Event Horizon (1997)

October 13, 2017

When I first saw this as a kid it frightened the absolute living shit out of me, and re-watching it 20 years later, I can still see why. Perhaps it is the echo of that fear I developed in my youth, but there is something incredibly unsettling about Event Horizon. Yes, the sci-fi side of things doesn’t really add up, causing enormous continuity errors and goofs, and resulting in this half lost in space adventure / half inter-dimensional psychological horror really hitting the mark – for about only half of the time. The fact that there was a lost 130 minute cut of this 90 minute movie tells me that there was a lot more going on that we weren’t filled in on.

A recent journey through the revived Twin Peaks taught me that a deeper sense of satisfaction can be achieved by embracing and perpetuating mystery; that great things can come of events that raise more questions than they set out to solve, but here it still kinda feels like we are being cheated out of finding what truly lies behind that portal into the “hell” dimension. The lost cut is just that; lost, forever, and that bizarre story just adds to the intrigue around this contrasting movie. Maybe we don’t need to find out what “hell” looks like…perhaps we are already there.

A highly recommended 90s sci fi horror, give or take some terrible effects and over-use of the word “motherfucker”.