A haunted house in space.

Rating: 7/10 (16 February 2012)

Event Horizon is set in the near future aboard a massive spacecraft in low-level orbit above Neptune, but at its heart, the film is nothing more than a haunted house movie given a sci-fi twist: the creepy spaceship is the film's Gothic mansion, the echoey walkways and ducts are its dusty rooms and wood-panelled corridors, the search and rescue team are its travellers seeking shelter for the night, Neptune's turbulent atmosphere is its raging thunderstorm, and rather than being built over a gateway to hell, the craft itself is the gateway, its high-tech drive capable of punching a hole into another dimension where chaos and evil reigns.
So, obvious sci-fi trappings such as zero gravity and suspended animation aside, it's tried and tested scares all the way, with hellish visions and supernatural shocks aplenty as director Paul W.S. Anderson skillfully lays on the atmosphere and gory horror. Anderson spoils matters somewhat in the film's closing minutes with an ill-considered finalé that sees one character blown into space by a huge explosion, but somehow surviving the blast to navigate his way back to the spaceship and intervene at a crucial moment, thus saving the day for token spunky female Lt. Starck (Joely Richardson). This rather daft ending almost saw me reducing my rating for Event Horizon from a 7 down to a 6, but the build up was so good that I am prepared to be forgiving.