Derelict Spaceship Lands in a Haunted House

Rating: 1/10 (27 July 2014)

There are numerous Sci-Fi films jostling at the front of the pack for the "Worst Ever' accolade, and 'Event Horizon' should certainly be considered one of the top contenders. Although the film has upscale production values, penny-pinching in the screen-writing budget becomes obvious as soon as the characters open their mouths. The story's introduction reveals an experimental faster-than-light spaceship had gone missing on its maiden flight. Seven years later it has mysteriously reappeared orbiting Neptune, and another vessel is dispatched to investigate.
On board this rescue ship, the astronauts are bickering like toddlers long before they arrive at their destination. When an exploratory team ventures into the derelict hulk's industrial-Gothic interior, their intelligence goes into terminal decline as the hack screenplay plunges them into a crude gore-and-horror fest. They start screaming at one another like hysterics, while the soundtrack ramps up the melodrama in a lame attempt to disguise the deficiencies of the material. None of the routine nastiness makes any sense, and the eventual explanation for the vessel's cursed condition is pitifully weak. After '2001' and 'Alien' had shown the possibilities for modern Sci-Fi, 'Event Horizon' is a severe disappointment which gives the entire genre a bad name.