Don't go on this ship...

Rating: 7/10 (7 April 2008)

This is not a sci-fi movie; it's a haunted house story wrapped in the outward trappings of science fiction. It's a direct movie descendant of "Alien" and "The Haunting". Sam Neill is, once again, excellent as the designer/builder of the Event Horizon, the greatest achievement of his career that he cannot enjoy because he's wracked by the guilty knowledge that all the time he spent on it cost him the love and life of his wife, Claire. The ship, equipped with some fancy dimension-warping black hole drive, has returned after having disappeared seven years before, God knows where. It's never quite clear, but it seems to be either a dimension of pure destructive chaos or even Hell itself. Each crew-member's hidden fears and guilt are preyed upon by whatever it is that now inhabits the ship. Yes, there is blood and gore (plenty of it!), but this movie gives us chills thru the astounding ship sets (it looks like something wrenched from a Gothic cathedral), clever use of light and darkness, and the feeling that there's something either behind you or right next to you, watching you all the time. It's creepy and disturbing, all the way to the end. One of my all-time favorites.