Rating: Summary: Required: Lights on, people with you, and a blunt weapon Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: Almost Painful to Watch Review: During a glut of movie watching, I happened to watch Event Horizon. I cannot recommend this movie even to those who like cheesy ghost stories. The Event Horizon, mankind's first attempt at a faster than light ship has suddenly appeared in orbit around Neptune. A rescue crew and the ship's designer head out to investigate. While attempting to dock with the massive ship, the rescue vessel is damaged and needs to be repaired. Lack of air forces the crew onto the derelict. As the crew investigates the mystery of the returned ship, individual members begin to be haunted by their deepest fears. Somewhere along the line the ship's creator becomes possesses and tries to prevent the others from leaving. This movie was intended as a subtle ghost story. The beginning is pretty good but soon it becomes apparent that the movie makers are just not used to subtle. Visually the movie loses the story line as special effects become more pronounced than required. I guess that midway through the film they tried to recreate the film Alien and failed. Despite all of the bad points, there is actually some good acting to be found on screen. Unlike most science fiction and horror films the rescue crew behave cautiously and intelligently. Unfortunately they were up against something much too powerful. What we they up against? Well, when the ship went on its maiden voyage and punched a gateway through space, it traveled briefly in something that is outside space and time. A region of perfect chaos that most would call Hell. During that brief encounter the ship became alive and the gateway was not completely shut. So, if someone happens to be showing a video of this film (free of charge) then you might want to take a look. After all, the premise and the acting were good, it was just off the mark. Way off.
Rating: Summary: Sam Neil Is GOD Review: Well, lets face it. Sam Neil made the movie. The movie overall was fantastic but without Sam Neil it wouldn't of been the same. For those of you who liked Event Horizon, be sure to check out "In The Mouth Of Madness" as well.
"It's the heart of the ship"
Rating: Summary: not even worth dollar cinema admission Review: I saw this horrible excuse for a SciFi movie at a dollar cinema
and it still wasn't worth the price of admission, nor the time spent watching it. It was just bad...bad bad bad. I'm sure Lawrence Fishburne would just as soon forget he ever made this movie. Yes, the sets were magnificent, but so what? Even _RED PLANET_ with Val Kilmer and Carie-Anne Moss was a better movie than this. The Hellraiser-SciFi genre splice was a line that oughtn't have been crossed. Ditto for the latest Friday 13th/Jason slasher flick set in outer-space...EVENT HORIZON is perfect MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000 fodder...I wouldn't buy this video if it were on sale in the bargain bin for $.50
Rating: Summary: Good psychological terror, bad ending. Review: After reading many of the 300+ reviews, I've come to the conclusion that this film has very few if any objective reviews. I'm surprised at the number of reviewers that absolutely hated this movie, I suspect that at least some of them were expecting a sci-fi movie and not a horror movie, or were overly affected by the faux gore and edited the rest of the film out of their minds.
I first watched this film in 1998 on pay-per-view shortly after its theatrical run. It's a mostly solid psychological terror flick with a great cast, but at the end it really falls flat.
The buildup of dread is exquisitely crafted for a while, as the trapped characters begin seeing illusions of their worst fears come to life. One entranced character almost dies during these opening sequences, though it seems as if the Hellish presence of the ship is just toying with them at first.
These sequences all work great. I've not felt such film-induced dread in a while, since most slasher/startle flicks fail in every way to truly scare me. However, when they find out that the old crew slaughtered one another it starts to get really shlockey.
Act 3 of this movie unfortunately is really a let-down. They drop the whole psychological terror/illusions of the mind motif in favor of a Doom 2 showdown. Sam Neil becomes Satan, and Lawrence Fishburn beats him up with a CO2 scrubber. Satan seems more upset about the ship blowing up then I would have expected, but what do I know.
If the dread buildup would have continued, I could easily give this film 5 stars, but the last 20 minutes are just shlock.
Rating: Summary: The best bad movie of all time. Review: This is hands down the best bad movie in history. The "scary" parts are hilarious, the "science" is hilarious, and they somehow managed to even make the gory parts funny. Truly an amazing feat - and as much as that sounds sarcastic, i'm being totally truthful. Trying to watch this movie and take it seriously will result in nothing more than a lot of head shaking and eye rolling - but if you're just looking to be amused, i think this is a great choice. As per the screenwriter's suggestion (Philip Eisner), i have purchased three copies and plan to watch them simultaneously in canon.
Rating: Summary: Shiver yourself to sleep. Review: Never have i layed on my bed following a movie and wished someone would be there to tuck me in. That one scene (that bares no mentioning) is by far the most psychologically disturbing cinematic moment i have ever scene. If sci-fi imagination can be thrown into overdrive then this movie got it. Anyone that thinks this movie blew is either a wanna-be jedi looking for his skin lightsaber or a hollywood dumbass that thinks he could do better if he got up off his couch. BRAVO!!!
Rating: Summary: Could Have Been so Much More Review: As I type this, there are 333 reviews in front of mine. I imagine at least 2/3rd's of those give a synopsis of the film and I'll let you read one of those to find out the storyline. Suffice to say that this film had such great premise that went unfulfilled. There is an original storyline that generates real feelings of forbodeing. Then it degenerates into the equivalent of Friday the 13th where everyone wanders off by themselves in situations where they KNOW they shouldn't be, only to meet a very grisly end. When you start off a film as well as this, it shouldn't end up being reduced to Camp Crystal Lake near Uranus. But I still give it two stars because it really had potential. I saw it years ago, didn't like it at all, but still think about it from time to time. Event Horizon and John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (fearturing another cast that suffers the Friday the 13th syndrome) easily top my list of films that start out so great, which only makes the ensuing disappointment that much more frustrating.
Rating: Summary: The Best Horror Film of the '90s Review: I wrote this film, and frankly, I think everyone should own at least 3 copies of the DVD.
Rating: Summary: just wait until it's on TV. Review: A lot of people hated Event Horizon when it first came out but it's not completely bad. It gets off to a good start and hits a number of bumpy patches but that's mainly because the writers got lazy and because the moive is billed as Sci/Fi but is really straight up horror.
Sam Neil stars as Dr. Weir. I guess that's a play on words : Weir/Weird because he is. The doctor is brooding and obviously still mourning the death of his wife. In fact, he's so off center you wonder why on earth the authorities are sending him anywhere.
The premise of the movie is simple. Event Horizon vanished on it's maiden voyage while trying to go to warp speed. Seven years later the ship is back. Weir and the crew of the Lewis and Clarke have been sent to check it out.
Event Horizon did more than travel at warp speed aparently the ship went way off course and punched it's way into hell. Bad news for the crew and bad news for anyone who steps on board the now dammned and ghost ridden ship.
So far, so good. Then come the mistakes. The crew of the Lewis and Clarke are undistinguished. The captain, played by Lawrence Fishbourne could have played by a young Sidney Poitier. There's nothing new or fresh about the character. You've seen it before. The rest of the crew are just cardboard. You have the clown, the smart blonde, the other woman who gets killed off quickly, the English guy and of course, the young crewman who might as well have a "I'm off to get killed" sign on his forehead.
The plot seemed to get lazy at this point. Obvious things happen to the crew and they react in obvious ways. It's also extremely gross at times and it feels like the makers of the movie ran out of ideas and decided to throw in some gross out moments to get the viewers attention. It's like a paint by numbers set. The climax and ending are also rip offs of several other movies.
I wouldn't spend any money on Event Horizon. It's a late night TV movie and not much more.
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