Brilliant Concept, Flawed Execution (Or Studio Interference?)

Rating: Null/10 (8 June 2002)

This film angers me probably more than any other in recent memory, simply for the fact that it had an utterly brilliant concept (the tried and true SciFi technique of 'folding space' for trans-universal travel, unfortunately passing the ship into what very well may be hell itself) and blew it completely in the last third of the film.
Touching on an idea later used in Dean R. Koontz terrific Christopher Snow novels, the concept of science reaching too far and finding it's inherent opposite at the other side (the theological 'hell') just screams to be fully realized on screen, and 'Event Horizon' almost got us there.... but then devolves into something akin to 'Freddy v. Jason In Space,' with the crew of the rescue ship Lewis and Clark being knocked off one by one in a ridiculously short time, and Sam Neill's Dr. William Weir going from slightly-obsessive scientist (and creator of the titular ship) to satanic pawn/ killer/ possessee, just blowing it in the end.
Good performances and a solid script in the first hour beg an interesting question- was the script this uneven originally, or were things ruined in the end by studio interference? The fact that director Paul Anderson supposedly had to remove over 20 minutes of scenes deemed too violent for an 'R' rating in the US, it's quite possible. The few violent images that remain (in twitchy, disjointed visuals culled from the 'Event Horizon's' log), while intense and violent, are also a fascinating tease of what could have been.
Anderson supposedly plans to release a 'Director's Cut' DVD at some point, and we can only hope he does so in the near future, as this film truly deserves a second chance to get it right.