::READERS REVIEWS::

Event Horizon - This is one of the all time best horror sci-fi movies out there. I just love it. If you love horror you have to have this one in you collection.

No worse for the wear. - This movie was extremely ahead of its time. Once you watch it in high definition it really brings that point home. The sound is amazing. The video holds up well and the transfer is excellent. Worth the bump to HD.

Same Story - A poor story with a lot of physics and astronomical mistakes, the usual rescue mission of a previous lost spaceship that headed for an incredible assignment to a black hole and ended in a very terrestrial looking situation.

Haunted Space... - Yes, EVENT HORIZON is a horror movie. It's basically a haunted mansion tale set in deep space. So, if you're looking for a lesson in astrophysics, you're out of luck. On the other hand, if you want to be scared and filled w/ that delightful sense of dread, then EH is your nightmare come true! Filled to bursting w/ bleak, suffocating atmosphere, this grabber is a nice, cold hand on the heart. It's also one of the few films by Paul Anderson that I will actually watch. He utilizes paranoia and unknown horrors to build this monster piece by grusome piece. Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix trilogy, "CSI") and Sam Neill (Omen 3: The Final Conflict, Jurassic Park, In The Mouth Of Madness) do most of the heavy lifting, w/ Joely Richardson, Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers), and Kathleen Quinlan (Twilight Zone: The Movie) filling in most of the gaps. So, if you are in the mood for chills, EVENT HORIZON should get those shoulders shaking...

Disturbia - E.H. came and went in movie theatres in about a week, the victim of an un-evocative title, under-budgeted marketing campaign and needless confusion about what genre it belonged to. The truth will generally out, however, even in Hollywood; and so this flick has achieved a kind of cult status among fans of classy sci-fi/horror.

E.H. is the story of Dr. Weir (Sam Neill), a scientist who designs the first-faster than light spaceship, the Event Horizon. Obsessed with his creation, he so neglects his wife that she commits suicide, leaving him half-mad with grief. To make matters worse, the ship, disappears on its maiden voyage, presumably lost with all hands. Seven years later, however, a signal is suddenly received from the vicinity of the planet Neptune which indicates the Event Horizon has survived after all. A rescue ship from Earth is launched under the command of the hard-nosed Captain Miller (Lawrence Fishburne), with Weir joining the small crew (including Kathleen Quinlan and the excellent Joely Richardson) as scientific advisor. Arriving at the planet, they find the Horizon intact, but seemingly empty, which poses our heroes with two questions: where has the ship been all these years, and what has happened to the crew? Exploring the tomb-like ship, the mystery deepens. Frozen bodies...or parts of them...are discovered, but not enough to account for the crew. Records are half-destroyed. Inexplicable sounds emit from everywhere, and one by one the crewmembers begin to experience horrible hallucinations that may not be hallucinations at all. Before you know it, the rescue ship's been sabotaged and the whole lot of them are stuck on board the ghost ship with no way off and only 24 hours worth of air. All that in the first half hour. Then the murders begin...

EVENT HORIZON is a combination of many influences; stylistically it is reminiscent of Gothic horror films crossed with ALIEN (especially the "S.O.S." which is discovered, too late, to be a warning) but there are classic themes as well. Wier's gravity-drive represents Forbidden Knowledge, the stuff you tamper with at your peril. The ship itself is the classic Haunted House and/or Cursed Tomb, and the crew the Ten Little Indians, each of whom possesses dark secrets that are forced to the surface by the pressure of events. However, in most horror, there is a very clear dividing line between Who Is Safe and Who Isn't; in EVENT HORIZON, this line is totally obliterated. No sooner do you invest emotionally in one of the characters than they suffer a horrible and gory end. And some of those gory ends are tough to watch. While hardly a splatter-fest, E.H. isn't sparing on the red stuff when push comes to shove: we get glimpses of flaying, cannibalism, open sores, patricide, burned flesh, and decompressed eyeballs. When Captain Miller promises his crew "Everybody goes home!" he might have added, "but not necessarily alive or in one piece."

The real star of the movie is not Fishburne, Neill, or Richardson, however, but the Event Horizon herself. If I am a fan of one thing in my horror movies, it is atmosphere, and E.H. has it in spades. The production designers used an old Gothic cathedral as the basis for the ship, and between its green-lit, gray-stone-like interiors, echoey hallways and deep, brooding shadows, it has the worst elements of haunted house, hedge maze, and Dracula's castle.

The downside of E.H. rests largely in things that happen during the climax; there is some ridiculously unnecessary exposition and some badly-timed humor which really undermine the ending. I sense the interfering hand of a Studio Suit in some of Sam Neill's final dialogue. Despite this, however, E.H. is a disturbing, brutal, well-acted, beautifully designed film with a first-rate cast, and it deserves your attention.

Fantastic Horror - This has got to be one of my favorite horror movies ever. It has everything someone could want. Sci-fi, horror, suspense, etc...And I can't help but think this could be possible.

Super Massive Dissapointment - I am giving this two stars because it started out very good, but around midway through the movie swiftly hurtled off the tracks and tumbled to a grinding, fore-head slapping halt. I'll keep this short. I love sci-fi. So that is not why I didn't like it. It started out with an interesting premise, but little by little you can see that the screen writer had no idea where he was going. I got the feeling that they were throwing in "scary parts" without connecting them in any viable way to any sort of plot. Just tacked on. The acting is decent so that's not the problem. It's mainly just that the story starts out good but then doesn't follow through. I didn't even care about the gore. It didn't scare me at all. Go watch ALIEN. Much better and more consistent throughout.

A disappointment despite the superb cast - Event Horizon was a big disappointment to me. It seemed like it had everything going for it. I love the theme: humanity's first faster-than-light spaceship. I loved the cast, let by the superb Sam Neil and Laurence Fishburne. Unfortunately, the storyline is chaotic and unconvincing. Basically the story is an inversion of the movie "Sphere" only this time the exploration of the advanced spaceship (aboard which total chaos reigns) is in the future, instead of the present. The story never goes anywhere or tells us anything. Nor is this an uplifting story. And there are no real surprises.

There are pretty good special effects here, and the theme and caste really had potential. Score this one a clean miss. RJB.

Awesome Sci-Fi classic from my youth! - My friends and I used to love this movie. Was awesome to add it to the collection! "Do you SEEEEEE??!?!?!" haha, sam neill. Classic role.

As Eddie Izzard would say: "A Room with a View... OF HELL" - In 2040, Earth launched its first deep space vessel, the Event Horizon, a ship that was supposed to achieve faster-than-light travel using nifty space-bending stuff . Instead, it never got past Neptune, where it just went dead in the water, lilting lazily to the side. Now, seven years later, a team of scrappy, reluctant pseudo-military types, led by man o' the people Captain Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and frosty intellectual Doctor Awkward (Sam Neill!), go for the rescue mission.

The rescuers do find the Event Horizon, and when they do, plasmic hell goo (literally) starts splashing everywhere, quickly followed by blood, guts and sanity. In an early scene, the laddish military types are resentful to brainy Sam Neill for dragging them into this mess - and their anti-intellectual sulking is later justified: yes, it really all was Sam Neill's fault.

Of course, in an early scene, likable tech officer Peters (a youthful Kathleen Quinlan) also likens a former crewmate to a "corpsicle" - and that pretty much sets the tone of this film. With utter seriousness, a sort of ultra-grim melody supplied by overachieving eyebrows, frosty irises and moody intonations, this film wallows in the most ludicrous scenarios. It seems to have no self-awareness at all; it doesn't realize how over-the-top it is. Instead, it goes for A-grade horror - something it only intermittently achieves, such as the glorious sequence in the green vent - when it should really be basking in B-grade silliness. On paper this is the stuff of Ghostbusters, but - alas - when choosing the form of their destructor, they went for eyeless dead wives instead of a giant marshmallow man.

So should it be watched? Only at your own peril! We kind of perversely enjoyed watching it in groups when it would be on TV, if only so we could crow at Sam Neill and then make big noises of shock when the bloody stuff begins. But it's not a particularly good film, so we can't really recommend it. It seems much more intent on pushing the boundaries of gore and dressing these up in some visual references to better films, instead of, you know, investing some more thought into the plot.

*Review originally published at the Post-Punk Cinema Club.

item is dribble from a f*$#ed up little mind - I knew nothing about it but was curious enough about this, thing (can't even bring myself to call it a movie or film) to buy it to try out the new TV and Blu-ray player. If you want entertainment, thrills, chills, a plot or a point look else where. If you want to see recycled sci-fi material and just what sort of nasty things the human mind can come up with you hit the jackpot. I have never been accused of having a weak stomach and my collection includes plenty of extremely gory and dark movies to go with my collection of real life experiences, nonetheless I covered my own eyes on three occasions and and nearly stopped watching altogether. Some things I just don't have any desire to have in my memory, and what little I did see I guess I'm stuck with. It was of course all displayed it fantastic Blu-ray detail.

The occult meets Sci-Fi and it's....a draw! - Event Horizon(released Aug/97)stars Lawrence Fishburne and Sam Neill in a mixture of Sci-Fi and the occult that doesn't come off as well as it should;very similar in nature to the /85 movie Lifeforce.
The story puts us in the year 2047.Years previously an explorer ship called the Event Horizon disappeared in a long range probing mission near the planet Neptune.Now the ship has seemingly reappeared and it is up to the crew of the Lewis and Clark to go out and get as much intel as possible and rescue any possible survivors.Dr Weir(Sam Neill) is along for the ride as he is the man who help design and build the EH.
The crew arrives and awakes from stasis about two hours eta from Neptune.Before coming out of stasis Dr Weir is the first one to have a strange occurrence as he hears the voice of his long deceased wife.The entire crew is now out of stasis but Dr Weir keeps his experience to himself.Capt.Miller orders most of the crew over to the EH leaving Dr Weir chomping at the bit to go himself.When the crew finally secures the EH Dr Weir is allowed over.However as time goes on the entire crew,individually and together,start to hear voices and see people they shouldn't.Things get markedly worse after an incident involving one of the crew who gets sucked into the drive core of the ship and returns in a catatonic state.
When things get too much to handle Capt.Miller orders everyone back to the Lewis and Clark but Dr Weir won't go.The EH has him under its' spell and Miller and the crew learn from him that the EH was originally designed to open up a black hole enabling it to travel instantly through space to other galaxies.However when it traveled it went into another dimension instead,a dimension filled with evil which has returned with the EH and taken it over.It now intends to take the Lewis and Clark crew back with it.The EH destroys the Lewis and Clark forcing what remains of its crew back onto the EH.
Between the EHs core and its main ship section is a corridor which the good captain nows intends to blow up.However he gets trapped in the core section with the now fully possessed Weir and is forced to dimensionally shift with him.The two remaining crew in the main EH section now return to stasis and go home.72 days later they are found and rescued...or are they?Before coming out of stasis one of the crew has a "dream" that the lead rescuer is Dr Weir reaching out to take her.
The film has many good moments of tension throughout with your typical lights going out at just the right moment,objects coming into view out of nowhere,people getting trapped out in the space vacuum,etc.And the film tries to work on a psychological level throughout as the unseen force tries to manipulate each crew member with their worst fears.Having said all that however,this movie is lacking any great punch that would sway me one way or the other.It is enjoyable enough to watch but it leaves me feeling ambivalent.I know the original cut of the movie was about 1/2 hour longer than what it is now but it was forced cut due to too much length and gore.Maybe that's where the punch lies,in that unseen/unused footage.
Technically the film has been transferred wonderfully and is seen in its' widescreen aspect ratio.This is a two disc set and it contains a plethora of extras.Some of the extra/cut footage I just referred to is available here(on Disc two)but its' transfer is from not-so-good video,which apparently is the only existing format it is in now because Paramount did not keep the original film footage or any of the other extended cut footage(!).There is a conference room scene(not in the film) and two extended scenes of the medical bay hanging body and the burning body.There is also a five part making of EH,there is an unfilmed rescue scene and conceptual art,four featurettes of behind the scenes making of certain parts of the film,the theatrical and video trailer for the movie and director and producer commentary.
All in all this film,while having many decent and scary moments through its' 97 minute run,just leaves me feeling well,vanilla.The film talks a good game but the blend of Sci-Fi and the occult just doesn't have the punch it should.It would seem a fuller version of the film might have fulfilled the promises this version couldn't seem to keep. Recommended as average fare.

notes on quality - Quick points: (1) the Blu-ray version does NOT have DTS, unfortunately, but a Dolby HD track. (2) The image quality is excellent, sharp and well-lit (given the milieu). This is a stunning improvement over the regular DVD which is non-anamorphic widescreen (and an excellent demo disc if someone wants to know why anamorphic is necessary), and one of the worst-looking DVDs ever struck from a quality movie. And here's a big yousuck for all the executives at Fox (in particular) who stopped putting anamorphic (or 16:9) on their DVD releases, opting instead for "widescreen", an ambiguous term that confuses watchable and non-watchable DVDs.
Of course, a clearer copy doesn't make the film any more plausible; I can't watch it without imagining the pitch, "first half Alien, second half Hellraiser". 5 stars for the imaginative SF, and 1 for the Hellraiser outtakes.

Bad, bad, bad. - One of the worst Sci Fi movies ever made. How anyone could stuff something up this badly when they have such a decent cast and budget is beyond me. It starts well and up until about the halfway point is still relatively engaging, but after that it all falls in a screaming heap. I'm not sure what happened, perhaps they ran out of time or the original writer quit and they had to finish it quickly or something. Whatever the reason it changes for being a competent film with an intriguing if generic storyline and decent sets into a lame gorefest that is as predictable as most from that overpopulated genre. Even the gore is badly done, so if your into that then you'll be disappointed as well. I sadly went to see this at the cinema when it was first released and nearly walked out but thought that surely something would happen to tie it all together, alas I was wrong. Don't waste 90 mins of your life on this turkey.