Event Horizon

Horrorphile

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Horrorphile - December 2007

Event Horizon

December 4th 2007 23:34

I first saw Event Horizon back when it came out in 1997. I was impressed by a number of things; the mood, the atmosphere, and the special effects. Director Paul W.S. Anderson was at the time a 31-year-old British with uber-Hollywood aspirations who had already made Mortal Kombat, would helm the Kurt Russell train wreck Soldier, the successful Resident Evil (1999), the stupid Alien vs. Predator (2003), and is currently in post-production on the highly anticipated remake of 70s B-movie Death Race 2000.

It is 2047. A rescue vessel, Lewis and Clark, has been sent into the outer reaches of the solar system (the orbit of Neptune to be exact) to investigate the inexplicable re-appearance of a state-of-the-art research ship called Event Horizon. On board the rescue craft, along side the salvage team, is the designer of the Event Horizon, who reveals the ship was designed to successfully achieve light speed travel and vanished on its maiden voyage.

Sam Neill as Dr. Weir

Sam Neill plays Dr. Weir, the architect of Event Horizon and its extraordinary Gravity Drive. Lawrence Fishburne is Captain Miller, Kathleen Quinlin is the med tech, Joely Richardson the ship’s lieutenant, and character actors Sean Pertwee and Jason Isaacs as pilot and communications. There’s also a couple of other unknowns floating around too.

Lawrence Fishburne as Captain Miller

When the salvage team find and board the Event Horizon it becomes quickly apparent she’s become a ghost ship. The crew no longer onboard, but evidence suggests foul play. But there is a life force of sorts inhabiting the ship, a dark energy which infiltrates the team and creates nightmarish hallucinations for each of them. These are haunted visions from their past.

Event Horizon Kathleen Quinlin and Joely Richardson

Other manniquins in space: Kathleen Quinlin and Joely Richardson

The Event Horizon has traveled beyond the limits of the known universe and has returned from Hell, bringing with it a psychological plague which manifests itself as violent, destructive reality. The rescue team must save themselves before its too late.

The long walk between wings

Event Horizon is a hotch-potch of various movies. It beguiles, but is damn silly too. There’s the diabolical possession of The Exorcist (1973) the pleasure-pain principles of Hellraiser (1987), the stalking unknown of Alien (1979), and, of course, the classic haunted house element.

Dr. Weir is visited by the eyeless ghost of his dead wife

The most intriguing element is the conceptual idea of the Gravity Drive, but this in itself is an idea which has been tumbling around the sf genre for a long time: the folding of the space/time continuum to allow the travel across vast stretches of the galaxy. The term "event horizon" actually refers to the theoretical boundary surrounding a black hole where the gravitational pull is so powerful nothing, not even light, can escape its field of attraction.

The big swirly neo-gothic Gravity Drive

It’s a pity director Anderson was forced to comply with the results of two test screenings. His original vision, one much darker and more intense, would have made a far more interesting movie (apparently Andrew Kevin Walker - who penned Se7en (1995) - wrote a draft of the screenplay, but was uncredited, instead the messy screenplay belonging to Philip Eisner). The movie had to be edited to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating (much to every horrorphile’s dismay). Most of what was cut was the graphic imagery which makes up the “visions of hell”. There’s also archival video footage (which the rescue team watch) of the Event Horizon’s original crew involved in what appears to be an orgy of dismemberment and cannibalism.

Ghost in space

The frequent use of eyes and ocular violence as symbolic motifs is interesting, but never really explained properly. While the whole Hell and sin concept is blurry at best. Dr. Weir at one point tells Captain Miller that where they’re going, they won’t need eyes to see. The original ending (revealed in the special edition DVD) has also been changed to incorporate elements from the test screening cuts, but also to involve a stock “shock” ending. And a shame Anderson’s first choice for the soundtrack, British electronic dance outfit Orbital, were rejected by the American executives.

A vision of Hell

One of the big problems I have now with Event Horizon is the incongruous production design of the ghost ship. Director Anderson mentions in the DVD commentary that he consciously had the look of the ship reflect that of a real spaceship i.e. no flat, broad, easy to access floors and corridors (which usually exist in sci-fi movies to enable the camera crew to film easily). This is fine, but I’m talking about the ludicrous inner circuitry shafts, the absurdly long walk shaft connecting the front and rear of the ship, and most silly of all, the neo-gothic rotating sphere that is the Gravity Drive.

Event Horizon Lawrence Fishburne and Sam Neill

Captain Miller suffering for his sins

There’s also much to be said about the airlock breach climax, but then, who cares? Plausibility has already been stretched way past breaking point … what’s a little further among friends? It bothers the hell out of me, that’s what. “Infinite Space, Infinite Terror” states the movie's tagline. Ho-hum.

The past searing the future

The cast perform as well as they can, with Lawrence in classic Fishburne mode, and Sam Neill acting slightly less wooden than normal. Pertwee and Isaacs add a bit of British balls to the action, but American Richard T. Jones as Cooper seems out of place, a comedian lost in space (his survival is just, well, wrong).

Event Horizon would probably make for an entertaining double feature with the recent Sunshine flick (another very flawed movie, with an interesting premise and good special effects), but when it comes down to horror in space; despite the inherent trappings, keep it simple, keep it realistic, keep it plausible. Alien set the benchmark very high. Event Horizon is a vaguely interesting movie about Hell in space, or to be precise; Hell in a spaceship, but it hasn’t dated nearly as well as I thought it might.

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

8 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

December 5th 2007 03:32

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

Initially when I say this movie I was not that keen on it. Ithought that it was good but the violence overboard and cruel.
However as I went away and started to think about it I started to appreciate what I initially missed.

The first thing that comes to mind is that eyes are the mirror of the soul and many of the key scenes in the film focus upon eyes. Weirs ghostly wife has no eyes and therefore has lost her soul. The body floating in zero gravity has mutilated eye sockets. Weir himself find that he has no need for eyes.

The visions of Hell are rapid and ghastly but a reminicent of art from the Middle Ages and from Dante's descriptions.

The blending of science and theology was handled in a very clever manner.
In physics the Event Horizon is the point where light cannot escape a black hole and it is also the point at which the laws of physics break down. LIght and gravity lose all meaning and we have total chaos.

Weir describes the new universe as pure chaos and pure evil. Which is consistent with the breakdown of physics and reality. Hell is being shown as total chaos for the mind. The alternative universe only exists as a psychological state of total confusions and brutality. Something that the sane human mind cannot comprehend.

The cost for accepting this new reality seems to be the loss of your soul.

As such it has more in common with The Exorcist and than Alien.

Now because the ship called the Event Horizon has gone between the two realities the crew are facing upto what they would face after death. They are being dragged unwitingly toward Hell by their own sins.

As such I think there is alot more in this film than what is on the surface.
Save yourself from Hell.

Comment by Cibbuano

December 5th 2007 04:21

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
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Fat Cult
Techbreak

I didn't expect much from this either, but was pleasantly scared by the first three-quarters. The visions of hell were supposed to be more fleshed out? Damn - they should have left that in.

the last quarter, where Neill is running around like a predator... that seemed tacky...

Comment by Bryn

December 5th 2007 04:53

Horrorphile

Damo, hmmmm, sounds like you've done a thesis on this.

.... I certainly picked up on the whole ocular thing, and also the visions of hell having a "painterly" look to them (the pleasures of still-frame!) ... I appreciate how much you actually read into the movie. It's a pity it wasn't really as good as it could have been though ... Alien is still a darker, more opressive and ultimately more effective movie, hands down. The Exorcist? Interesting comparison. There was a sequence cut, which is shown in the extras of the special edition DVD which shows Weir (as Hell creature) descending down a ladder like a spider, which the director explained as a direct reference to the scene from The Exorcist.

Comment by Damo

December 5th 2007 07:40

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

Bryn what can I say?
I have read too much about blackholes.

Comment by Ahmed

December 5th 2007 10:12

techy.Bytes
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Qwerk
Cinema Three

The movie scared the crap out of me

Comment by JohnDoe

December 5th 2007 11:00

Film & TV on DVD

Hi Bryn,
You know my opinion on Event Horizon...brilliant concepts.....superb book......lazy movie that doesn't explore any of it's more intriguing ideas and gets plain silly at the end.

Comment by Bryn

December 5th 2007 22:01

Horrorphile

JD, I didn't know it was based on a novel. I did like the concepts, but didn't think they were realised as effectively as I first thought.

Comment by Bryn

December 6th 2007 03:50

Horrorphile

Damo, I blackholes fascinate me.

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