Non-Event Horror

Rating: 1/10 (28 July 2016)

For some reason this poorly-made film has a rather large cult following. I can't understand why.
Initially a rightful flop at the box office in 1997 it found an audience on VHS and latterly DVD and Blu-ray but only the 97-minute theatrical cut (fade out at 91 minutes) has ever been made available. Quite strange for a epic sci-fi horror.
It turns out that Paul Anderson thought he was directing a movie that would be as revolutionary as Ridley Scott's Alien was back in 1979 and when he turned in his first 130-minute cut of the film it was painfully obvious that his effort and ability to make a solid horror film were sorely lacking. Paramount cut more than half an hour of footage and released it as a crash-and-burn flick with little fanfare.
That's the real story behind Event Horizon. Over the years Paul Anderson has blamed the studio for the film being a tedious bore but it's all down to him and his approach to this lame material which is full of the easiest, EASIEST stinger scares, weak direction, and a superficially ambiguous script that he thought he could go all out with.
Even with very low expectations of Hellraiser/Haunted House/Generic Slasher-in-Space tropes you'll consider doing the dishes or the ironing before the movie is halfway over.