Event Horizon

1997 Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

Horror Marathon Day 18 Film 27

What starts as a rescue operation for an experimental ship soon becomes a zero gravity haunted house surrounded by Neptune's clouds. In this way it feels like an older horror film- where much of the plot involves the spooky space itself. The ship's gravity drive is able to bend space time- ripping a hole in existence to a gateway to hell. The drive itself looks like something out of Hellraizer- like a puzzle box you can walk inside of. Alien and The Shining also serve as inspiration for much of the set pieces- but unfortunately the physical monster presence is absent. It's more a psychological Solaris in that way- people going mad and soon succumbing to their worst fears manifested.

As most of the crew's bickering becomes too campy I really appreciated the creep factor of Sam Neill's engineer. Laurence Fishburne is effective as the badass captain as well. While the Director has some good moments of lighting, practical effects, and psychological jump scares I really dislike the jumpy Dutch camera angles that cheapen the look of the film. There are several silly moments that are at odds with the tension of the movie too- like a man surviving being shot into space from an air lock.

While the gore towards the end is extreme it's shown only for split second edginess so it doesn't fully sink in- I wish they could have added some of the deleted scenes that would eventually leave the same fate for the rest of the team. If the film had taken a little slower pacing I think it would have worked better for a more Gothic Horror eeriness. The jump ending is especially 90s campy, but in some ways the camp aspects work more in repeat watches.

Physical Media Presentation: The 4K disk really does wonders for adding color for a dark picture- letting some of the messy bloodletting of the fast horror elements to be seen more clearly. Even the 90s computer graphics seem more refined as well.