Review of Event Horizon (1997) by Charlie M — 03 Nov 2014

In the year 2047, a search & rescue mission is sent beyond the planet Neptune to retrieve the vessel Event Horizon which disappeared 7 years earlier. The seemingly abandoned spacecraft is host to a terrorizing presence that could be the gateway to Hell itself.

This movie got HORRIBLE reviews from critics when it first was released in 1997, and for that reason I chose to never watch it. Over time discerning nerds give me positive feedback about the movie, but I still never gave it a chance until now. As it turns out, it's not a horrible movie, just a stupid one.

What it gets right are all the classic elements of space horror: the flinty captain, the obsessed scientist, claustrophobic doom amongst the dizzying psychosis of space. With the interior of the ship sharpened like shark teeth and constant lightning from an gaseous electrical cloud Event Horizon's ship doubles as a haunted house. This intercut with flashes of grizzly torture scenes are enough to give you some decent nightmares.

The dumb stuff includes the unexplained nonsense about why there's a gateway to hell in space, and forgivably bad CGI that comes at the audience (even though it's not a 3D movie), but the true gems are in the dialogue. Especially the lines delivered by astronauts who can't be bothered to understand theories of physics. Such as:

"Doctor, don't start in with that physics shit!".

"Black hole: the most destructive force in the universe".

"Fuck this ship!".

All in-all it's a great midnight movie that will appeal to fans of space gore & unintentional camp.