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Event Horizon (film)

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Event Horizon
Picture of spacecraft with the text "Infinite size, Infinite Terror"
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul W. S. Anderson
Written byPhilip Eisner
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAdrian Biddle
Edited byMartin Hunter[1]
Music by
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • 15 August 1997 (1997-08-15) (United States)
  • 22 August 1997 (1997-08-22) (United Kingdom)
Running time
96 minutes[2]
CountriesUnited Kingdom[1]
United States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[3]
Box office$26.7 million (US)[4]

Event Horizon is a 1997 science fiction horror film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and written by Philip Eisner. It stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan and Joely Richardson. Set in 2047, it follows a crew of astronauts sent on a rescue mission after a missing spaceship, the Event Horizon, spontaneously appears in orbit around Neptune. Searching the ship for signs of life, the rescue crew learns that the Event Horizon was responsible for testing an experimental engine that opened a rift in the space time continuum, allowing a hostile entity to board the ship.

The film had a troubled production history, with filming and editing rushed by Paramount when it became clear that Titanic would not meet its projected release date. The original 130-minute cut of the film was heavily edited by demand of the studio, to the consternation of director Paul W. S. Anderson.

Upon release, the film was a commercial and critical failure, grossing $26.7 million on a $60 million production budget. Even so, it began to sell well on home video; its initial DVD release sold so well that Paramount contacted Anderson shortly after its release to begin working on a restoration of the deleted footage.[5][6][7] However, it turned out that the footage had either been lost or destroyed. In the years since, the film has slowly built a cult following and is often referenced and parodied in other works of popular culture.[8]

Plot

In 2047, a distress signal is received from the Event Horizon, a starship that disappeared during its maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri seven years before and mysteriously reappeared in a decaying orbit around Neptune. The rescue vessel Lewis and Clark is dispatched to look for survivors and determine what happened. Captain Miller of the Lewis and Clark—along with second-in-command Lieutenant Starck, pilot Smith, medical technician Peters, engineer Ensign Justin, Doctor D.J., and rescue technician Cooper are also joined by Dr. William Weir. Dr. Weir, who designed the Event Horizon, briefs the crew on the ship's experimental gravity drive. The drive generates an artificial black hole and uses it to bridge two points in spacetime, reducing travel time over astronomical distances. The only message received from the ship after its departure was a strange recording of screams and howls. When the recording is filtered, Doctor D.J. believes he can make out the Latin phrase "libera me" ("save me") being spoken amongst the screams.

Upon boarding the Event Horizon, the crew finds evidence of a massacre. As they search for survivors, the ship's gravity drive automatically activates. Justin is briefly pulled into the resulting portal. The activation also causes a shock wave that damages the Lewis and Clark, forcing the entire crew to board the Event Horizon. After Justin is pulled out, he is in a catatonic state, terrified by what he saw on the other side. He attempts suicide, forcing the crew to place him in stasis.

The team begins to experience hallucinations corresponding to their fears and regrets: Miller sees Corrick, a subordinate he was forced to abandon to his death; Peters sees her son with his legs covered in bloody lesions; and Weir sees his late wife, with missing eyes, urging him to join her. The crew soon discover a video log of the Event Horizon's crew going insane and mutilating each other. The video log ends with a shot of the Event Horizon's captain, who has apparently gouged out his own eyes, holding them up to the camera and saying in Latin, "libera te tutemet ex inferis" ("save yourself from hell"). Miller and D.J. deduce that the ship's gravity drive opened a gateway into a dimension outside the known universe. Starck theorizes that the Event Horizon has somehow become a sentient being that is tormenting its occupants in an attempt to kill them or lure them back through the portal.

Miller decides to destroy the Event Horizon. Peters is lured to her death by a hallucination of her son. Weir, who has gouged his own eyes out and is now possessed by the evil presence, uses an explosive device to destroy the Lewis and Clark. The explosion kills Smith and blasts Cooper off into space. Weir kills D.J. by vivisecting him and corners Starck on the bridge. Miller confronts Weir, who overpowers him and initiates a 10-minute countdown until the Event Horizon will return to the other dimension.

Cooper, having used his space suit's oxygen supply to propel himself back to the ship, appears at the bridge window. Weir shoots at him and is blown into space by the ensuing decompression. Miller, Starck, and Cooper survive and manage to seal off the ship's bridge. With their own ship destroyed, Miller plans to split the Event Horizon in two and use the forward section of the ship as a lifeboat. He is attacked by manifestations of Corrick and a resurrected Weir. Miller fights them off and detonates the explosives, sacrificing himself.

The gravity drive activates, pulling the ship's rear section into a black hole. Starck and Cooper enter stasis, beside a comatose Justin, and wait to be rescued. Seventy-two days later, the forward section of the Event Horizon is boarded by a rescue party, who discover the remaining crew still in stasis. A newly awakened Starck sees Weir posing as one of the rescuers, then wakes up screaming and is comforted by Cooper. As Cooper restrains the terrified Starck and as one of the rescuers calls for a sedative, the doors ominously close.

Cast

  • Laurence Fishburne as Captain Miller, Commanding Officer of the Lewis and Clark
  • Sam Neill as Dr. William 'Billy' Weir, designer of the Event Horizon
  • Kathleen Quinlan as Peters, Medical Technician of the Lewis and Clark
  • Joely Richardson as Lieutenant Starck, Executive Officer of the Lewis and Clark
  • Richard T. Jones as Cooper, Rescue Technician of the Lewis and Clark
  • Jason Isaacs as D.J., Medical Doctor of the Lewis and Clark
  • Sean Pertwee as Smith 'Smitty', Pilot of the Lewis and Clark
  • Jack Noseworthy as Ensign Justin, Chief Engineer of the Lewis and Clark
  • Noah Huntley as Edmund Corrick, Miller's former shipmate from the Goliath
  • Peter Marinker as Captain John Kilpack, Commanding Officer of the Event Horizon
  • Holley Chant as Claire Weir, Dr. Weir's wife
  • Barclay Wright as Denny Peters, son of Technician Peters
  • Robert Jezek as Rescue Technician, rescues the survivors of the Lewis and Clark

Production

Development

After Mortal Kombat (1995) had become a commercial success in the United States, English director Paul W. S. Anderson was inundated with screenplay offers, as well as the opportunity to direct the Mortal Kombat sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997),[9] and the upcoming X-Men (2000).[5] Anderson turned the offers down in favor of making an R-rated horror film, hoping to shift away from making another PG-13 film.[5] Paramount Pictures then sent Philip Eisner's original script for Event Horizon, which they had been trying to develop with producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin.[10] According to Eisner, he first pitched its concept to Gordon as a "haunted house story in space", which the producer thought had the potential to become a motion picture: "Luckily", said Eisner, "he liked the idea enough to trust me to do it."[9] Anderson's initial reaction to the script, which involved the cruise ship Event Horizon experiencing a series of hauntings by "tentacular" aliens having crossed the threshold of their planet or "dimension", was that it bore striking resemblance to Alien (1979), while producer and longtime collaborator Jeremy Bolt felt it was a "terrific concept" but was "very dense" in terms of length and the storyline was "a bit lost."[10] Anderson disliked directing a mimicry of Alien so he gave the script a major rewrite. Anderson had in mind a "classic haunted house movie", incorporating significant influences to moderately successful horror films such as Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) and Kubrick's The Shining (1980) because they enforce suspense from the unknown, meaning the ghost or creature was hidden from the viewer, and their endings induced ambiguities of perception in the audience.[10] Anderson, too, said he was interested in the concept of Hell, as well as the idea of "the ship itself being possessed rather than going 'Oh, it's an alien consciousness that is doing this,'" and added these in the script.[10]

Deleted footage

As Anderson explains, directors usually have a standard 10-week editing period to produce the first cut of a film, as guaranteed by the Directors Guild of America. However, due to the short production schedule of the film, the rapidly approaching release date, and the fact that principal photography hadn't completed yet, Anderson agreed with the Paramount studio to an editing period of six weeks and promised to deliver the film ready for release in August 1997, as Paramount wanted to have a hit film before Titanic, which they were going to release in September. When the main unit wrapped, Anderson was supposed to start editing the film, but he still had to shoot two weeks with the second unit, effectively shortening the time he could spend in post-production to just four weeks. In that short amount of time, only a rough cut of the film could be assembled. Anderson notes that at two hours and 10 minutes, it was overly long, with weak directing and acting that could have used a further editing pass, unfinished special effects and a poor sound mix.[6][7]

In test screenings, the cut was poorly received. There were complaints about the extreme amount of gore,[7] and Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt claim members of the test audience fainted during the screening.[6] Paramount, which had stopped looking at the dailies before any of the gore was shot and were seeing the completed film for the first time along with the audience, were similarly shocked by how gruesome it was and demanded a shorter length time with a decreased amount of gore.

Anderson believes that while his first cut was justifiably considered too long, Paramount forced him to make a cut that was instead too short, and that it would benefit by restoring around 10 minutes of missing footage, including some of the deleted gore.[6] After a successful initial DVD release, the studio and Anderson became interested in assembling a director's cut but they quickly found out that the excised footage had not been carefully stored and that much of it had gone missing. The plan to assemble a director's cut was abandoned and instead a special-edition two-DVD set was released that featured one deleted scene, two extended scenes, and a few shots of deleted material in the included making-of. The footage is of "video" quality.[6]

Known deleted scenes include a meeting scene between Weir and people in charge of the mission in which they discuss Event Horizon, some dialogue of which remained present in the theatrical trailer;[11][12] more backstory for Cooper and Justin, including a stronger explanation for Justin entering the black hole; a deleted backstory of the relationship between Starck and Miller; additional scenes explaining what the gateway to hell/black hole is;[13] Miller finding a tooth floating in Event Horizon,[7] a longer version of the scene in which Peters hallucinates that her son's mangled legs are covered in maggots;[6] a scene in which Weir hallucinates that Justin turns into his wife Claire;[14][15] a bloodier version of Weir's wife Claire's suicide; a longer version of the scene where Miller finds D.J.'s dead body with his guts on the table; and a longer version of the "Visions From Hell" scene during Miller's final fight with Weir with more shots of Event Horizon crew being tortured.[better source needed]

The "bloody orgy" video was also longer. As Anderson was sometimes too busy filming other scenes, second-unit director Vadim Jean filmed some parts of this scene.[7] Real-life amputees were used for special effects scenes in which Event Horizon crew members were mutilated, and pornographic film actors were hired to make the sex and rape scenes more realistic and graphic.[6]

The film's final ending was a combination of two unused alternate endings that were filmed. One did not have a jump scare at the end when the last two survivors are found by another rescue crew and Starck hallucinates that she sees Weir, although there was a similar version of the scene included in this ending where she hears screams of Event Horizon crew and screams in fear before Cooper wakes her up. This was the original ending of the film included in the shooting script.[16] The second ending had Miller fighting with the burned man from his visions at the core instead of with Weir, but this was changed due to the negative test screening.[15]

In an Event Horizon Q&A in 2011, Anderson was asked when extra footage will be made available. He responded "never", explaining that much of it is gone forever.[6] However, in a 2012 interview, he announced that producer Lloyd Levin had found a VHS tape with his original rough cut. Anderson said that after finishing Resident Evil: Retribution, he planned to watch it for the first time since assembling the film.[17] In a January 2017 interview, Anderson reiterated a director's cut will never be released as the footage doesn't exist anymore. Asked about the VHS tape, he said neither he, nor Levin, had watched it yet, as Levin moved to Spain; however, he was still excited about watching it at some point.[18] However, in a 2017 interview, it's revealed that the VHS copy that was found turned out to be no good and the missing footage is still lost.[19]

Music

Michael Kamen was hired to compose the score for the film. Director Paul W. S. Anderson, a fan of hybrid genre music, invited the electronic dance music duo Orbital to collaborate with Kamen and to provide synthesizing sounds for the film's unsettling atmosphere.[20]

A soundtrack album was released which edited various cues from the score into four tracks of approximately ten minutes.

Release

Event Horizon grossed $26,616,590 in the United States.[3][4]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 26% based on reviews from 38 critics, with an average rating of 4.4/10.[21] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[22] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale.[23]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars out of 4, stating, "The script creates a sense of foreboding and afterboding, but no actual boding."[24] The Washington Post critic Stephen Hunter wrote, "If you want to have that Event Horizon experience without spending the seven bucks, try this instead: Put a bucket on your head. Have a loved one beat on it vigorously with a wrench for 100 minutes. Same difference, and think of the gas you'll save".[25]

The film had some early supporters, with Empire magazine awarding Event Horizon a 3 out of 5 stars rating, reporting: "That the film never fulfils its promise is down to its over reliance on horror vagaries in a precision-built sci-fi milieu, ultimately leaving too many unanswered queries. A sharper script and a more credible solution could have turned this impressive hokum into a force to be reckoned with".[26] Additionally, Total Film also gave it a score of 3 out of 5 stars, stating that "Excellent special effects and an Alien-esque feel make this supernatural horror film ("The Shining in space," as most critics have called it, pretty accurately) well worth a look. There are certainly plenty of jumps on offer as a possessed ship torments and tortures any humans it can find. Well worth a look."[27] Entertainment Weekly gave it a B-, stating, "Just when you've written off this deep-space nightmare as a late-summer melange of Alien, Fantastic Voyage, The Shining, and a dozen more forgettable otherworldly thrillers, it unleashes some of the most unsettling horror imagery in years",[28] whereas the Time Out magazine mentioned that "despite its shortcomings, this is never dull. The movie avoids Alien space monster clichés brilliantly and the soundtrack contains more of the 'Boo!' effects than I've heard since Halloween."[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Event Horizon (1997)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. ^ "EVENT HORIZON (18)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Event Horizon (1997)". The Numbers. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Event Horizon (1997)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Paul W. S. Anderson (Director), Jeremy Bolt (Producer) (2006). Event Horizon (Audio commentary). Paramount Home Entertainment.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Bunning, Jonny (18 December 2011). Paul W.S. Anderson Event Horizon Q&A. YouTube. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e The Making of Event Horizon
  8. ^ Lambie, Ryan (7 July 2016). "Event Horizon: From Doomed Ship to Cult Gem". Den of Geek!. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  9. ^ a b Hughes, David (August 1997). "Terrors Beyond the Event Horizon". Fangoria. Vol. 165. pp. 30–35. ISSN 0164-2111.
  10. ^ a b c d Paul W. S. Anderson (Director), Jeremy Bolt (Producer) (2006). The Making of Event Horizon (Documentary). Paramount Home Entertainment.
  11. ^ TheDronemaster (8 October 2010). Event Horizon deleted scene. YouTube. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  12. ^ HorrorMoviesBlog (13 February 2009). Event Horizon (1997) Trailer. YouTube. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  13. ^ Ferrante, Anthony C. "The Cutting Room: Event Horizon". Fangoria. No. 170. p. 12. ISSN 0164-2111. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  14. ^ Simbacool69 (13 May 2013). Behind The Scenes "Event Horizon" part 4\9. За кулисами кино "Горизонт событий" часть 4\9. YouTube. Retrieved 16 July 2018.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ a b Simbacool69 (13 May 2013). Behind The Scenes "Event Horizon" part 7\9. За кулисами кино "Горизонт событий" часть 7\9. YouTube. Retrieved 16 July 2018.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Eisner, Philip. "Event Horizon". Internet Movie Script Database. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  17. ^ Weintraub, Steve (17 July 2012). "Paul W.S. Anderson Talks RESIDENT EVIL 5 RETRIBUTION, EVENT HORIZON, DEATH RACE: INFERNO". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  18. ^ Marks, Scott (25 January 2017). "Paul W.S. Anderson puts an end to Resident Evil". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  19. ^ Lowrey, Mike (9 June 2017). "Event Horizon - No Extended Cut After All - Paul W. S. Anderson Claims the Footage Was Gone". Movie-Censorship.com. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  20. ^ Coleman, Lindsay; Tillman, Joakim (2017). Contemporary Film Music: Investigating Cinema Narratives and Composition. New York: Springer. ISBN 9781137573759.
  21. ^ "Event Horizon (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  22. ^ "Event Horizon Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  23. ^ "Event Horizon". CinemaScore. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  24. ^ Ebert, Roger (15 August 1997). "Event Horizon (1997)". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digtial LLC. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  25. ^ Hunter, Stephen (15 August 1997). "'Event Horizon': Blood Simple". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  26. ^ Nathan, Ian (1 January 2000). "Empire's Event Horizon Movie Review". Empire. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  27. ^ Total Film (22 August 1997). "Event Horizon review". GamesRadar+. Future Publishing. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  28. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (5 September 1997). "Event Horizon". Entertainment Weekly. Time. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  29. ^ NKE. "Event Horizon". Time Out London. Time Out Group. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
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