Customer Reviews

Event Horizon (Widescreen)

5 star:		(115)
4 star:		(82)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(64)

 

 

This movie is absolutely terrifying. When I say terrifying, I don't mean moronic slasher-movie suspense scary, I mean that when I saw this in the movie theater, I cried because I was so frightened. (I was 11, but I'm pretty sure that if I could watch more than five minutes at a time, I would cry now too.) Just thinking about the movie gives me the creeps; it's just one suspicious noise after another, and only the most hardcore horror movie afficionado wouldn't be freaked.

A logical part of my mind knows that we are scared of what our own minds imagine as threats (after all, having a literal ton of blood dumped on Kathleen Quinlan is more ridiculous than scary), and that we are simply fooled by the gory imagery into thinking of every possible terror that could be lurking in the shadows. I warn all viewers, thinking about this movie logically is not an option; it plays to our most basic fears of the unknown and, of course, Hell in Space (a popular theme with the horror genre, including such "classics" as Alien and Jason X).

Knowing that it is not physically possible for such a universe-piercing machine to exist (even such a handsomely designed machine) doesn't lessen the terror, because every instant is fraught with tension, so there's no time to think about anything. Even the relatively calm beginning is nerve-wracking, because we've all seen horror movies, so we know what to expect, and we react preemptively.

In truth, it's not a very good movie (for a normal movie, I would barely give it two stars).

It has a killer cast: Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Lawrence Fishburne (Othello), Jason Isaacs (The Patriot), to name a few; but the plot is convoluted, complicated, and utterly unbelievable.

I can't believe this movie gave me nightmares for three days, and I can't believe that I would give it a four-star rating, but someone who buys Event Horizon isn't buying it for noteworthy dialogue or originality; they are buying it for the terror factor, and in that case, I must concede that it is the scariest movie I've ever seen (and while my imagination makes me easily drawn in by these movies, Event Horizon goes above and beyond everything else).

In conclusion, Event Horizon is to be missed by anyone other than die-hard horror fans and masochists. But to them, I say, enjoy and may you never be caught in such a situation as the characters.

It is possible to fairly give this movie five stars if 1) your primary criterion is the "fright factor," and 2) you watch the movie a certain way. I picked this movie out at the video store on a whim one night when my wife was out of town and I was home by myself. It was well after dark when I started watching it and if memory serves it may have been a stormy night. Half way into the movie I was checking behind the couch for the boogeyman (like I hadn't done since I was a kid) and whipping my head around at the tiniest creak and pop in the house timbers. By the time the end credits started to roll I had slid off the couch onto the floor and was peeking over a pillow I had hugged to my face. I was 100% freaked out by this movie! (The next day when my wife got home I made her watch it with me.) To this day it remains the standard against which I measure every other scary movie I watch and none has yet come close. So if you really want to take a ride on the ol' terror train, watch "Event Horizon" late at night by yourself sometime. If you're an adrenalin junky who has never seen this flick, I promise you'll be gratified!

Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill star in this 1997 Sci-Fi horror film. It is some time in the not so distant future. A missing experimental ship known as the Event Horizon has appeared somewhere in the solar system near Pluto after years of mysteriously disappearing years ago. Dr. Weir (Sam Neill) had overseen the ships design and craft, yet has no explanation for the ship's unexplainable disappearance or re-appearance. All heck breaks lose when the ship comes alive and begins killing people. This movie is so scary you'll never forget it. Directed by Paul Anderson.

It is the year 2047 and suddenly a signal is received from a research space ship called the Event Horizon that disappeared years before. Equipped with a drive that will allow it to exceed the speed of light, it used conventional drive to get beyond the gravity well of the sun. At that point the drive was to start and jump them to Proxima Centauri, but when the drive was activated, all contact with the ship ended.
The signal being received is an automated one, so a rescue ship is sent to investigate and the designer of the ship joins the captain and his crew as they move out to rendezvous with the Event Horizon. After making contact and boarding her, they are able to download some of the logs, and what they see is frightening. This is just their first step in a journey through a gauntlet of terror. This movie is tense and very gory. People shed a lot of blood and one is even surgically dissected will still alive. In my opinion, the gore was overdone, the same effect could have been achieved by leaving some of it to the imagination. Done right, it could have increased the tension.
While it is coated in blood and gore, there is a major philosophical point that the movie raises. At this time, humans have not journeyed far from Earth, always remaining within short-term radio contact. No one knows how human behavior will change when they move significant distances from Earth. While there is no doubt that humans will remain humans as they move out into space, the key question is whether our unstable behavior will become more or less pronounced. Other science fiction venues have occasionally raised this point, for example the Star Trek episodes of The Naked Time, The Tholian Web and The Naked Now feature normally repressed behavior becoming dominant or regions of space that make people crazy.
This is a movie that lovers of horror and gore will enjoy. Even though I do not care for such things, I still liked it, because of the tension and the possibility that humans may find regions of space that will drive them mad.

The year is 2047. Seven years earlier, the Event Horizon, an exploratory spacecraft which was designed to warp from place to place in the universe, disappeared along with the entire crew. It was deemed the worse space disaster in history. Now, a faint signal has been detected in an orbit outside of Neptune.

Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and the crew of the Lewis & Clark, a deep space salvage ship, is dispatched to investigate. Along for the ride is Dr. Weir (Sam Neill), the creator of the Event Horizon.

Dr. Weir is a troubled soul, haunted by the suicide of his wife due to his excessive workaholic habits. The crew learns from the good doctor, after initial disbelief upon learning the Event Horizon has returned, how the ship warps. He designed the core of the ship which creates a black hole which the ship slips through. Where it's been, as well as the disposition of the crew, is the reason why they are going.

Upon reaching the ship, the crew finds life readings all over the ship, but temperatures on board so cold, no human life could possibly survive. Upon entering the ship, Captain Miller and the crew experience strange event after strange event. The ship can somehow read their deepest fears, and toys with them. Eventually, the crew discovers that the ship had gone to hell and back. Dr. Weir effectively flips out and causes all kinds of damage.

The sets, costumes and environments are sleek and very detailed, and the story itself is very good. I believe Ghost Ship is almost a replica of this movie. If you see this movie, see Ghost Ship and you'll see what I mean.

It's not a perfect film, but it has a few good scares, and many creepy moments which will stick with you after you see it.

This is one of the scariest sci-fi movies that I have watched to date. It actually ranks in my top 25 for scariest movie of all time. This is a movie that holds your attention until the very end. It's kinda like Alien meets Exorcist meets Hellraiser! The sets are JUST AMAZING and the acting isn't all that bad either. Sam Neil and Larry Fishburne aren't my top actors picks but they do a believable job in this film. The special effects are FABULOUS and worth the price of the movie alone! Lots of flash cinematography that seeps into your poor little brain and you JUST can't forget. THAT'S what makes this movie UNFORGETTABLE!

Years later this film still sticks in my mind just about the same way The Exorcist does. This is one visually disturbing film. I have to wonder if a lot of the work put into this film came from horrifying dreams. This movie is masterfull at psyching out the viewer. The unexpected becomes the obvious in the blink of an eye. Perhaps what disturbed me most about the film was the fact that much of it's imagery seemed hauntingly familiar to me in my own nightmares. The dialogue and the souless eyes sent me into chills so close to my heart that I found myself looking away from the screen on at least 2 occasions. This is coming from someone who can sit through anything, anything. I still have trouble watching it, always apprehensive at first. However, I welcome it's scarey appeal and originality. Character developement is great. The unseen driving force behind Dr. Weir's personal agenda probably becomes the most suspensefull aspect of the film. The exploring crewmembers become closer to eachother as the story developes. Their relationships were already established at the beginning of the film but the fact that they became even closer as things got considerably worse made this viewing experience seem even more real. Great performances all around. Lawrence Fishbourne puts such a brilliant sense of courage in his character in the face of such awe inspiring fear. His last lines are like a punch in the gut. You want to raise your fist in triumph but at the same time you see that he's displaying the absolute human spirit and how resiliant we can be against all odds. He is afraid but he remains determined. Amazing. Face your fear and you will definitely SEE.

Recently I bought this film on DVD because I enjoy it so much, even after many viewings over the years. Event Horizon, for the uninitiated, first-time viewer, is a shock to the senses. It does not play by the traditional rules of sci-fi horror flicks. It plays tricks with the mind, leaving the viewer frightened, but more importantly, deeply disturbed by the images. Very few films have been able to scare me so deeply other than The Shining, Suspiria, and Ringu. Event Horizon takes the elements of psychological horror and brilliantly combines them with physical revulsion and gore. The first time I saw this movie was in a half-empty theatre in Muncie, Indiana. I was terrified so much I couldn't sleep.

Sure, the acting is not perfect, and maybe this film could have been better if the writer had spent more time with dialogue, but all in all this film is superb for it's genre.

One of the film's greatest assets is the ship, the Event Horizon. I was amazed at the detail involved. It was part Alien, part Cathedral Norte Dame, and part Heironomous Bosch's vision of hell.

There's something deeply unsettling about a disembodied voice hissing in Latin, which is revisited by the crew in the film several times, but what Paul T. Anderson does that really goes out on a limb is actually "showing" what happened to the missing crew. I was truly not expecting this when I saw it.

Larry Fishburne and Sam Neil are well placed in this film, and the rest of the cast are fine actors as well. As I recall, two of the UK actors went on to star in "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson.

My judgement of the criticism this film recieved was that the reviewers were just plain disturbed. This movie uses flash imagery to push the right psychological buttons that leave the viewer unable to forget what they've seen.

I'm a film snob, and I love this movie! If you want to be scared witless, then watch it alone in the dark. The score is creepy, but the special effects are amazing. This is great stuff, and I highly recommend this film!

There's no denying how bottomlessly dumb this movie is, and how it shamelessly lifts its plot from countless other sci-fi movies that are better than Event Horizon (or "E.V." as its fans call it). As you probably already know, it starts out like aliens, and then they board the Event Horizon, which has the stink of evil all over it from having traveled to hell. From there, the hapless crew has hallucinations of their worst fears, acted out in little playlets ala every episode of Star Trek you have ever seen. Nothing new here...

However, I was riveted throughout this tawdry little chunk of cinematic glop for pretty much one reason, which is, quite simply:

GALLONS AND GALLONS OF OOEY-GOOEY BLOOD!!!

It's a very sticky, clumpy, drippy little thriller of a film. It's the kind of film that reminds make-up artists why they never bothered to focus in school as children and, instead, play with their food at the dinner table trying to perfect their "smear" technique.

Probably the best thing about the unbridled gore in this movie is that it is all so laughably unnecessary. Eyeballs explode, people are mercilessly impaled, and brains ooze like microwave lasagna. I recommend watching it with a jumbo meat-lovers pizza for a "feel-around" effect whilst viewing.

Since this movie exceeded its budget in set design and blood (mostly blood), it had little left for anything else. They had to hire a bunch of idiots to star in it, and since they were paid to merely be idiots in the film, nothing was lost on this front and they succeeded brilliantly.

In closing, if you have a free night and your shower does not need re-grouting, I can whole-heartedly endorse "E.V."

Why did I subtract a star? I don't know...look, it's still a dumb movie, okay?

Very few movies scare me...and this was one of them!

The very notion of a ship going into Hell and coming back was enough to keep my attention. But the bloody visions of Hell was what frightened me the most. The gory, inhumane, and demonic things this film reveals WILL scare the living daylights out of you.

The film gradually builds from a stylistic atmosphere of mystery and turns into a suspensful pursuit. The film ultimately reaches an exciting climax. The story itself seems unoriginal, since there have been other films that have dealt with the theme of black holes leading into other dimensions (like "The Black Hole"). But the story doesn't truly dominate the movie.

The characters take more presidence, and constitute the events that occur. Acting is particuarly fantastic with Sam Niel, who plays Dr. Wier. It is interesting how Wier starts as being the film's good guy, but turns evil, while Laurence Fishborne plays a character who starts kind of bad and finishes as the hero. The subordinate characters also show some decent development.

The special effects are very noteworthy, especially for its time. The ending black hole sequence is fantastically done.

The set design further exemplifies the inhumane and demonic nature of the Event Horizon ship. Metal spikes and blades make it look like a torture chamber.

All in all, this is perhaps one of my personal favorite horror films. It stands true to the very nature of the name of the genre: HORROR!