“Liberate Tutame Ix Inferis" = Save Yourself From Hell

When “Event Horizon” was originally released, the critics universally spit on it. Today, the film has already achieved a certain level of  “cult” success and it just goes to show what some of the more “mainstream” critics really know about the horror genre. Jack all! Actually, let me take this one step further and quote another review of Event Horizon: “Well-acted movie begins promisingly but becomes increasingly unlikely, especially when no explanation is offered for the strange events”. No explanations??? Were you watching the movie or flipping through a “Victoria Secret's” catalogue, dude? I fully grasped what was going on in this film, no problemo. That quote was from Leonard Maltin. Nuff said.

Personally, I really enjoyed this sick puppy. It’s about damn time we get a recent genre film with a set of balls (for me 1997 is recent). The build-up of the film is tighter than a cherry, its ideas are deliciously morbid, tension is often present (all about that airlock scene) and in the end, it winds up being a very engrossing ride that revels in its own excess. Sure the flick borrows elements from “The Shining”, “Hellraiser”, “Flatliners”  “Exorcist”, “Alien” and a dozen of other genre films, but it slaps them into the genre blender and delivers another frightening horror beverage. Although the film’s basic ingredients are far from original and the characters are fairly “standard”, the eerie settings in which the story takes place and the charm that the actors bring to their respective parts made the flick feel way fresh to me. 

This movie’s biggest asset is definitely its astounding production design. The gothic “Event Horizon” sets really had me going with its church-like architecture, its almond-shaped hallways (looked like an eye) and its metal teeth-laden tunnel. Way spooky! Anderson is thankfully on top of it all and milks the brilliant set designs for all that they’re worth by wrapping his camera around them. It makes for a visual trip and a half. The visual effects themselves go from awesome to average. All of the gore scenes are expertly handled, the model ships have very novel designs to them but unfortunately some of the CGI is a tad weak (the burning man for example). But to be fair, the CGI did work for me most of the time and actually added an extra “otherworldly” feel to the film. Gotta love that floating watch…

My main qualm with this beeyatch is that it’s at times apparent that it got overly tinkered with in the editing room (will the studios ever learn that they’re not filmmakers?). You sometimes feel that scenes are missing and that they’re used to be more to the film than what you’re watching. I also didn’t appreciate the comic relief courtesy of Cooper (Jones). It felt out of place at times and it really got out of hand towards the end of the film (“I’m back!”…come on!). This flick didn’t need humor; it’s about our own personal hell coming to life… NOT funny yo! And last but not least, the score was not always up to par with the images that it was backing, which in turn, diminished the impact of certain scenes. Funny how music can make or break a scene.

At the 2002 Fangoria Convention in New York, director Paul Anderson said that he plans to work on a 'Special Edition' release of "Event Horizon” next year, with a commentary and the deleted footage included on the disk. He also said he would prefer to cut the deleted scenes back into the film (good call), rather than have them be there as extras. I hear the original cut of the film ran a little over two hours…wow…

The script was written by Philip Eisner whose only other credit is the TV show "Firestarter: Rekindled". Come on dude! Get to work! I want more!

Paul Anderson said on a live chat: “The sets were based on European gothic cathedrals, especially Notre Dame in Paris”.

Paul Anderson studied with Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee in college.