A Solid But Not Completely Successful Fusion of Sci Fi and Horror

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2019)

5 September 2010. Sphere (1998) with Samuel L. Jackson came out a year later using the same underlying premise in an underwater environment scenario who has a presence in ways resembling Lawrence Fishburne in Event Horizon though more grounded in this movie as well as a subsequent version in Supernova (2000). But perhaps the closest psychological connection to this movie comes in the form of Galaxy of Terror (1981).
For 2047, the technology (notebooks and computerization) appears to be more 2020, even though it has a futuristic but contemporary feel 13 years later after its release as well as the incorporation oddly enough of weirdly archaic looking mechanical devices with steam and grinding metal from the Iron Age.
Incorporated into this movie are bits of Alien (1979) doors and door sounds and smatterings of Alien (1979) chasing and running down corridors, and even an Alien (1979) mysterious signal or message parallel and is even suggestive of the older First Spaceship on Venus (1960) or Planet of the Vampires (1965). Vague visual color similarities to The Cell (2000) and some design inside the core's mechanism to 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as later scene depicting being trapped outside in the vacuum of space. The visuals in this movie particularly the first third are fascinating as well as beginning to show signs of aging with the not quit lucid and authentic integration of floating objects in a vacuum, however, the effort and the overall impact are impressive and likely strikingly new when the movie came out 13 years ago and really broke new ground since 2010 came out seven years earlier (1984). Some of the scenes have not been replicated even to this day, even with the availability of the technology - like the interior of a deep frozen weightless vessel.
The explosion airlock scene is a particularly crucial scene where the screenplay and director is able to retain a believable, comprehensible consistency, a scene is actually seems to barely steer away from stereotypical overly dramatic standard of sensational horrific gore like like that observed in Outland (1981), though the final climatic scenes do have a compelling sense of suspense and drama.
Additionally, Sam Neill's crucial importance in the movie can't quite bring up either by the script or perhaps his acting to truly provide the depth necessary to truly display the credibility of the horrific transformation from the science fiction genre and their a few editing issues especially when Laurence Fishburne suddenly finds himself alone in a corridor with a haunting voice reverberating around him, and even the sudden discovery of the disposition of Lt. Stark played by Joely Richardson occurs without much explanation. One of the later destruction scenes also seems to be so overly destructive, to the point of portraying itself as a lazy, convenient script device. By the end of the movie, even the bio-detector devices used earlier in the movie seem to have been forgotten as the descent into an exclusively horror movie genre takes over unlike their use in the more intense sci fi emotive scenes from both Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986).
While the descent from science fiction into horror might be considered a twisted corruption of science fiction, it might also be a fascinating fusion of the two in terms of how the interaction between the alien unknown of science fiction is manifested in the human mind and perception and behavior. And where good and evil is observed, it may be the human moral underpinnings of our anthropomorphic attempts to explain what we do not understand or conceive, but what is and it is our darkest fears of what we do not fathom that result in panic and paranoia and what might be delusional creations of our own inner psychic but are just as real in an alternative presentation. Yet even with this explanation in the end, even though its seems to skirt successfully for prolong time, Event Horizon (1997) doesn't quite seem to avoid the overly simplified blood and gore horror fixation during the latter third of the movie which takes some of the action-thrills from Alien (1979) but in a psychological monster as opposed to physical monster way as depicted in The Omen (1976), The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963) and particularly The Hellraiser (1987) come to mind. Sphere (1998) even with its much more tame and for some "boring" scenario seems to able to more effectively capture the alien-horror-sci-fi fusion or Sam Neill's struggles that were more sedately and cerebrally captured in the remake of Solaris (1972) by George Clooney.
On the whole, this movie experience is interesting, sometimes scary, with a twist or two, and presents the American satisfaction of a sci fi action thriller, incorporating a strong horror element, and retains the American sci fi ending scene. Nevertheless, Event Horizon can't kind manage to present a superb fusion of these genres in a new classic form, but it can be commended for its attempt. 7/10.