Flawed, but watchable, effort

Rating: 6/10 (13 March 2007)

I have written about EH under another moniker, and have twice trashed this sci-fi/supernatural horror movie. Watching it again does not make it better, like BLADE RUNNER or THE THING, but it has allowed me to spot a thing or two I missed the first or second or even third time around. To recap the plot, a rescue ship arrives at the stranded Event Horizon, a deep space probe, only to find lots of blood and dead bodies and something far worse awaiting them. Anderson borrows heavily from other movies, and EH crosses ALIEN, 2001 and SOLARIS with THE SHINING and HELLRAISER, among others. EH's massive, Gothic-like sets and the sweeping cinematography are magnificent, and the first half of the movie is a humdinger as the rescue crew explores the creepy, sinister EH and begins running into ghosts, or demons, or worse. The second half is a letdown, as we discover that the EH has been where no ship has gone before, into an alternate dimension of pure evil. It doesn't take much to figure where things will be going from that point. Enjoy the first half but skip the second, especially after Sam Neil undergoes his transformation into a poor man's Pinhead. Lots of spooky stuff worth seeing in the first half, though, especially Kathleen Quinlan approaching a sick bay bed where a phantom version of her ill son awaits her under the sheet. I do not care for the film any better today than I did several years ago, but I decided my two previous reviews (written under a name I dare not repeat here) were too perfunctory.