Event Horizon
Directed by Paul Anderson (Soldier)
Written by Philip Eisner
Starring Laurence Fishburne (Searching for Bobby Fischer), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Kathleen Quinlan (Apollo 13), Joely Richardson (101 Dalmations)
As Reviewed by James Brundage
2047. How many critiques of sci-fi movies have started off with that or another date sometime in the future? Intro into Dr. Weir (Sam Neill of "Jurassic Park"), a man living in a space station above Earth morning over a dead wife. He goes on a mission with the Captain of the search and rescue team of the Lewis & Clark. The mission, of course, is top secret.
Haven't we seen this plot before?
Then bring in The Event Horizon, an experimental craft that supposedly was destroyed seven years ago. The Event Horizon creates a gateway to another dimension through which it will travel and thus be capable of jumping from one point in our galaxy to another.
(Watching this and thinking about the promos, rule number 6 of the ten rules of scary movies by Reader's Digest comes into my mind – "As a general rule, it's a good idea not to solve/create things/puzzles that open the doorway between heaven and hell".)
This is what the crew, a wisecracking, smoking, politically incorrect bunch with b-rate motives, is told by Dr. Weir. The Event Horizon wasn't destroyed but instead went to this other dimension and only recently came back, and they knew because of a distress call with a bunch of static in the background that has someone sounding like "Liberate Meus" or "Save Me", for those who don't speak Latin.
So they head into the atmosphere of Neptune and board the ship, described by Lawrence Fishburne (John Singleton's "Boyz in the Hood", playing Captain Miller) as "A tomb".
Then, quite literally, all hell breaks loose.
Tried the demonically possessed horror stories before? Whatever you've seen, it can't be better than this.
This ship is back from hell and by God it's pissed. It knows everything about you, every secret you've ever had from the person you couldn't save to the wife who slit her own wrists, to the child who you would fall a hundred feet for. It gouges out you're eyes because in hell you don't need them and, let me tell you, it will drag you kicking and screaming straight to it.
Event Horizon has to be one of the coolest movies of this summer (thank God, it finished with a bang), and it really is a horror story when you don't quite know if they're going to die and how if they will. It scares you from the first frame, takes a breakneck speed and makes you hold onto the seat through the movie, expecting to jump, trying to safeguard yourself against the fear, but ending up letting in a gasp at every surprise.
Movie Reviews by James Brundage
Movie Reviews starting with "E"
Scott Nowlin's Review of Event Horizon
Related Reviews:
Paul Anderson:
James Brundage's Review of Soldier
Berge Garabedian's Review of Soldier
Laurence Fishburne:
Sridhar Prasad's Review of Apocolypse Now
Berge Garabedian's Review of Nightmare on Elm Street 3: A Dream Warriors
James Brundage's Review of Searching for Bobby Fischer
Kathleen Quinlan: