Event Horizon - Discussion

Coming at Event Horizon from a slightly different angle than MM's post, I'd like to tell you all first off that I'm a fan of the piece. As correctly highlighted, Alien showed that sci fi and horror could mix (and for my money, not just that but that sci fi could actually be interesting and offer something beyond a guy with a Mars bar stuck to his forehead being angry).

Overrated or not, it set out the stall for what we were to see in the future, and the impact of the film can still be seen today with the likes of Outlander (what a bizzare mix of genres that is!).

Anyway, coming back to the film in question, Event Horizon actually poses an interesting question. Were we to somehow develop technology that could bend space, exactly where would we end up? There are allusions to hell in the film, as well as 'chaos', which I think is probably a more apt description of where the Event Horizion (the titular spacecraft) has been and gone using a fancy new drive. A rescue ship that includes the original designer finds the ship after a determinate time (was it 4 or 7 years), to find all the crew dead or gone. Then, the strangeness breaks out.

At this point, I'd like to explore some of the points made in the previous post by Marvel Man as a way to discuss some of the plotting and storyline, which in my opinion is far better than given credit for thus far on the blog:

"It seems a touch slow for the horror side of things but sadly one suspects the filmmakers knew that" - the film was sold as a sci fi with horror elements - the sequence involving Weir at the beginning I thought was actually excellent at setting the tone, mood and introduction of the horror to come. Incidental stuff played a big part in this too (the music etc).

"William Weir is somehow receiving messages which could either be from his dead ex-partner or the ship he helped create. This psychic relationship and these more unusual aspects are not explored or expained at all." - this is explained - but only to a fashion. Weir is the creator of the drive and is implicated in the building of the whole of the Event Horizon. The ship has some sort of entity/intelligence on board and, much like the superior Solaris, this entity makes contact psychically. The ship and the lifeform/intelligence was intent on using Weir to survive, which explains his actions as seen by insane by everyone else on board. Weir would never destroy the ship as he's being manipulated by (the vision of) his dead wife.

"The great idea, touched upon then dropped, that there is no hell as such, everyone is merely seeing the darkness inherent in themselves and being tortured by bad acts and events from their past is so intriguing." - again, not the case. Hell (or chaos, as it's actually described twice in the dialogue) is where the ship has been. However, the intelligence that has returned with this ship has power to show the fears/act on the darkness within, or as stated the events from their past. Of course they're not only seeing, the force can persumably also bring to life these memories/characters, as the Captain (Fishburne's character) feels the heat from the fire.

"but to then feel the need to clarify it with gubbins about actually entering another dimension of chaos where the ship came to life (and don't get me started on how that makes no sense)." - as above, the intelligence belongs to the dimension, they "brought something back" - it's not the dimension itself. They are two different things.

"The ending gets progressively worse until we even end up with a hackneyed villain version of Weir, never explained or given any motivation, simply appearing, looking all scarred and cut just because it looks awesomely horrific and even somehow shape shifting, gaining a Lazarus complex and now haunting Joely Richardson (maybe having gained this transfered psychic ability from before." - I agree with the first part, in that the possessed Weir is a little odd. He has no eyes, seemingly superhuman strength and yet makes some incredibly stupid mistakes that see him being finished off. The final scare with Richardson was completely unnecessary though, but I read it as a nightmare - nothing more. In the same way that Ripley has a nightmare in Aliens.

"In conclusion a decent sci-fi, terrible horror that smothered a great concept for exploration of evil, human fears, psychosis or the unimaginable horrors of our cultural collective unconscious. But dude come on, it had exploding heads and people with no eyes and scenes that were just awesome. Personally this viewer would have preferred more awesome respect for his intelligence and fear tolerance and a decent plot, basic as it may seem, with a touch of coherency. And please stop clubbing me over the head with your ideas of freaky/scary/hellish; blood, bodies, scars and lacerations, exploding people, flame-consumed villains, it has all been done before. And better. Throwing them at me quickly and loudly is not big or clever and frankly I feel a little sick." - Re the first point of this final section - the true horror here was the vastness, the unknown of space and what could potentially lie out there in wait, beyond space and time. It's almost Lovecraftian and so is very worthy. Actually, the 'gore' I found to be quite watered down, especially in the tv edit. Clive Barker's Hellraiser it was not. W S Anderson is fond of the quick cutaway shots, so very rarely did we actually see anything that might raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Disappointing from a horror perspective.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed Event Horizon, though for different reasons I do agree with Marvel Man that the potential was there for something greater than it was. Nonetheless, a good addition the sci fi/horror subgenre and a worthy watch for all and sundry *** 3/5.