Classic Horror Sci-Fi

Rating: 8/10 (27 February 2020)

"Event Horizon" is a lot of fun and shows just how versatile Sci-fi, as a genre, can be. Unfortunately, it also highlights the problems with high concept movies if they don't perfectly execute on their ambitions. I'm not gonna lie and say this is a great or important film but if you are one of those people who has a little Venn Diagram space in your heart for sci-fi/horror films then this is a film for you.
First off, the production design in this film is stellar (lol get it?). From the bridge of the Lewis & Clark, to the core of the Event Horizon's gravity drive, and to the neon green crawl spaces underneath the core. The locations are not just designed to feel believable, which they do, but also to play into the eerie feeling of the film which they also do, especially the sequence with Dr. Weir (Sam Neill, "Jurassic Park") under the core, lights strobing on and off inside the Jefferie's Tubes he is crawling through.
The acting is uneven and feels like certain actors were given different ideas than the rest about what the film was about. Sam Neill is great as usual and the cast boasts a stacked cast with Jason Isaacs ("Death of Stalin") and Laurence Fishburne ("The Matrix") rounding things out. Most of the time these actors seem to be in a psychological terror movie set in space and discuss the various terrors in their past and what it means that they are seeing hallucinations about them. They have the sorts of conversations that people facing their fears and imminent deaths might have as they parse their own reactions, psychology, and internal movements.
On the other hand we have Richard T. Jones, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson, who seem to be in either a disaster film or action movie. Even Larry Fishburne gets in on the action movie vibes as he occasionally channels a hard edged commanding officer who doesn't take no guff and might occasionally have to choose bubble gum or kicking @$$. While these characters may be exposed to similarly terrifying events they seem to handle it more in the cheesy way that 90s action films do. Characters are known to nickname each other things like 'Baby' and 'Mamma Bear' or yell things like, "I'm gone," as they hit a lever that launches them into danger. It feels like half the cast in is the movie "Alien" and the other half is in "Armageddon."
The break down for me is almost that simple. I love the parts of this movie that are horror heavy and am bored by the parts that are action heavy. It doesn't help that some of the graphics have aged more poorly than a person who completed two terms as President of the United States.
There's a part of me that thinks that this is a property ripe for reboot/sequel/re-imagining but there's another part of me that fears movie that would try to recapture the magic of this film. I know that for me, the psychological terror aspects of the film are my favorite but that might not be the case for everyone and I'd hate to think that some people who like this movie would be left out in the cold by whoever decided to remake this movie as 'the version they would have liked to see' rather than keeping the messy quality of the original.
The messiness actually adds to the film in some ways. It would feel overly contrived to have every single member of the crew wandering around and pontificating to each other the whole movie about the plight of existence and the terror of the unknown just as it would feel untrue to have them all strutting like Space Marines gunning for another trophy. By putting both aspects in the film they both end up feeling more true to life.
Unfortunately, my last criticism is also that while it does attempt to do some psychological terror and philosophical musing, the underlying themes of the movie still end up being very muddled. The plot is very by the book and should leave lots of room for character exploration and connection but "Event Horizon'' leaves these characters as two dimensional stand ins. There is never any doubt about where our main character's journeys end. Almost before they ever step foot on the ship you can go down the line, one by one. Dead, dead by suicide, dead by sacrifice, turned to the dark side; you know it all from the beginning because these characters don't have multiple personality and psychological traits that make them who they are. They are stereotypes with one or two events that have happened to them in the past.
All in all, I really like this movie. It's one I re-watch all the time and has a lot of great set pieces and imagery but it certainly isn't the deepest film. However, I don't think that is what most people are after with a movie of this type so I won't let that stop me from recommending it to almost any sci-fi or horror fanatic.