August 15, 1997
Horror/Sci-Fi
R
United States
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
“Libera te tutemet ex inferis.
Save yourself from hell.”
In 2040, a ship by the name of Event Horizon is sent out to explore the stars. That same year, it vanishes, and no one knows what happened to it until seven years later when a distress signal is received. The mission? Save the crew and return the ship.
The Lewis and Clark is a rescue vessel led by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), along with his crew: Peters (Kathleen Quinlan), Lt. Starck (Joely Richardson), Cooper AKA Coop (Richard T. Jones), Justin, affectionately called Baby Bear (Jack Noseworthy), Smith AKA Smitty (Sean Pertwee), and D.J. (Jason Isaacs). They are joined by Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), who built the Event Horizon.
There is a lot that happens throughout this film, and if I tried to list it all, it would be a million words long. Basically what happens is eight people go off on this rescue mission, but only three come back on only a piece of the Event Horizon, and without the Lewis and Clark. Peters dies due to hallucinations caused by the Event Horizon, Smitty and D.J. are killed at the hands of Weir, and Miller and Weir… I can only assume they were taken to another dimension (which has come to be known as Hell) by Miller to save Starck, Coop, and Justin. Though, it could be argued that they both died when Miller blows up part of the ship.
I think it’s important to note that Peters isn’t the only one who suffers hallucinations. She sees her son, Denny (Barclay Wright), Weir sees his wife, Claire (Holley Chant) who we realize from the beginning is dead and later find out she committed suicide by slitting her wrists in a bathtub, and Miller sees Edward Corrick (Noah Huntley) who is also known as the Burning Man, and we find out that Miller and Corrick were on a previous mission together where Miller had to leave Corrick to burn to death in order to save the rest of his crew.
All of this is caused by the Event Horizon due to what Weir calls the core. It’s a large ball-like structure with three rings circling it, and when the rings align, the ball turns into a gateway, allowing the ship to go to different dimensions. It just happened to find Hell and doomed everyone.
Now, the reason for the graphic content warning is the most notable (and secretly everyone’s favorite) scene, which has come to be known as the Blood Orgy scene. Peters cleans up one of the logs from the previous crew to see what’s on it, and it’s probably one of the most disturbing things I’ve watched. I’ve seen some pretty gruesome stuff, and while this one doesn’t take the cake, it’s up there in the gross factor. I had to watch it slowed way down to see what’s actually going on, and it’s basically the previous crew sexually assaulting each other (even the women sodomizing the men), cannibalism, a man reaching down his own throat to pull out his innards through his mouth, and a man who has appeared to have ripped out his own eyes and is holding them in his hands, lifting them up as if to present them. According to what I read, this scene was drastically cut down (which didn’t surprise the cast or crew of the film in the slightest), because it’s said that the uncut version is “unwatchable”. It’s also been mentioned that the director hired adult film stars to perform the sexual parts.
Before you get mad that I even mention it, this scene is pretty much the whole basis of the movie. Yes, the Lewis and Clark is sent on a rescue mission, but to understand exactly what’s going on in the film, one has to understand this scene. It shows that when the Event Horizon and it’s original crew jumped into the Hell dimension, either something really evil came back with them, or they were driven mad and tortured themselves to death. Later, Weir telepathically shows Miller exactly what was going to happen to the rest of his crew, in which another brutal scene plays, but without the sexual assaults. A lot of maggots and blood, though.
The first time I watched this movie, I noticed a lot of similarities between it and Hellraiser. Even Weir in his “Hell form” looks an awful lot like Pinhead, except without the pins. After doing a bit of research, I found out that I’m not the only one who made this comparison, as it’s been nicknamed by fans, “Hellraiser in Space”. Except, if I’m going to be honest, Event Horizon is way more graphic (and better) than Hellraiser.
Critics say that this movie bombed in the box office, and while that may be true, it has grown quite the cult following. I, for one, absolutely love this movie. I’m not overly into sci-fi, but the horror aspect had me riveted, and the cast was incredible. We also can’t forget the graphics. For 1997, the way they made space look, and the makeup on the actors is really quite unbelievable. Extremely well done.
I recommend this movie to horror and sci-fi fans alike, just as long as you’re not overly sensitive to graphic content. Like I mentioned, it’s not the worst of the worst, and you honestly do have to watch the Blood Orgy scene slowed down to really understand what’s happening in it (or just watch it over and over). It’s also heavy in the language department (especially from Coop), but if you can get past all that, it’s a film that, I believe, has been vastly underrated and deserves at least a once-through.
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