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Event Horizon
Paramount Pictures

7.0 based on 20 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 7 votes Read user comments Rate this movie

FILM:

• Alien vs. Predator
• Resident Evil

• Internet Movie Database
• Official Studio Site

MPAA RATING: R for strong violence and gore, language and some nudity

Starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs, and Sean Pertwee

The year is 2047. Years earlier, the pioneering research vessel Event Horizon vanished without a trace. Now a signal from it has been detected, and the United States Aerospace Command responds. Hurtling toward the signal's source are a fearless captain (Fishburne), his elite crew and the lost ship's designer (Neill). Their mission: find and salvage the state-of-the-art spacecraft. What they find is state-of-the-art interstellar terror. What they must salvage are their own lives, because someone or something is ready to ensnare them in a new dimension of unimaginable fear. (Paramount)

GENRE(S):	Horror  |  Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Philip Eisner
DIRECTED BY:	Paul W.S. Anderson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 19, 2003  Video: June 6, 2000  Theatrical: August 15, 1997
RUNNING TIME:	96 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

67

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Event Horizon could have used a decent script, but the director, Paul Anderson, is a stylist to watch.

63

USA Today Mike Clark

It has been said that no one sees a movie for the sets, yet an exception might be made here for Horizon's visually staggering production design -- truly an event itself. The story, though, is such a transparent variation on the Alien ouevre that your tolerance may hinge on how much you can shrug this off. [15Aug1997 Pg03.D]

60

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Director Paul Anderson, whose last film was "Mortal Kombat," well knows how to build suspense and increase tension. But counterbalancing all of that is Event Horizon's position as a sci-fi splatter film, intent on drenching the screen in blood and gore whenever possible. [15Aug1997 Pg 16]

60

Empire Ian Nathan

Superbly styled in techno-Gothic space-grunge chic, this sci-fi/horror cross-breed is a directorial triumph of reference and homage.

50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The settings and visual effects are imaginatively done, but the dialogue is silly and the plot is a mishmash, with echoes of everything from the "Aliens" movies to Michael Crichton's novel "Sphere," which pushes similar buttons a little more intelligently.

50

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

It's not a great film, but Event Horizon produces an intense sense of visual involvement. The hallucinatory, almost 3-D-like scenes stick in the mind.

50

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

But in its own overblown, melodramatic way, complete with hideous and obtrusive music by Michael Kamen, clanging sound effects that will leave your ears ringing and a penchant on the part of director Paul Anderson ( "Mortal Kombat" ) for quick flashes of blood-drenched gore, Event Horizon is kind of a hoot.

50

The New York Times Stephen Holden

This unwieldy amalgam of science fiction and horror, directed by Paul Anderson, douses almost every scene with glitzy special effects in a futile attempt to cover up a paucity of thought.

50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The screenplay creates a sense of foreboding and afterboding, but no actual boding.

50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Half of what's going on is never explained, and what is explained, doesn't make much sense. And that's just the beginning of the problems encountered in director Paul Anderson's ("Mortal Kombat") poorly executed endeavor.

50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Contraryto its exciting advertising, Event Horizon is not the most frightening movie ever made. If anything, the conventional pop-up scares and gross-out effects of this British haunted-space-ship story seem less terrifying than quaint.

50

Variety Joe Leydon

Despite game efforts from a first-rate cast and acres of impressive production values, Event Horizon remains a muddled and curiously uninvolving sci-fi horror show.

40

The Onion (A.V. Club) John Krewson

The movie looks great at first, with interesting spaceship designs and genuinely creepy abandoned interiors, and the initial idea had plenty of potential. But by the time the story gets rolling, the filmmakers are trying unsuccessfully to scare the audience with sudden loud noises and gallon upon gallon of fake blood.

40

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

From its marketing-impaired title on down, Event Horizon is a steadily churning debacle that promises much more than it can deliver and ends up drowning in a crimson sea of gore and maddeningly out-of-place steals from other, better genre shockers.

40

TV Guide Ken Fox

The film is content to relentlessly scream "Boo!" behind the audience's back rather than provide any real thrills.

40

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

The worst thing about Event Horizon--written by Philip Eisner, directed by Paul Anderson--isn't all the gore decorating the 21st-century space ship that gives the movie its name, but the filmmakers' reliance on shock edits and headache-inducing sound F/X to obscure the fact that this is one of the most derivative movies to hit screens in memory.

30

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie is very loud. It is pointlessly loud, arbitrarily loud, assaultively loud.

10

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

It's too bad, then, that Anderson (whose only other major credit is "Mortal Kombat," but of course) and first-time screenwriter Philip Eisner felt so compelled to do away with suspense and turn Event Horizon into a big-budget slasher film.

0

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

If you haven't lived until you've seen Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill duke it out in a vat full of red paint, here's your chance; personally, my idea of hell would be having to see this stinker again.

0

Salon.com Scott Rosenberg

Trying to figure out just what went wrong in the creation of a movie as dreadful as this may ultimately be as futile as trying to ascertain what might lie on the "other side" of a black hole.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Laura D. gave it a10:
This movie scared the crap out of me, I'm a big sci-fi buff and I could not listen to The Prodigy in the same way again

Eric C. gave it a0:
This is a cult classic. Jeez. It's laughably bad, to be painfully honest. But as funny as it is, I never, ever want to see it again. Seriously, people, go watch The Thing if you want to be disturbed or the orignaly Solaris if you want your mind to be blown.

Aaron S. gave it an8:
I couldn't believe how low a score this film received. I saw this film when I was about 15 years old, in the theaters, and recently picked it up on DVD. I have always considered this film a truly classic horror film, which is why I am befuddled at the obnoxiously low score this film received. Although, it made me realize something: critics don't like horror films...end of story. They just don't "get" them, the same way people in the mid-west don't "get" Seinfeld. None of their criticisms have any validity whatsoever. It's always something like, "It doesn't deliver any 'real' thrills," or "goes for cheap thrills." Which, by the way, is a completely arbirtrary statement with no depth or critical value. What are these "real" thrills that they keep referring to from some non-existent film from the past. Stop saying the plot is derivative and/or unrealistic. It's a horror film! It's supposed to be derivative and unrealistic! It's why people go and see these films. What makes Event Horizon such a masterpiece is, for one, it's visual asthetic and the atmosphere of the sets. Very rarely does a film really just captivate you with its visuals the way Event Horizon does. I truly believe that even if I had not seen this film before and it was in a foreign language, my eyes would still be drawn to it. It is, by far, one of the most visually stunning films to date. Secondly, this is one of the few films to successfuly blend suspense and gore into one cohesive package. I don't know how much more "real" the thrills can get than they do in this film. It's almost like a symphony, the way the film is paced. A slow build up of teases and disturbing images that ultimately lead up to a crescendo of terror. It even ends on a moment of catharsis. Truth be told, it is a brilliant horror film. But the problem is that the audience for horror films is relatively limited. The content alone, severely isolates your core audience. There are very few movie-goers these days, anyway. Fewer still, who have the intestinal fortitude to sit through a good 'ole fashioned horror fest. if you can appreciate it for what it is, it's a masterpiece. On the other hand, if you feel lost, confused, and disturbed, you're a critic. Good on ya' critics!

Kurt M. gave it a10:
I don't understand the bad critics. I feel this film ist the best horror-scifi film since 2000. It's better than Alien 4 (but not better than Alien 1-3). The horror in this film is not only physical it is also psychological. The acting is good to very good. The plot is simple but absolutely OK for a horror movie. And it's also great to see that african american actors not only play roles as cannon fodder or comedic relief. I think some critics are very narrow minded and dogmatic, when they claim a horror movie should only rely on suspense and thinks you don't see". Concluding I i would say that this movie is way to underrated - you don't have to feel like me and give it a 10, but come on this film deserves at least a 8 .

Aaron S. gave it an8:
I couldn't believe how low a score this film received. I saw this film when I was about 15 years old, in the theaters, and recently picked it up on DVD. I have always considered this film a truly classic horror film, which is why I am befuddled at the obnoxiously low score this film received. Although, it made me realize something: critics don't like horror films...end of story. They just don't "get" them, the same way people in the mid-west don't "get" Seinfeld. None of their criticisms have any validity whatsoever. It's always something like, "It doesn't deliver any 'real' thrills," or "goes for cheap thrills." Which, by the way, is a completely arbirtrary statement with no depth or critical value. What are these "real" thrills that they keep referring to from some non-existent film from the past. Stop saying the plot is derivative and/or unrealistic. It's a horror film! It's supposed to be derivative and unrealistic! It's why people go and see these films. What makes Event Horizon such a masterpiece is, for one, it's visual aesthetic and the atmosphere of the sets. Very rarely does a film really just captivate you with its visuals the way Event Horizon does. I truly believe that even if I had not seen this film before and it was in a foreign language, my eyes would still be drawn to it. It is, by far, one of the most visually stunning films to date. Secondly, this is one of the few films to successfuly blend suspense and gore into one cohesive package. I don't know how much more "real" the thrills can get than they do in this film. It's almost like a symphony, the way the film is paced. A slow build up of teases and disturbing images that ultimately lead up to a crescendo of terror. It even ends on a moment of catharsis. Truth be told, it is a brilliant horror film. But the problem is that the audience for horror films is relatively limited. The content alone, severely isolates your core audience. There are very few movie-goers these days, anyway. Fewer still, who have the intestinal fortitude to sit through a good 'ole fashioned horror fest. If you can appreciate it for what it is, it's a masterpiece. On the other hand, if you feel lost, confused, and disturbed, you're a critic. Good on ya' critics!

Joshua E. gave it a3:
I was just reviewing the terrible AVP which I, unfortunately, just saw. I thought I'd see what was up with this one since I knew Anderson directed it and actually thought he had a tad bit of potential after I saw this movie, but Alas, it's a resounding no. Well, from what I can remember, Event Horizon was pretty good up until a certain point and then took the proverbial nose dive into total shlockery. It looked great and had a pretty convincing atmosphere of dread. The palette was very sickly and put me off for most of the film. It was a very effectual way of making me feel uncomfortable in a good way. I remember a lot of yellows and greens. So, I was thinking the climax was going to be very satisfying, but it unravelled once they really started to "explain" what the mystery was. I will just say it was ludicrous, ruined the movie, and I will leave it at that. I think that was the point where Anderson started his trip into bad director land.

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