‘Where we’re going, we won’t need eyes.’
It’s 2047 and the Lewis and Clark rescue vessel is dispatched to the Event Horizon, a starship that disappeared in orbit around Neptune. On board are Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and crew D.J (Jason Issacs) Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) Smith (Sean Pertwee) Starck (Jolie Richardson) Cooper (Richard T Jones) and Justin (Jack Noseworthy) Joining them on the mission is the Event Horizon’s designer, Weir (Sam Neill).
Once on board on the Event Horizon, it becomes clear that something terrible happened to its crew. The Lewis and Clark team seem to be heading for the same fate, each member experiencing their own personal hell. Weir sees his dead wife, Peters the son she feels guilty for leaving behind, Miller a colleague that he left to die on a previous mission.
Is Weir as fish-out-of-water as he seems? Why is he so determined to defend the Event Horizon?
Sometimes described as ‘The Shining in space’, the film flopped at the box office. Much of the original script was edited out and following test screenings, scenes that provided context to Weir’s motivations and what exactly is haunting the Event Horizon were cut.
And...it’s not a great film. The script is awful. Here’s an example (I paraphrase)
Miller (to Starck): tell me something!
Stacrk: (begins to tell Miller her theory)
Miller: I don’t have time for this!
Starck: it’s sort of important
Miller: Go on then
Starck: (begins to explain theory again)
Miller: What are you on about? Give me FACTS!
It’s also pretty boring, and repetitive. The editing is bad, so it’s hard to tell what’s going on when. Lack of character background means that you don’t really care what happens to any of the crew. The only character I actually cared about was Cooper, because he provides the comic relief and almost dies multiple times despite being absent for most of the run-time.
Despite the lukewarm reception on release, the film garnered a cult following in the subsequent years. In 2024, Vanity Fair put Event Horizon as the 94th best horror film of all time.
Event Horizon wouldn’t make it into my Top 10, or probably even my Top 20. But I still have a grudging affection for it. It’s ambitious, and gory, and sometimes funny (both intentionally and unintentionally). The set design of the ship is seriously impressive, from the spinning black hole, (the ‘core’ of the vessel), to the ‘meat grinder’ tunnel. Possessed Weir’s make-up is iconic. You can tell that director Paul Anderson was going for so much more than a sci-fi slasher. I believe that it’s worth a watch to decide for yourself if it’s a classic or a clunker.
Content warning: suicide, exploding eyes, topless Sam Neill (may cause intense thigh rubbing).
Final verdict: I liked the bit in space.
You can stream Event Horizon on Paramount +, Youtube, Now TV, Amazon Prime video. Google Play, Apple TV and the Sky Store. Or if I know you personally, you can rent the DVD from me for £3.00 a night. What do you mean, ‘who has a DVD player these days?’?!
