The year 1997 was a pretty damn good year for science fiction movies. Audiences were graced with such classics as Men in Black, Starship Troopers, Cube, and Future War. There was one film released that critics didn’t care for though; Event Horizon. The movie was criticized by Roger Ebert and many others and was a failure upon release. Today Event Horizon is remembered fondly among horror and science fiction fans. Grab your magnetic boots and fire up the artificial black hole because it’s time to see why Event Horizon is finally getting the justice it deserves!
By 1997, English film director Paul W.S. Anderson had directed two films. His second film, Mortal Kombat, had proven to be a success with movie goers and fans of the game franchise. Because of this, Anderson was allowed to choose his next project. The Blade Runner side-story Soldier would see the early stages of development start but would be put on hold. Anderson signed on to Event Horizon even though a release date had already been set so production would be severely rushed.
Set in 2047, Event Horizon follows Doctor William Weir (Sam Neill) and the crew of the Lewis and Clark sent to recover a ship known as The Event Horizon. The Event Horizon is a ship that uses experimental warp drive technology which implements artificial black holes to travel long distances. The ship has been missing for seven years and it is up to Weir and the crew of the Lewis and Clark to discover where it has been and search for survivors.
Upon finding the Event Horizon, the rescue team discover that the original crew have been involved in a series of grizzly murders. Justin (Jack Noseworthy) discovers the main engine room and is pulled through the black hole to “the other side” which triggers a shock wave that damages the Lewis and Clark and prevents the crew from being able to leave.
The crew all start experiencing vivid hallucinations, tapping into their own personal fears. A captain’s log full of some of the worst horrors ever is discovered.
It is decided that the Event Horizon has become sentient from traveling through the black hole and has brought back parts of “hell” on board itself. Capt. Miller (Laurence Fishburne) decides to abandon the ship and try to escape back to Earth. The rest of the film follows the crew trying to escape as the ship does everything in it’s otherworldly power to drag them back to hell.
Event Horizon had a hell of a time making it into theaters. According to Anderson some of the test audiences would faint during some of the moments of gore. The studio would demand a shorter run time and scenes of less gore. The R rated version of Event Horizon would be released on August 15, 1997 in America and on August 22 in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately the film would only bring in twenty-six million dollars on a sixty million budget.
VHS and DVD releases as well as showings on television would help Event Horizon pick up a cult following. Fans were drawn to a similar space setting seen within the Alien franchise, the claustrophobia of John Carpenter’s The Thing, and the extreme body horror of a David Cronenberg film. Some of the deleted scenes would be available as special features on DVD, giving fans a glimpse at some of the horrors the MPAA prevented them from seeing. In 2011 Anderson revealed that most of the other unseen footage was never be released and was gone forever. In 2012 he announced that a VHS rough cut had been obtained but what he has decided to do with this still remains unknown.
Event Horizon is a really fun flick. It has a horrifying atmosphere and some legitimately horrifically gory moments. It isn’t just a gore fest though, the mood and great score (by Michael Kamen ft. Orbital) do a great job putting the viewer on board the hellish space ship. If you have never seen Event Horizon then go see on of the best science fiction horror films to come out of the nineties.
