Event HorizonWhat evil lurks beyond the distance of our solar system, or even of our reality? For the crew of the ill-fated spaceship, the Event Horizon, the answer is pure chaos. Event Horizon is a gory, tense, sci-fi horror movie, where the forces of malevolence--those of Hell itself--seek to destroy the crew of the rescue vessel, the Lewis and Clark. Commanded by the no-nonsense Captain Miller (Lawrence Fishburne) and his diverse crew of specialists, with the direction of the somewhat aloof and uncomfortable Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), the Lewis and Clark answers the call to the Event Horizon's decaying orbit around Neptune, beckoned by the forces of darkness seeking to crash the vessel along its distant shores of time and space.
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Event Horizon is among many films depicting a near future where space travel has become more commonplace, but one where mankind's steps into the uncharted, unfriendly black void beyond the stars is still likely to result in a terrifying accident. The Event Horizon is introduced in part by the titles at the beginning of the film, which--as Dr. Weir reiterates to the crew of the Lewis and Clark--was reported to be involved in a catastrophic disaster in the year 2040. Seven years later, Weir informs the crew that the story of the Event Horizon's destruction was a fabrication to cover up its disappearance following the test of the experimental gravity drive it boasted, one which Weir invented, designed to generate a singularity effect--a black hole--to tear a hole in the fabric of space and time and travel across vast distances instantaneously. What neither Weir nor anyone else could have predicted was that the effect worked too well, instead tearing across dimensions to a realm of absolute evil and chaos, where some inscrutable presence is determined to wreak havoc upon the hapless humans who enter its new found demesne. These demons beyond the veil of reality assail the crew by manifesting as their deepest fears or terrors, and coercing them into violent, self-destructive acts. The endgame of this evil force is incomprehensible aside from its efforts to open the gateway to this other realm once more. Prior to the expedition, Weir is plagued by images of his late wife, appearing as a ghastly figure with her eyes removed, and his nightmares persist with increasing regularity as he becomes compelled to sojourn to the Event Horizon. Whatever force it is that motivates Weir to make the journey firsthand to Neptune is influencing him by these dark dreams, suggesting that the reach of this hellish psychological entity is far reaching enough to draw the doctor into its lair. Alternately, it could be inferred that as Weir was responsible for developing the gravity drive, whatever power his science unleashed was also what makes him the ideal emissary for the legions that lurk beyond the shadows of the stars. The message which is recovered from the ghost spaceship is a cacophony of screams and wails of the damned, along with a choppy warning in Latin, which Weir initially takes to mean that their mission is to be one of rescue. But like a Venus fly trap, the skeletal ship has tempted the Lewis and Clark to board the ship in order to feast on the souls of its newest prey.
Similar to the somewhat off timeline of Event Horizon, suggesting that by the year 2015 that we should have a base of operations on the Moon, some of the computer generated special effects appear a touch primitive by today's standards. That said, they are--like the expedition of the Event Horizon--early steps into utilizing unfamiliar technology to achieve an effect. The result is that, along with much of the set design, Event Horizon has a creepy, unsettling atmosphere. Although we have little idea of what the Event Horizon looked like before it embarked for its undiscovered country, the ship we are introduced to is one which is imposing and menacing, where one crew member of the Lewis and Clark even describes a corridor as resembling a meat grinder. The connecting pathway linking the two sections of the Event Horizon itself is like the spine of this looming spacecraft, albeit a spine rigged with explosives at each of its vertebrae. Doors and hallways seem to contain hard, even dangerous looking accents, like gnashing teeth and with large, metal spikes precariously jutting out. Even the "heart" of the ship, the gravity core, looks as though it were composed of various mandalas etched with occult runes, as if it were wrought from some ancient evil culture, the kind that performed blood sacrifices. It's possible that the ship always looked this way--although that would make it not just unfriendly, but downright cruel--but I favor the idea that it was itself transformed by the dark forces which were set loose upon it. The horror of Event Horizon is of the "Grand Guignol" style, where explosions of blood and gore, mutilations, and tortuous and graphic displays of violence are the bold punctuation of the film; as a result, it has been compared to Clive Barker's Hellraiser set in space. Other apparent influences on Event Horizon include the likes of The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, and of course, Ridley Scott's own murderous tale of terror in deep space, Alien. As a result of fitting snugly into its genre of violently bloody sci-fi horror, its style has itself been an influence on other works, including the acclaimed "Dead Space" video game series. Although many of the moments in Event Horizon subscribe to familiar tropes of the genre, it is a film which embraces this style with an emphatic gusto, where the devils of an evil dimension lurk at every turn to eviscerate and slaughter, and familiar pacing of the plot favor a style reminiscent of the kind of monster flicks which prefer bloodshed to complexity.
Recommended for: Fans of a brutal and violent movie in space, where the scary action is at the forefront and the science in the background. Its indulgent gore and identifiable beats gives it a cheesy charm as a sci-fi horror flick about a haunted spaceship, where the crew slowly gets picked off one by one.
Similar to the somewhat off timeline of Event Horizon, suggesting that by the year 2015 that we should have a base of operations on the Moon, some of the computer generated special effects appear a touch primitive by today's standards. That said, they are--like the expedition of the Event Horizon--early steps into utilizing unfamiliar technology to achieve an effect. The result is that, along with much of the set design, Event Horizon has a creepy, unsettling atmosphere. Although we have little idea of what the Event Horizon looked like before it embarked for its undiscovered country, the ship we are introduced to is one which is imposing and menacing, where one crew member of the Lewis and Clark even describes a corridor as resembling a meat grinder. The connecting pathway linking the two sections of the Event Horizon itself is like the spine of this looming spacecraft, albeit a spine rigged with explosives at each of its vertebrae. Doors and hallways seem to contain hard, even dangerous looking accents, like gnashing teeth and with large, metal spikes precariously jutting out. Even the "heart" of the ship, the gravity core, looks as though it were composed of various mandalas etched with occult runes, as if it were wrought from some ancient evil culture, the kind that performed blood sacrifices. It's possible that the ship always looked this way--although that would make it not just unfriendly, but downright cruel--but I favor the idea that it was itself transformed by the dark forces which were set loose upon it. The horror of Event Horizon is of the "Grand Guignol" style, where explosions of blood and gore, mutilations, and tortuous and graphic displays of violence are the bold punctuation of the film; as a result, it has been compared to Clive Barker's Hellraiser set in space. Other apparent influences on Event Horizon include the likes of The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, and of course, Ridley Scott's own murderous tale of terror in deep space, Alien. As a result of fitting snugly into its genre of violently bloody sci-fi horror, its style has itself been an influence on other works, including the acclaimed "Dead Space" video game series. Although many of the moments in Event Horizon subscribe to familiar tropes of the genre, it is a film which embraces this style with an emphatic gusto, where the devils of an evil dimension lurk at every turn to eviscerate and slaughter, and familiar pacing of the plot favor a style reminiscent of the kind of monster flicks which prefer bloodshed to complexity.
Recommended for: Fans of a brutal and violent movie in space, where the scary action is at the forefront and the science in the background. Its indulgent gore and identifiable beats gives it a cheesy charm as a sci-fi horror flick about a haunted spaceship, where the crew slowly gets picked off one by one.