captain Kirk floated the bridge chair around to Spock and Uhura every time he wanted to make a command and you have a fair idea of how cumbersome and silly it would seem. This in itself does not destroy the movie but it is symbolic of how the director had difficulty letting go of ideas that were visually interesting but made no sense in the real world...or a future world.

  Event Horizon is encumbered by a lot of heavy handed religious symbolism. The ship encounters a derelict space ship orbiting Neptune. The derelict vessel, an enormous metalic framework, is designed to resemble a crucifix. It is sometimes shot upside down to hint that some evil is already present . Boarding the ship, crew members are found flayed in spectacularly bloody and gorey fashion with obvious satanic overtones. We discover the evil being done on the ship is causing physical manifestations of the darkest corners of the crewmen's minds. Perhaps Event Horizon was following the lead of Forbidden Planet where advancements in harnessing the mind's power through technology failed to figure in the dark corners of man's subconscious. Thereby unleashing a violent genie that could not be contained. If true it would explain the odd choice to set Event Horizon in outer space instead of a haunted house where it better belongs. Forbidden Planet borrowed the intriguing concept of monsters from the mind from Shakespeare's Tempest and used it to great effect. But Event Horizon abandons it quickly. The only question Event Horizon tries to ask is what if Hell were a specific place in a space ship parked around Neptune? The answer is no deeper than "everyone who goes there would go mad, kill everyone and die." Event Horizon becomes a gore shocker and the crewmen go crazy and start gouging out their eyes and other outrageous stuff. People can enjoy a gore flick but the absurd choice in Event Horizon was to make mediocre Sam Neil the centerpiece of the film and leave Larry Fishburne the thankless role of to react to the setpieces and Neils incomprehensible character. To quote Chris Mc Callister "Sam Neil's character is sometimes clearly good, sometimes thoroughly evil, sometimes a good man tempted by evil, sometimes a good man possessed by evil, and sometimes an evil man who has been masquerading as good." In the end you don't know what he was and don't really care. But Event Horizon also doesn't know how to select what is best about its story and what doesn't fit. Its a theological revelation tale, a sci fi bug hunt, a psychological haunted house flick and a slasher film all at once or maybe its none of the above. By being complex and infathomable perhaps it hoped someone would think it deep. People that dig H.P. Lovecraft, satanic symbolism, or the '60s films the Haunting or Hell House might find something to like in Event Horizon. But I found it to be one of the most unwatchable films of the last several years.
  
  

• terrible
  By ADKA2MJQQCMTO on 2003-11-01
  Once again Paul Anderson is given the right tools for a decent movie and blows it.

  I'll give credit where it's due though. For once, an Anderson movie had a GEORGOUS set design. Both space ships were terrific on both interior and exterior shots. If there's any redeeming quality to this movie, this is it by far.

  As for the story though, the pace of the movie was just awful. I'd love to see how much was left on the editing floor because the transitions from scene to scene were horrible. Characters would be introduced one minute, disappear for the next 20 minutes, reappear in the backgroud the next minute, all of which was to set up their kill scene the next minute. Poor editing made it really difficult to generate even the ability to be able to tell who was who, let alone build up a connection to anyone.

  I also didn't care for the 'Hellraiser' turn the film seemed to unexpectedly take. Not only was I completely blindsided by it, but I didn't think it was necessary. Think of the level of suspense that was build in '2001: A Space Oddessey' when HAL loses it and starts killing the crew. Anderson could have maybe taken a similiar direction here all while staying true to the haunted-house-in-space idea that he seemed to want to develop.

  This is just one more example of how a poor production crew can completely kill a movie. I hate to think that Anderson has my beloved 'Alien vs Predator' movie up next, because, personally, I can't see how this guy keeps getting work.
  
  

• More gross-out than scary, and a total waste of time
  By A9YA983MXKCEL on 2004-01-01
  I've had the misfortune of seeing this movie twice. The first time, I expected an intense psychological thriller that would bend my mind over and prison-rape it. Instead, I was subjected to an utterly pointless and disgusting two-hour-long bloodbath. Some years passed, and after considerable professional therapy, I was able to put this bad memory behind me. Then, a little while ago, the sci-fi channel ran this movie. Not having anything better to do, and wondering if this movie was really as bad as I remembered, I watched it again. I have the following things to say about it:

  (1) The set designs are freaking AWESOME. The acting is dead-on. The special effects are gorgeous. There are some genuinely creepy scenes, too. Basically, everything about it rocks except the plot. If you're looking to see some beautiful environments littered with corpses and splashed with blood, then this is the movie for you.
  (2) The plot is stupid. A ship accidentally goes to Hell, then returns to our universe with a little chunk of Hell still attached to it... somewhere... maybe in those tunnels that use circuitboards for wallpaper, or in a secret compartment under the captain's chair. Anyway, there's a little souvenir from Hell on the ship somewhere, and it basically causes the crew to have such horrible hallucinations that one by one they either commit suicide or tear their eyes out because dammit, they're tired of seeing dead people's guts all over the place! Of course, the guy who built the ship is secretly in love with it, despite the fact that it's trying its hardest to kill him, so he starts yammering on and on about how the ship wants him to be its new crew (even though this ship very clearly does not like having ANY crew). And so on and so on until everyone is dead.

  You know, actually, this movie could be very entertaining. Just get a bunch of friends together on the couch, split a six-pack or two, and MST the hell out of it, pun intended.
  
  

• Something Wicked This Way Comes!
  By A11A8GWG0IXBZH on 2000-07-15
  Event Horizon: The beginning point of intense gravitation around a black hole or other singularity.

  Event Horizon: An experimental starship constructed in 2040 to be the first faster than light (FTL) vessel capable of reaching Proxima Centauri. Event Horizon lost with all hands only to reappear in a decaying orbit around the 8th planet of our star system.

  And is another one of those haunted house in space films in the same vein as Ridley Scott's 1979 `Alien'. In this new feature by Paul Anderson, (Mortal Kombat). Mankind's reach for space has taken him somewhere he was never meant to venture, a place of perverse evil and unimaginable sin. However, this film strides past any notion of just being Hellraiser in Space, and comes across as an intelligent science fiction movie that slowly becomes a horror film. Anderson takes what we think frightens us and throws it out the window. Because the monster lurking behind the door isn't from another planet and dripping slime, it is from another dimension. It is hostile. It is malevolent. And it is Evil in its purest form.

  The Event Horizon appears suddenly, broadcasting an IFF and emergency beacon. It is a gothic looking ship almost two kilometers long, appearing as though it were carved from rusted iron and copper. Beautiful. Going out to meet is the Lewis and Clark, a deep space rescue vessel whose crew specializes in recovery operations like this. Captain Miller (Lawrence Fishborune) is rankled to find an additional crew member added to the roster in the form of Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), who built the Event Horizon's revolutionary gravity drive system and what was to have propelled the massive ship between the stars. When we first meet Weir aboard the skeletal Daylight Station, it is already obvious that he is a very troubled man- his wife committed suicide and he is haunted by her.

  It takes 56 days for the Lewis and Clark to make it out to Neptune where the Event Horizon lies, wherein it plunges into the high atmosphere of the stormy planet to make a link up with the historic vessel. Already something is amiss when a sensor sweep returns dubious results on life readings. The ship is dead. The crew is missing, saving for a single frozen eyeless cadaver that crashes to the floor and shatters when the gravity is restored. Reaching out from the blackness an unseen force has new toys to play with. One crew member is pulled into the core of the gravity drive, others back away in fear as something tries to break through a bulkhead, another sees her crippled son pleading for help, the Captain is faced with a vision of an old crew member who was immolated in an oxygen fire years ago. They point to Weir for an explanation, but his response is unhelpful.

  The last log is found and played back. Through half-seen glimpses of distortion laced video the Lewis and Clark crew watches those of the Event Horizon slaughter themselves in an orgy of blood and perversity- with one crewman screaming as he holds his bloody eyeballs up to the camera, "We don't need these anymore!" One by one the Lewis and Clark crew is slaughtered- one dissected, one in a trance walks into an airlock and opens it to space, another is led by visions of her crippled son into falling several stories to her death in the engine room. Even Weir is affected by visions of his dead wife, naked and eyeless. The survivors realize it is the Event Horizon herself that is killing them and they make a mad dash to escape on the Lewis and Clark only to discover that one of the spinal separation explosives is missing aboard the Event Horizon.

  The rest you will have to see for yourself.

  This is an excellent film, panned by the critics, but I found it exciting, disturbing and visceral. How delightfully un-Hollywood! Anderson makes excellent use of his effects budget; providing us with convincing space vehicles, both inside and out. This film doesn't have a break neck pace, rather it seems more methodical and deliberate, as though the viewer was being stocked by the evil that infests the ship. Scenes that shock are meant to, the violence goes past merely being gross until it achieves an almost phobic state or mania. Sam Neill and Lawrence Fishburne are very good and play against each other wonderfully, though inter-character exchanges are brief and there is little chance to build the characters into `real' people.

  I found the fact that my eyes were not being burned out by one colossal effects sequence after another refreshing. Like so many films these days, `The Matrix' and `The Phantom Menace' spring to mind, like to bury their viewers in an avalanche of special effects. This is done by and large to confuse the audience and distract them from just how bad the story really is. Heaven help us if they actually start producing films where the story is at least as important as the effects. Event Horizon is not meant to be swallowed and lost by its effects, instead it presents a rather esoteric story line that is enhanced by its effects. Maybe if it had Gungans and Bullet Time effects people would have liked it more.
  
  

• This movie scared me all throughout!!!
  By AEOAMS0G96E8B on 2000-09-06
  "Liberate me, ex infernis..." This was the message the rescue crew from Lewis & Clark heard from the Event Horizon as they went deeper into the bowels of this derelict spaceship. The plot and story is simply fantastic. The Event Horizon (name taken from a part of a black hole) was sent on a mission beyond the boundaries of the solar system using a gravity drive, a faster than light travel system devised by Prof. Weir (Sam Neill). The gravity drive bends space to make travelling from one point to another faster than light. Simply put, the gravity drive creates an artificial black hole. Somehow, something went wrong and the Event Horizon was lost as it entered it's own black hole and was gone for 7 years. Finally, the ship came back but it came back with something in it. The spaceship indeed went somewhere but it way way beyond the boundaries of known universe. And not it brought something unseeing, something invisible yet completely evil. The rescue crew boards the ship and finds no sign of the crew. Thus, the story begins. It's more of a mental, psychological horror rather than seeing an alien being. You dont see any monsters or aliens here. The monster turns out to be the whole spaceship.

  The effects are good. Lawrence Fishburne will strike you as a hard core but fair captain of the rescue ship. Sam Neill did a good job portraying himself as a obsessed scientist eager to find where the Event Horizon has gone. There are tons and tons of scary scenes. Strangely, the scariest part was when Sam Neill was shaving with a razor, as he was scraping off the cream on his neck with his razor, he hears something and then BOOM!!!! Scared the life out of me!

  Get this movie.
  
  

• Event Disappointment
  By A18Y3VRG7OP4J2 on 2001-08-11
  I looked forward to this movie so much. Unfortunately, Hollywood couldn't carry the concept through and it degenerated into a sci-fi slasher flick, and not even an interesting one, at that. The premise was good and had the potential for creative, eerie impact but about half-way through it seemed like the creative juices dried up. Even good actors couldn't save it. We were laughing at the end - Neill on the barbie!

  DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY! This is one of the few films I've ever been tempted to walk out on and ask for my money back (and this in my own home!). Thankfully, I didn't buy it but I even begrudge the rental fee.
  
  

• Garbage
  By A30ZIGG3JM3YSH on 2002-03-15
  This very bad sci-fi/horror crossover film does neither well. The spaceships look more like torture chambers than one would imagine a real space ship to look. The characters are flat and lifeless.

  Basically, it's Hellraiser somewhere near Uranus. But, if you're into these strange gorefest horror films, go watch Hellraiser. It's better.
  
  

• Scary as hell!!
  By AT10S878VIHF8 on 2006-03-02
  This is the scariest movie of the mid 90's. Excellent acting and a great plot make this a must see for any horror/sci-fi fan. Great proformances from both Larry Fishburne and Sam Neil as the mysterious "doctor." Grade A. Not for the faint of heart!
  
  
• Scary and Disturbing: Gets under your skin
  By A64PKVY0MSBWR on 2007-03-03
  Even though the movie as a whole could have been a lot better, I gave it a strong rating because I think it's such an interesting premise.
  
  In 2040, the Event Horizon, a ship whose purpose was to do deep space research, disapears without a trace. The entire crew is presumed dead and the public explanation is the ship was destroyed as the result of a reactor that went critical.
  
  Seven years later, the ship suddenly reappears near the place it was last seen, in orbit around Neptune. The reappearance is accompanied by a strange transmission that at first doesn't make any sense.
  
  Search and Rescue Ship, The Lewis and Clark, and its crew are sent to investigate although they aren't told much more about their mission. Dr. William Weir, the scientist who designed the ship is sent to accompany the crew.
  
  As the Lewis and Clark nears Neptune, they learn the real reason for the mission. Dr. Weir explains to them that the story behind the Event Horizon was a cover up. The truth is that after a completely uneventful trip, the ship simply disapeared shortly after they engaged the experiemental engine that Weir designed. The experimental engine was designed to "fold space" by creating a black hole. The idea was that this tehnology would allow the ship to travel almost instantaneously to places in the universe that were light years away. The Lewis and Clark's crew are skeptical and wary of the doctor's explanation saying that faster than speed of light travel is impossible.
  
  Once docked to the Event Horizon, three crew members board to do a preliminary exploration. Things start to go wrong immediately. Engineering crew, Justin, goes into the engine deck and the gravitation drive, on it's own, opens the dimensional gateway, pulls Justin in, and sends an explosive wave that destroys part of the Lewis and Clark's hull making the ship uninhabitable. This forces the entire crew onto the Event Horizon which has oxygen and life supprt while the Lewis and Clark is repaired.
  
  The remainder of the movie is about things going from bad to worse to life and sanity threatening. The crew including Dr. Weir begin experiencing very real-seeming hallucinations drawn from their very worst experiences and feelings. Weir sees his dead wife who committed suicide due to his obsession with work, Miller sees a subordinate who he left to die in an on-ship fire, Peters sees her crippled son with twisted, gangrenous legs, and Justin tries and comes very close to committing suicide in a depressurized air lock.
  
  One element that makes the movie so disturbing and scary is in the way you feel like you're experiencing the crew's terror and pain. The airlock scene where Justin suddenly awakens from his catatonic state and becomes aware that the airlock will be fully depressurized in 30 seconds is horrible and painful to watch. He begs them to open the door as the effects of depressurization (basically, our skin can no longer contain our blood and organs) begin and the crew can only stand and watch his suffering helplessly.
  
  And then the movie gets even gorier and more disturbing.
  
  One point that reviewers who hated the movie seemed to miss (although I may be totally wrong on this score) is that that violence, pain, and gore was gratuitous. My take was that the Lewis and Clark crew was being slowly integrated into what the ship had become.
  
  So what *did* happen to the Event Horizon? The answer is never really fully explained but according to Weir (who has gone completely insane and sys he now is part of the ship), the gravitational drive went beyond folding known space and actually "tore a hole in the fabric of our universe into another dimension of pure chaos, of pure evil."
  
  If you don't apply traditional definitions to what Hell or Heaven actually are, did the ship really "go to Hell?" My take is that it went to a dimension that is so entirely different from ours that by our definition it *is* hell.
  
  Towards the end of the film, the ships log video which shows the crew at the moment before the gravitational drive is engaged and suddenly goes fuzzy, begins to play showing what happened the moment after the gateway opens and it looks hellish. Crew membes who moments before were grinning shyly at the camera as the captain thanked them as now disemboweling themselves, being raped, and screaming in pain and terror while they seem unable to stop themselves. The captain seems to be struggling with all his might to hang onto a shred of sanity gouges out his eyes and sends the final transmission, Liberate tutemae ex inferno "Save Yourself from Hell."
  
  There are lots of loose ends in this film and although it would be more satisfying if they were addressed I don't think it diminishes the effect of the film that they are not. There is the question of whether the first crew and Lewis and Clark crew members are really dead or somehow alive and being eternally tortured in another dimension. Of whether the Event Horizon is really gone. There's also the question that when the three surviving members are found by a rescue team, that anyone will get off alive (at the end you see the door hatch closing as rescue members are reviving them).
  
  I loved the Alien films and although Event Horizon is not at their caliber, it is still at times elegant, well-acted (although I found Sam Niell's character to be more annoying than menacing), and really, really scary. If you enjoyed movies like The Exorcist, Hellraiser, Alien, and The Shining, I highly recommend Event Horizon.
  
  
• One of the best movies ever
  By on 1999-06-10
  I saw EVENT HORIZON the day it came out in the theater. This movie was one of the only movies that made me jump and break a little sweat. I've seen so many horror movies and they just don't compare. THE RELIC, MIMIC, SCREAM,and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER were removed from my "movies with good scares" list to my "documentry" list. EVENT HORIZON blew them away.

  From the second the opening score starts (that's done by Michael Kamen and ORBITAL) and you start flying through a black hole I knew this was going to be great techno thriller. The stormy atmoshpere of Neptune and the eerie cross-shaped and almost falling apart vessal sets a very dark tone. The enormous ship dwarfs the rescuers ship. The whole idea of a strange looking spaceship missing for 7 years and suddenly reappearing with a terrifying distress call sets more tone while Dr. Weir explains the whole science of black holes and what the ship was designed to do.

  After entering the ship it just becomes like a haunted house movie. But you can't just leave and run away or hop in a car and drive away from it. As in THE RELIC and MIMIC you can vacate the city and let other people handle the monsters. These people are stuck on a ship thats been missing for 7 years, only 20 hours of air left, their own rescue ship has been damaged and is in several pieces, the first crew is dead, only one body is found and ripped to shreds, then while watching the ships log they see the first crew slaughtering each other(ripping skin, cutting out eyes, sergical type torture), and then start to think these god awful things can happen to them, and later they start happening, and they are 56 days from any other human contact. Then what? The sound throughout the theater made it like that nosie you just heard is behind you and I found myself looking back.

  Another thing is the movie is actually about the ship, not the setting happens to be on a ship like ALIEN RESSURECTION.

  If you liked- 2001: A SPACE ODESSY, HELLRAISER:BLOODLINE, DARK CITY, STARSHIP TROOPERS, ALIEN, or any sci-fi/horror/thriller you will like this movie. -------------------------------------------------- Also, I heard that on laser disc this movie has a whole extra half an hour added to the ending showing what happens when the rear end goes back to hell and what happens to the survivers in the front. Can anybody confirm?
  
  

• Demonic trash
  By A6VS2DC7YFQOE on 2001-03-08
  I had great anticipation of this movie after seeing the preview but was extremely disappointed and disgusted at the wanton gore and satanic crap that were thrown in to save this pathetic movie.

  The satanic, extremely gory "log" of the deceased crew of the "Event Horizon" is revolting in every way. You see screaming, writhing nude bodies drenched in blood being tortured. Utter crap.

  You also get to see an eyeless, nude woman who is apparently the good doctor's deceased wife. She appears to him quite frequently and flashes the camera as she tries to coax him to go to hell with her. Wonderful.

  Just for a change of pace, the doctor gets possessed, rips his eyes out and rips out the chest of one of crew who is dangling by his skin from the ceiling. It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

  The good doctor then becomes some kind of demon thingy that comes out of the fire looking like a flaming turd and throws fire at our heroic captain Fishburne. Then the flaming turd turns into a 21st Century version of the guy from Hellraiser.

  All in all, this is a terrible movie that is wanton in its demonic content, gore, demonic content, gore, and just for a change of pace, more gore.

  The only good thing about this movie is the cast. That's it.
  
  

• This is really a no star movie
  By A1UFKXQP3NLE9Z on 2001-06-07
  Event Horizon is the worst film I have ever seen. Period. But the really sad thing is that there was a kernel of a good film here. That kernel was the classic Russian movie Solaris. Solaris tells the same story with taste, intelligence, and restraint, all of which were missing in this blood and guts worthless film.

  Event Horizon is only of value to the seriously disturbed and one should be distrustful of any person who actually enjoyed it.
  
  

• Almost Painful to Watch
  By A3GKPMHV4U64IY on 2004-06-28
  During a glut of movie watching, I happened to watch Event Horizon. I cannot recommend this movie even to those who like cheesy ghost stories.

  The Event Horizon, mankind's first attempt at a faster than light ship has suddenly appeared in orbit around Neptune. A rescue crew and the ship's designer head out to investigate. While attempting to dock with the massive ship, the rescue vessel is damaged and needs to be repaired. Lack of air forces the crew onto the derelict.

  As the crew investigates the mystery of the returned ship, individual members begin to be haunted by their deepest fears. Somewhere along the line the ship's creator becomes possesses and tries to prevent the others from leaving.

  This movie was intended as a subtle ghost story. The beginning is pretty good but soon it becomes apparent that the movie makers are just not used to subtle. Visually the movie loses the story line as special effects become more pronounced than required. I guess that midway through the film they tried to recreate the film Alien and failed.

  Despite all of the bad points, there is actually some good acting to be found on screen. Unlike most science fiction and horror films the rescue crew behave cautiously and intelligently. Unfortunately they were up against something much too powerful.

  What we they up against? Well, when the ship went on its maiden voyage and punched a gateway through space, it traveled briefly in something that is outside space and time. A region of perfect chaos that most would call Hell. During that brief encounter the ship became alive and the gateway was not completely shut.

  So, if someone happens to be showing a video of this film (free of charge) then you might want to take a look. After all, the premise and the acting were good, it was just off the mark. Way off.
  
  

• Money In / Junk Out
  By A25G6T8FK6KHNL on 2000-02-15
  Sam Neill, father figure of Dinsey proportions, is cast of the manifestation of evilness and is goes downhill from there. Even the gore takes a dive at the end, when Sam Neill's close ups reveal a very shoddy make up job and eyes that were previously gouged out (and albeit scary 3D pits) come back and add to the camp. If Hollywood is going to do camp, it should use a camp budget and it will have a camp feel- others on my Money In / Junk Out list include: Waterworld (Mad Max on high budget low return), Titanic (you don't need 200 mill to do a love story), Godzilla (was there a story?), Armageddon / Deep Impact (the bane of capitalism is to have two studio pay big bucks to make the same movie at the same time and still not get one iota of inventiveness ) Money In / Junk Out ©1999 Oceanic Multimedia
  
  
• Would not recommend to anyone
  By A1ETV7PW3286IM on 1999-11-24
  While I thought at first this movie had a good science fiction premise, I quickly found that this movie sunk into a "Nightmare on Elmstreet" meets "Hellraiser" type of material. The enemy force at work I took to be Satanistic in nature, and I definitely would have shied away from this movie if I had known about it. I think the main problem with this movie is that it just kept sinking lower and lower into a bleak oblivion. You have to have up beat and down beats once and awhile. But the movie didn't have that. It reminded me a lot of "Dead Ringers" (which is THE worst movie I've seen) where the main character just continuously sinks into a twisted world of madness and depression for basically the last two acts. I felt that the promotion of the movie should have been more honest about the nature of it. Instead, the trailer shows the science fiction premise of scientists finding a ship that has become alive somehow. But it is really about how this ship encountered an evil force beyond comprehension that ends up possessing one of the main characters. If you want to make a horror movie, fine, make one but tell people that it is a horror movie. This movie has little to do with science fiction and more to do with promoting some sick Satanistic vision. There was one good scene in the movie: where a character gets stuck out in space for a few seconds. I don't remember any movie tackling a scene like this, and I thought it was handled very well in that it was realistic and gripping. But for that one good scene, there were too many bad ones that simply relied on gore and shock value, which in turn created too many down beats, especially in the second and third acts.
  
  
• You Don't Need Eyes to See the Fear...
  By on 2003-10-04
  Very few movies scare me...and this was one of them!

  The very notion of a ship going into Hell and coming back was enough to keep my attention. But the bloody visions of Hell was what frightened me the most. The gory, inhumane, and demonic things this film reveals WILL scare the living daylights out of you.

  The film gradually builds from a stylistic atmosphere of mystery and turns into a suspensful pursuit. The film ultimately reaches an exciting climax. The story itself seems unoriginal, since there have been other films that have dealt with the theme of black holes leading into other dimensions (like "The Black Hole"). But the story doesn't truly dominate the movie.

  The characters take more presidence, and constitute the events that occur. Acting is particuarly fantastic with Sam Niel, who plays Dr. Wier. It is interesting how Wier starts as being the film's good guy, but turns evil, while Laurence Fishborne plays a character who starts kind of bad and finishes as the hero. The subordinate characters also show some decent development.

  The special effects are very noteworthy, especially for its time. The ending black hole sequence is fantastically done.

  The set design further exemplifies the inhumane and demonic nature of the Event Horizon ship. Metal spikes and blades make it look like a torture chamber.

  All in all, this is perhaps one of my personal favorite horror films. It stands true to the very nature of the name of the genre: HORROR!
  
  

• The Exorcist in Space
  By AD0J5KK4WQXNS on 2004-02-05
  Event Horizon just happens to be a killer movie, however the director Anderson also just happens to be a completely incompetent filmmaker who has gone wrong with every step he has taken after making this one which really is hard to imagine, except to say that maybe there is more to a film than just the director. Event Horizon proves that point with a powerhouse performance from Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neil. This is the movie which showed that Fishburne could do sci-fi. It also proved that he could be a leading man in a big budget movie. Neil reprises his "Omen" career making character and does wonders as the scientist with a dark side. The rest of the cast are fully functional but do sometimes appear a little wobbly.

  The Event Horizon is the Exorcist in space. The title of the film is about a ship that has completed the first space warp but the crew have vanished leaving behind a cryptic and often horrific trail of evidence that suggests that warp jumping is a little more than just opening up doorways through the cosmos. It is more like opening up a doorway to the unknown.

  But let's get back to why Event Horizon happens to transcend the confines of its sham director. Philip Eisner has given us a damn fine script even though it borrows elements from other films and gives them a twist, but people here seem to think that Event Horizon is a total fake because they have seen something before. Well of course they have seen something before because the Cinematographer happens to be none other than Adrian Biddle the same guy who shot ALIENS. It has a lot in common with the look of that movie. We also have Joseph Bennett the set designer of films like Hardware (Directed by Richard Stanley) on board so Event Horizon has a dream production team working on it.

  In short Event Horizon is a great movie and a damn scary one that had trouble passing the censors. If you like scary movies and scary sci-fi then Even Horizon scores in aces.
  
  

• Lost in Space
  By A2HII4U9WQ0XUV on 2004-11-27
  Let's boil this thing down: "Event Horizon" is a haunted house in space with teeth---big teeth.
  
  Is "Event Horizon" endlessly derivative from about a million other Space/Horror movies? Absolutely. Does it look somewhat like "Aliens"? It should, it has the same cinematographer (Adrian Biddle, who also did "Judge Dredd" and "1492")and set designer (Crispian Sallis, who also designed the sets for "Gladiator" and "12 Monkeys"). Does the movie break down into a gory, senseless cinematic stew of incomprehensibility in its final 20 minutes? You betcha.
  
  But you'd be a fool to let any of these things get in the way of your taking a fun-filled two-hour jaunt to the very edge of the galaxy and doing some sight-seeing aboard the "Event Horizon", a special ship---a *very* special ship, actually, that was conducting experiments in trans-light speed (that's "warp speed", Mr. Sulu) before it disappeared seven years ago. And now it's back! Orbiting a black hole, no less! And attempts at radio contact have proved futile!
  
  So pack of your blaster and get out that passport, it's time to join Dr. William Weir (played to the bloody hilt by Sam Neill, who appears to be having the time of his career) and journey to the edge of the galaxy to determine what happened to the Event Horizon's original crew in 2040---a crew which included Dr. Weir's wife (played by Holley Chant, a real trooper who proves you don't even need eyeballs to turn in a knockout and creepy performance).
  
  Let's back up for a minute. When I first saw "Event Horizon" in a nearly empty theater in Upstate New York, I hated it. I disparaged it, loudly, to friends. Naturally I backed up my 'hatred' by saying the movie was plotless, the movie broke down in the end, that it was brainless, that a coolly atmospheric beginning was spoiled by an 'evil' that more properly belonged in a Hellraiser film.
  
  But let me tell you what was really on my mind: "Event Horizon" got under my skin and really *disturbed* me. It gave me the creeps. It made me wince to watch its twisted, warped plot unfold on the screen. From the moment we're 'introduced' to Dr. Weir aboard the Good Ship Event Horizon, and especially when we get a good look at the gangrenous legs of the medical officer's 'son', I was saying "Uh oh---this movie is out of control". Me, a veteran, jaded gorehound!
  
  That power to disturb in a horror movie is a rare gift, which is why I believe director Paul W.S. Anderson to be one of the finest genre directors working today. Anderson takes all the rules of the science fiction movie, sets them up, abides by them for about the first 25 minutes of the film until you really think you know what's going on, and then throws them out the window while you're yelling "hey---you can't do that with the Rules!". Anderson is the creepy guy who takes your arm and finds the nerve that hurts and then squeezes, and squeezes, and squeezes.
  
  That's what watching "Event Horizon" is like: having a particularly sensitive nerve squeezed, over and over again---in the nastiest possible way.
  
  It would be unfair to the viewer to say more about "Event Horizon" than this: the rescue team, including Dr. Weir and Captain Miller (played understatedly by the pre-Matrix Laurence Fishburne) of the 'Lewis & Clark', find the Event Horizon an abandoned derelict, orbiting a black hole. Well, abandoned, except for strange visions, and discomfiting voices echoing throughout the grim passageways---and then there's the matter of all the blood, gore, and other goop caked up in the alcoves of the Horizon's bridge, or the final broadcast made by the Horizon's captain...
  
  Anderson directs much like a young Ridley Scott, which is not surprising, since his crew includes a number of Scott's colleagues. He has a flair at building up a sustained atmosphere of menace and brooding malevolence, and of getting the most from his eerie, ornately Gothic set design. Of course, I immediately wondered who on Earth would design the Event Horizon to look like it did---with spikes, flanges, and violent green access-ways---but then possibly the Horizon had undergone a few upgrades by the time we get to see it, and I don't think Earth had anything to do with the design changes.
  
  Anderson is also particularly good in his sparing and careful use of CGI, which is used to telling effect in this movie: the sequence in which we see a cascade of items---a watch, a nail file, loose change---spiralling in zero gravity is beautiful and creepy all at once.
  
  All that said, "Event Horizon" is a compact, stylish little piece of pure horror and it is very scary. It's also one of the goriest films I've ever watched. Ever wonder what a guy who wanders into an airlock without a spacesuit looks like over the course of a few minutes? Wonder no longer. Wanna see a full surgical lumbar dissection in the main bridge? No problemo, Sarge! Ever ponder what a little homemade LASIK surgery without anesthetic might look like? Ponder no more, pardner! Anderson finds the thing you really don't want to see---the awful thing, the thing that other directors are content to let happen offscreen---and forces you to watch.
  
  There are a few missteps (Fishburne's encounter with a burning crewman and Richard Jones's obligatory laugh relief undermine the meticulous atmosphere), but "Event Horizon" is a mercilessly nasty and disturbing excursion into outer space horror that pulls no punches. It's a wicked tale, stylishly told, of a Deep Space Haunted House with very big teeth---and a powerful appetite.
  
  

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