Random Review - Event Horizon

I have no idea what pushed me over the edge to watch this on Netflix. Maybe I liked the concept, maybe I’d see cool effects, maybe I like Sam Neill. But I do have some idea of my stance on this film…and it’s not great.

1997’s Event Horizon has endured a unique standpoint among genre fans. Standing at a crushing 28% with critics but 61% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, it receives praise for originality and setup, but bashing for its stupidity and over-the-top nature. Some say that it’s the best movie made by Paul W.S. Anderson, while others consider it a shallow rip-off of better films like Alien. Whatever you say, it’s divisive. And I don’t like it.

Event Horizon has a good setup. The first 45 minutes, involving the exploration of an abandoned spaceship called Event Horizon that may be hiding something terrifying, are well shot, intriguing and only let down by the occasional overenthusiastic jump scare. But then when crazy starts happening, this movie goes off the rails amazingly. And I mean amazing – you could legitimately cut scenes from the ending into a parody and you couldn’t tell the difference

When I watched this movie, I was reminded strikingly of Alien and Aliens through the cluttered set design, the trucker-esque dynamic of the main group and the rough, business-focused dialogue. Even the cinematographer for this movie, the late and great Adrian Biddle, was the cinematographer on Aliens.

I appreciate this mainly because most of Alien’s atmosphere manages to transfer over to Event Horizon’s first act, and it makes the situation much more compelling. It’s also not a total ripoff, merely inspired by those movies and building on them with original production design and style. It’s probably the best part of the movie.

Soon after, we get to see some horrifying images of violence and depravity as the bodies of the Event Horizon crew are discovered by some terrified rescuers. This is still in the good part of the movie, with the excellent set design and great special effects (for 1997) keeping the movie intriguing. It is partially deflated by a few weak jump scares and loud noises which are frustrating. But this movie still manages to generate some truly great scares through its use of violence.

Because the gore in this movie… it just does not hold back. People are eating each other and gouging their eyes out and tearing apart everyone in sight. In fact, Paul W.S. Anderson had to remove a lot of the gore (and 34 other minutes of the movie) because of audiences fainting during test screenings due to the intensity of it. And it’s mostly not cheap fake blood, but real amputees and porn stars tearing at each other in well-designed viscera. I did look away at points, that’s how intense this is. Very nice.

It’s at this point that I begin to notice Paul W.S. Anderson’s preference for crazy establishing shots, zooming in and out of eyes and doing these CGI camera zooms that are really more distracting than engaging. Sure, they look cool, but we’re meant to be chilled to the bone, not zooming around like an RC plane.

Soon after I notice that, Event Horizon turns from Alien-esque creepshow to full-blown action. Sam Neill gouges his eyes out and becomes a cackling villain possessed by a demon, everything’s exploding, the makeup effects take a nosedive…it becomes a straight up F-movie from a solid B.

And I must mention Richard T. Jones as the film’s mechanic, who almost turns this horror movie into a comedy with his awful dialogue straight out of an action movie spoof. He ends up using his spacesuit oxygen as a jetpack to get back to the ship while screaming “I’M COMING BACK, MOTHERF%^&ERS!!”. Real horrific.

This movie’s final 10 minutes are unforgiveable. There’s a final battle between Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne which stoops to the level of Battlefield Earth, filled with over-the-top crash zooms, parodic slow-motion, cartoonish sound design and poor Sam Neill in weird makeup surrounded by 90’s CGI. Add a jump-scare fakeout ending which is really infuriating and some terrible EDM end credits music for some reason…damn.

Real contrast with the last image, eh?

I didn’t hate this movie in the end, but I hated this movie’s conclusion after such a strong setup. There’s still good visual style and some good performances (particularly Jason Isaacs as the sardonic doctor D.J.) in the opening act, but they’re let down by Anderson eventually giving in to his crazy impulses.

I’m going to give Event Horizon a C-.

I will say though, this movie does have one amazing thing in it. The jumpsuit Sam Neill wears has the Australian flag on it, but instead of the Union Jack in the corner, it has the Aboriginal Flag. Somehow, god knows how, Paul W.S. Anderson, Sam Neill or the costume designer cared enough to leave that little detail in. That’s actually kind of awesome.

Have you seen Event Horizon? If so, what did you think of it? Leave your answers in the comments below.