The Shining in outer space

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2005)

This movie freaked me out of my chair many times! A friend of mine recommended this movie to me years ago. He saw it at the theater and was stunned. I remembered seeing a trailer of the film and wanting to see it badly. Fact is, the film only stayed in the cinema for about five weeks in my country. I was too late, I had to rent it on video. I can imagine that "Event Horizon" has a scary effect in the cinema, but watching it home alone made me probably feel more shocked then ever before. What I thought to be a mediocre "Alien" ripoff, turned out to be something completely different. It scared the hell out of me..
For those of you who saw "Ghost Ship", this movie has a lot of similarities, only "Event Horizon" is way better. I'll start with the opening credits. Nothing really special, but the music score that comes along with it; absolutely terrifying! Great work by both Michael Kamen and Orbital, who use a sublime mixture of techno, orchestra music and all kinds of chilling sound effects. At that moment I knew I was going to be scared, which didn't take long to actually happen.
The acting in this movie is quite well. My credits go to Sam Neill in particular, who plays a role in which I never saw him before. Watch and see for yourself. The story is the worst thing in this movie, although I like the concept of a spaceship that creates black holes to travel faster than light. But the whole 'rescue mission that goes awry' is done so many times before, it didn't impress me much. The same goes for the ending which is in my opinion a bit of a letdown. On the other hand, it probably had a more lasting effect on me just because I was still confused with what actually happened.
For those of us who can't stand any gore, don't watch this! Although most of the gore in "Event Horizon" comes in flashes, there are particular scenes which do not leave much to the imagination. Shocks will be there plenty for the most of us, as everything hits you right in the face over and over again.
Adding everything in this film up: special effects, music and the atmosphere are the best things here. The storyline is the worst, but is still enjoyable as long as you don't take it too serious. So what's my conclusion? If you want to be scared, do as I did and watch "Event Horizon" alone in the dark with loud sound.. If you enjoyed "Ghost Ship", go and see this movie as it is the same concept, only way better and more believable.. If you liked "The Shining", you might consider looking at "Event Horizon" as well because a good description is "The Overlook Hotel in outer space". It's chilling, it's shocking and it stays in your head for a very long time. Liberate tutemae ex inferis! (Safe yourself from hell!) 8/10!