"Who knows where it's been..."

EVENT HORIZON (R) 

Reviewed August 16, 1997 - Check out the Event Horizon web site.

The longer I think about this film, the lower I want to drop its rating, but I'll stop at two stars.  Billed as "the scariest movie you've ever seen," Event Horizon comes in with its share of blood, guts, and loud crashing noises...but not much else.  The story revolves around the spacecraft "Event Horizon", a ship designed to achieve faster-than-light travel via a dimensional gateway mechanism capable of breaking barriers of space and time.  (Did I really just say that?)  Leaving Earth in the year 2040, the "Event Horizon" reached Neptune's orbit before mysteriously disappearing, only to suddenly reappear seven years later.  What happened to the ship?  Where has it been?  Is the crew still alive?  A small space rescue team is sent to investigate the ship, only to find an abandoned (but not lifeless) craft with the power to bring nightmares to life and spread fear among the bravest of souls.

Yes folks, it's a haunted spaceship!

Starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson, Event Horizon is a mangle of nightmares and hallucinations obviously designed to shock its audience.  Nothing is left to the imagination as we are made to witness all varieties of horror and gore interspersed with inhuman shrieks and loud explosions.  Eeeek, crashhhh, boooom!!!  "Help me, Captain Miller!!"  Eerie silence.  What's happening here?  Who's doing this?  Eerie silence.  Eeeeeek, crasshhh, BOOOM!!!  "Captain Miller, Captain Miller!!!"  Eerie silence.

That's about how the movie goes through its 95-minute running time as it brushes aside any real effort at making its premises plausible.  Where has the "Event Horizon" been?  What did happen to its original crew?  What is this mysterious life force that's now torturing the rescue team?  In Event Horizon, all these questions are asked but no satisfying answers are given.  The "Event Horizon" has come back from a place "worse than Hell."  The ship is now possessed by some unexplained force of "evil."  Wow, that explains it all I guess.  What a waste of some great production design and special effects work, and what a disappointing execution of what could've been a very interesting film.

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

anonymous entry gives this movie  stars: "Good movie! The plot is sorta like Final Doom by id Software!" (6/7/00)

ssjprnce@aol.com gives this movie  stars: "This was in fact, the scariest movie I have ever seen. The real reason why people were so scared by this movie was because of it's psychological nature. Did you know that this movie originally had no storyline, that the storyline was made up after the idea was already made. I believe this is true becuase it is just an acid trip movie. Do you realize jsut how many hiden scenes are included in this movie. Scenes of eyes and faces all throughout the frames of the movie. On weir's face, all of those cuts weren't just cuts, they were eyes and mouths. As the movie progresses they include more and more horror and gore and yes-hidden scenes. It was meant to watch while on acid, believe it or not, because when you are on acid, the hidden images are clearly visable and the movie is something to watch while intoxified. IF youever do acid, watch this movie, you are in for an incredible ride. I don't care about the storyline. The only real storyline in this movie is the idea of hell.. not god and angels and sin and stuff like that, but hell, what your mind would htink the worst thing ever is, your worst nightmare on the screen. That is why it is so scary, the enxt time you watch it, look for the hidden images. Libarachi Exodus." (9/30/99)

chocdaddy007@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "i personally think that this movie was a horrrible film for young children to bare their little innocent eyes on.. parents who would let their child watch this kind of film should be ashamed of their self." (9/20/99)

eapoe@cistron.nl gives this movie  stars: "Good movie... al lot of people don't understand this movie. That is because you aren't allow to blink your eyes. A good story.. :)" (5/20/99)

racerx5151@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "This movie is one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies if you havent seen it go watch it." (5/6/99)

evilmike gives this movie  stars: "On some technical notes.....they used the old 'artificial gravity trick'.....but had the best vacuum exposure scene ever made. You CAN survive for a limited time in vacuum, and the movie shows this. The 'gravity couch' is also very good...altho if they had a-grav, why did they need grav couchs? But I digress. Hitchcock did it the best, but EH does it good, as well. Let the audience use its IMAGINATION. It's much , much scarier when the audience has to imagine the monster, rather than being shown it. I think that if you don't have much of an imagination, you won't like this film. Or Psycho,House on Haunted Hill,etc. Some people have to SEE the 'monster'. Other folks have a very ACTIVE imagination....and don't need to see ANYTHING. I think the best 'monsters' are human beings. Much more believable than some gonk in a hockey mask. Watching Weir slowly lose his sanity and eventually surrender to the ship was pretty scarey, IMHO. Watching him try to take everyone with him was downright terrifying. Of course, the movie had 'action' scenes. "Gattaca" was an excellent example of a 'pure' sci-fi movie, and it bombed horribly. Just like '2001' would, if it had been made in 1998, instead of 1968. American movie audiences have been trained to want action, violence, and special effects. Plot optional..." (11/27/98)

bjohn316@earthlink.net gives this movie  stars: "I really enjoyed the film. I think people went in thinking Alien or Pin head but instead they found fact and a bit of fiction, if you don't believe that there's an evil force in the universe. I didn't get scared but rather it made my mind think of the possibility of what lies beyond space and time, beyond the black holes in our universe. Although I am a christian I always been interested in understanding God's mind through a scientific way. Even the most skeptical scientists have speculated with the idea of another dimension. People who don't enjoy this film are usually those who if told is a horror film go thinking blood, gore, monsters, etc. If they are told sci-fi then they think star wars, star trek, etc. I appreciate a good film that toys with the idea of time travel and other existing dimensions, after all you would be amazed at what top research scientists are talking about when it comes to the cosmos. I didn't think Event Horizon was a horro flick and it could have done without the blood and gore and I still would have like it." (4/5/98)

rhema@hotmail.com says: "When Dr Weir started getting those hallucinations, I was hoping in my heart that the show will not be a gory alien show with goo dripping monsters chasing the crew everywhere. To my relief, this did not happen. There is a better way of taking out the crew. If death was the objective of the ship. I was quite drawn to the story line of 'the dark side'. The other dimension was only a channel that exposed the dark that is within. some of the crew were too overwhelmed by the unresolved burdens in their hearts and this gave the 'dark side' a chance to exploit their fears and control them.(Justin was for one point of time) Only the Captain,among those affected, came to terms with his buried secret,confessed it and convinced himself that he had to move on, for himself and his crew.He could have saved more of the crew with his level mindedness. Weir on the other hand was too guilt strikened. He paid too high a price for building the ship, he couldn't let go. The previous crew? Most probably killed themselves or each other... "save yourself from hell".... the hell within yourself." (12/26/97)

cata@ada.net.tr gives this movie  stars: "I did enjoy the movie. Alhough it's not a perfect film it is the best hooror-science - fiction since ALIEN." (12/3/97)

Sweety gives this movie  stars: "I am a horror fan and I did enjoy all the gruesome parts but the movie seemed like it went on forever to get to the point. It kind of put a thought in your head of what hell is like and makes you want to get right up and go to church and pray you won't go to hell. Cause when you think about it, if a human can think of a hell like that imagin what the devil has in store for you!" (11/22/97)