Vacuous But Scary

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2008)

It's a space rescue mission, with a mixed crew of cynical but competent astronauts led by the excellent Larry Fishburne. Sam Neill plays the covertly knowledgeable 'outsider' with a disproportionate say it what goes on. A signal has been received...
So far the plot is a very close parallel to 'Aliens'.
The signal has come from a space-probe that was officially 'lost' some years before. It's a frightening, garbled noise, once again like that of 'Alien'. Now the vessel has been relocated out amongst the gas giants planets on the edge of the solar system. Authorities need to find out what went wrong. It had several crew members.
The effects and set-pieces are extremely well realised. It is very atmospheric. The 'Aliens' like paranoia is etched with a Gothic horror texture that has a hint of 'Hammer' and 'Quatermass' about it.
This ship, it transpires, was more than just a probe. It was the first vessel to jump through hyperspace. Somehow, it's come back. And there's nobody home - or so it seems...
What follows are a series of set-piece dream-shocks that ratchet-up the tension fairly well. Slowly, the cynical crew become less cynical as they realise that the vessel is possessed. And not only the vessel; so is Sam Neill's character. It's a fairly predictable slaughter-by-turn with nasty fates for those earmarked.
The whole internal structure of the vessel has a menacing, Gothic completeness that is so unlike anything typical of human design as - once again - to resemble the spaceship in 'Alien'.
It would seem that this vessel passed through some kind of hell out there in hyperspace and is somehow tainted by association. During this time the crew went insane. On board Video-monitors have recorded their behaviour and it ain't pretty. The surviving rescuers need to escape.
There is a want of clear explanation between the evident 'evil' we are led to believe exists and its relationship with the 'scientific' universe. The two ideas merge well in effects but unravel at the rational level. I was left extremely disappointed by the denouement.
Also, the interior of the vessel is smeared with large splashes of gore that we must assume are the organic remains of the dead crew, and yet nobody even mentions them, does blood or DNA tests or anything. It's as if the mess is either perfectly normal or that only we can see it. Further, in the time that they inhabit the ship, with air replenished and heating on, this stuff would begin to putrefy and quickly stink-out the confined living space. But again; no-one apparently can smell it either.
Acting is fair to good, the script rather flaccid, but the effects and tension are first-rate. It just leaves the impression that they didn't quite know what to do with the idea. Perhaps Nigel Kneale should have been consulted.
The movie also reminded me of a short story by Cordwainer Smith called 'The Game Of Rat And Dragon', which might well have been its inspiration.
Good scares, inadequate resolution.