'Hellraiser' in space!

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2008)

Sam Neill (Jurassic Park 1/3) and Laurence Fishburne (the Matrix trilogy) star as members of a rescue team on the Lewis & Clark sent to space to search for and investigate a spaceship (the Event Horizon) that was lost through a black hole. . . and returned. However, the ship wasn't left untouched: something else is on board. . . but who, or what, is it? And what does it want?
For some reason, Paul W.S. Anderson has had a bad reputation among horror fans. I'm not entirely sure why. . . seeing as he's not bad at what he does. Sure, his writing for AVP and Resident Evil wasn't the best, but he's not a bad action director. Or, at least, he's an acceptable one that knows how to get what he wants on the screen. Event Horizon, while another sci-fi/horror like the aforementioned, is in a league of its own in comparison to the rest of Anderson's work. It is truly terrifying. Imagine a savage blend of Alien, The Haunting, Hellraiser, and even some Don't Look Now and The Shining to boot. The performances (especially Sam Neill's chilling portrayal of Dr. Weir) were great. The supporting cast of Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series), Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers), Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), and Kathleen Quinlan (The Hills Have Eyes remake) also all put out solid performances. Luckily for them, they had quality dialogue written for them while Cooper's character (Richard T. Jones) was a horribly written "token black guy" character. Frankly, it was pretty annoying to have his humorous character popping up with dumb lines during extremely intense situations (especially one in particular at the end). Regardless, the film was still damn great. The gore/violence were fantastic. The suspense and tension can rival that of many films. Adrian Biddle's (V for Vendetta, Aliens) cinematography was beautiful. And, it all came together into a well made and scary sci-fi/horror film.
Final Verdict: 8/10.
-AP3-