Is it horrifying, or is it horrifyingly bad? “Event Horizon” proves that the two are not mutually exclusive.
As a movie reviewer, I’ve seen a lot of bad movies, but never have a seen a suspense movie as truly horrible as “Event Horizon.” I will admit that I didn’t expect “Horizon” to be much more than worthless wannabe event movie trash, but never did I think it could be this bad.
The good part, though, is that I don’t have to waste very much time explaining the plot, because there wasn’t very much of one.
Laurence Fishburne stars (well, he’s in it quite a bit - to say he “stars” might be a stretch) as Captain Miller, a hardlining spacecraft pilot in the year 2040 on a special mission of some sort. Also on his craft is Dr. Weir (Sam Neill), a scientist who built a different spacecraft that seven years before disappeared near Neptune.
The ship, called the “Event Horizon,” was an ultra-secret ship that was designed to travel faster than the speed of light. It uses very futuristic technology to literally warp from one point in space to another.
However, it seems as if it didn’t work as planned, and the ship came back, after seven years, leaving nothing but a distress signal with a message in Latin, translating to “save me.” So, Miller and his crew, with the help of Weir, go to save it.
When they get there, they find “Event Horizon” to be empty and tomb-like (perhaps a metaphor for the content of the movie). The crew explores the ship, but it isn’t long before a problem arises. Mr. Justin (Jack Noseworthy) is sucked into something, and he comes back comatose.
Also, a few of the other crew members have hallucinatory experiences where they are confronted with their worst fears: one finds herself unable to help her dying son; Weir sees his girlfriend kill herself; and Miller is confronted by a former crew member that died in his command.
So, they surmise, the ship knows their fears, and is possibly alive. About this time, Weir becomes horribly evil, declaring that the ship will never let them leave. Personally, I might rather be trapped on that ship than be trapped in a theater watching this movie again.
For the rest of the movie, the remaining members of the crew periodically die, until only a few remain, to be treated to a mysterious ending.
“Event Horizon” is disgustingly gruesome. There are burned bodies free of their eyeballs, literal waves of blood, and nearly everything in between. Unfortunately, this is little more than constant shock value, since the script makes no preparation for any sort of sympathy for the characters.
The failings of this movie, I think, are completely due to a horrible script and even more despicable editing. The acting isn’t bad, but it proves worthless when the only lines acted don’t really apply to any sort of effect. The only effect created is that of utter disgust.
“Event Horizon” is a bad movie built on a poor script and a needless idea. I would normally offer alternatives, but it’s easier just to refer to a random list of movies. Anything on it would probably be far superior to this one.
Grade: F