Event Horizon

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "Infinite space, infinite terror"

Set in 2047, this futuristic sci-fi shocker stars Laurence Fishburn as Captain Miller. The commander of a rescue team, asked to investigate a deep space distress call from a ship that disappeared some 7 years ago named the Event Horizon.

The ship had been testing a new faster-than-light drive when it apparently vanished, and so Miller and his predominantly English crew take the ships designer Dr William Weir (Sam Neill) along with them to see if they can discover why the ship just suddenly re-appeared after a 7 year absence.

Upon arriving, they find no signs of the crew, apart from a few bloody marks. There doesn't appear to be any immediate clues to their whereabouts, nor can they establish where the ship has been during the last 7 years when it disappeared.

But as the plot unfolds, it would appear that the ship is not as empty or abandoned as they first thought. Firstly the rescue ship explodes, killing several crew members, then the surviving members start acting erratically. Dr Weir goes missing, people start walking out of airlocks and others get killed in the most bizarre, and indeed gruesome, of fashions.

At first they think it's Weir, but it soon becomes apparent that the ship itself is somehow causing these mysterious deaths, which has something to do with the place that the ship disappeared into all those years ago.

Whilst the film has a lot of promise and contains some excellent special effects and gore scenes, it doesn't quite deliver the goods you would expect from a production of this type. Indeed, genre fans will undoubtedly be able to predict what happens next, and would fail to be frightened by it. Although it must be said that the films overall production quality is good, but those that have seen "Galaxy of Terror" may find the plot more than a little familiar.

Overall Marks : 5/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• The Event Horizon spaceship was modelled on Notre Dame cathedral. Its interior is filled with cruciform shapes.
• The flag worn on Dr Weir (Sam Neill)'s overalls is a combination of the current Australian and Australian Aboriginal flags. The British crew members had EU flags on their uniforms, whilst the American crew had a US flag with 55 stars, rather than the usual 50.
• Director Paul Anderson got the opportunity to direct this following the success of "Mortal Kombat" and turned down the chance to direct the sequel, as well as "Alien Ressurection" and the first "X-Men" film to work on this.
• The pin-up model on the poster that Dr Weir stabs with his pen was British porn actress Teresa May (not to be confused with MP Theresa May). Also, British horror actress Emily Booth has a very minor role as one of the Event Horizon crew seen on the monitor.
• A scene was apparently filmed showing Dr Weir at the Daylight space station being informed of the ship's return and listening to the garbled distress call, but was not included in the final release. The scene is in the novelisation and parts of it appear in the trailers
• The model of the Event Horizon included a complete "X-Wing" from Star Wars as part of an antenna array. It is visible on the lower portion of the Event Horizon during the first flyby by the rescue ship.
• Jason Isaacs, who played DJ, went on to play Captain Lorca in "Ster Trek : Discovery".
• The gateway machine that allows the ship to jump through space was designed to look like the puzzle box from Hellraiser, which was a major influence on the film.
• Director Paul Anderson's first cut of the film ran about 130mins and was considerably more graphic than the version released theatrically. But was forced to trim the run time and tone down the violence after test audiences reacted negatively. Though he would like to release his original version, it seems that the original elements have deteriorated due to improper storage and it is not possible to put togethor a longer version.

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