creepy

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2004)

I haven't liked any of Andersen's other films but I like this. It's atmospheric and does well in balancing the claustrophobia and presence of the evil on the ship, on the one hand, with the infinity of space and the theme of absence on the other. I think any film that explores the theme of evil not of human agency has the possibility to be unsettling and terrifying. In most respects, this film works. The performances are mostly good although Sam Neill is a bit hammy and the Cooper character is something of a stereotype. As an aside, though, I was a little amused by the scene in which the crew listen to the recorded broadcast from the ship 'Event Horizon'. Sam Neill tells us that Nasa(?)'s finest scientists have been studying it for some time and "have isolated what appears to be a human voice." On the first listen, the crew's medic identifies that the voice is speaking Latin and on his second listen translates the majority of the message. Perhaps Weir's colleagues, when presented with the recording, decided 'let's not listen to it and say we did'.