Review of Event Horizon (1997) by Solutions10 — 23 Aug 2011

I honestly do not understand the hate the critics had for this film. The primary complaint seems to be that it makes little sense, and its frightening scenes rely on cliches. I don't think either of those complaints are fair. The ship itself literally went to Hell and back, and is even described in the film as having come from "pure chaos". It's not supposed to make sense, because sense is a psychological luxury that probably wouldn't exist in Hell. As for cliches, I don't think that's fair either. I'm not a big horror buff, so maybe I just don't see it, but the psychological and physical torment that occurs in the film came off to me as somewhat creative--at the very least, a very well-done cliche. I can totally see why this is considered a cult classic: it's extraordinarily original in its premise, and watching it is, at times, surreal, and very entertaining.

Now, if I had one complaint, it would be that it pulls its punches when it comes to horror and gore. Yeah, it's gory, but it's not *that* gory. But I can't knock points off for that because the director himself stated that he was forced by the studio to tone down the gore, which supposedly turned initial audiences off. He's said that he's very sorry he was forced to do that, and he feels it takes away from the effect the film is going for. I'm inclined to agree; for a film essentially about a glimpse into Hell itself, the violence and gore is pretty minor, and I can tell that quite a bit of it was cut or toned down a lot. Still, I liked this film. The characters were entertaining, and the happenings on the ship were creepy, until the final surge of violence at the end as very bad things start to happen. The "final battle" with the main bad guy isn't particularly climactic, though, and his design didn't strike me as creative or particularly frightening. Since the horrors on the ship are personal for each person, I would have imagined the good guy's past mistake that cost someone his life as the form of the bad guy, in his post-mutilation form. Well, that's how I would have done it, anyway. Still, it's an entertaining movie, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again.