Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2002)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** 1997 was a great year for British films ( And I won`t get into an argument with what constitutes a " British " film ) with THE FULL MONTY , BEAN and SPICE WORLD all being massive hits in the US . Strangely the British made film EVENT HORIZON probably had a bigger budget than its three compatriots put together but made little impact on the American box office

If I was to point out the cause for its failure then I would say it`s with Philip Eisner`s script. It lacks a lot in both characterisation and story development , things happen without much explanation and at times it`s all slightly confusing . Of course if there`s been as much as 20 minutes cut out of the final print then that`s hardly Eisner`s fault , but he should take the blame for the unoriginal script ***** MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS ***** The whole concept of a haunted space craft is no different to that of a haunted house ,the start of EVENT HORIZON reminded me of both 2001 and ALIEN . , people being confronted by their worst fears is straight out of 1984, a space ship that`s alive is a reference to QUATERMASS AND THE PIT , and the villain`s appearance resembles Pinhead being converted to cenobite at the start of HELLRAISER 2: HELLBOUND. Even the context of the dialogue is borrowed from other sources " Be with me " is from LIFEFORCE , and " I have such sights to show you " is HELLRAISER again . But luckily no one comes out with the cliche " It`s all right , there`s nothing to worry about , everything is under control " because that would be too self referential ***** END SPOILERS ****
Paul Anderson does a fairly good job as director ( Has anyone noticed that Anderson wouldn`t know a good script if he saw one. Maybe someone plucked his eyes out too ? ) and it`s on the technical areas the film works best , there`s plenty of scenes that will make you jump out of your seat due to the sound mix . If Anderson has a problem with EVENT HORIZON then it`s that he seems unable to get the best out of his cast , only Sean Pertwee gives a good performance as a rough and ready space pilot , everyone else on the ship seems to be half asleep .
So if you like sci-fi or horror films then you may like EVENT HORIZON , but it`s not a film you`re likely to watch over and over again which is a shame. A disappointing film to have come out of Britain during a commercial golden age of British films