Event Horizon SciFi Terror comes to DVD

More than the known, the unknown is the source of all our fears. With the earth mapped from pole to pole, the forests turned into camping grounds and the jungles into nature hikes, the darkness of space holds the last frontier of the unknown. Space therefore becomes the sum of all our fears.

The "Alien" movies explored a more practical biological horror within space. "Event Horizon" gives us horror that is meant to be somewhat scientifically based, but in practice is a classical story of a nameless evil and the consequences to the all too mortal humans who come in contact with it.

Numberless movies from "Supernova" to the soon to be released "Sunshine" proceed from the classical storyline of the ship drifting abandoned and deserted through space with no crew. This of course goes back to nautical days when the ships were wooden ships floating ghostlike over distant seas and vessels such as the Marie Celeste. Typical tales of ghost ships and ghost crews ranged from those based in fact to purely mythical ones. With the seas being rather well known these days, the black ocean of space becomes a natural setting for them.

"Event Horizon" gives us a fairly simple story of the starship Event Horizon believed lost in space. The Event Horizon was an experimental prototype starship capable of traveling faster than light. When a signal from the experimental prototype of the ship is picked, the Lewis and Clark commanded by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) accompanied by the Event Horizon's designer, Dr. Weir (Sam Neil).

In "Jurassic Park" Sam Neil got the role of the hero warning about the folly of science trespassing in areas where "man is not meant to go". In "Event Horizon" he gets to be the 'villain' transgressing against the laws of nature by going where man is not meant to go. Of course the consequences to the poor doctor are inevitable as he winds up becoming a monstrosity preying mercilessly on the crew and doing his best to drag them into a dimension of pure madness.

Where actual Science Fiction is premised on the idea that exploration is a virtue, Horror is most often premised on the idea that exploration opens up dangerous portals and exposes us to the threats of a terrifying world beyond. Where science believes in a mechanistic materialistic universe that can be mastered or at least predicted by us through the comprehensive knowledge of the physical laws which it is governed by, superstition is premised on the dread of an unknowable and terrible world which we dare not peer into. The consequences of exploration in science may be risky, but ultimately worthwhile. The eventual consequences of exploration in horror are always well... horrific.

"Event Horizon" crosses the event horizon from Science Fiction to Horror at the point where the consequences of the ship's become mercilessly horrific. On board the Event Horizon the crew experiences visitations from the dead, or rather visions of them created by some chaotic intelligence that came back along with the haunted ship. Dr. Weir views visions of his dead wife calling to him, which eventually drives him mad and puts him in the grip of the Event Horizon, going on a killing spree and trying to activate the drive to take the Event Horizon back.

Sam Neil has a part that could easily have turned goofy but he manages to handle it as a professionally as possible, keeping Dr. Weir a rational man of science nursing the inner personal grief eating away at him, until it finally consumes him. This leaves his portrayal of the gruesome Dr. Weir driven mad surprisingly balanced and thus eerily horrific. Laurence Fishburne does his usual professional job playing Captain Miller as a calm capable man even when facing the madness of the abyss. The key difference that sets "Event Horizon" apart from cheesier fare is the inherent professionalism of its cast. The two faces you see looking back from the poster define the movie and while the story and the dialogue are no great achievement, they shape the form that allows it to stand above the usual B Movie fare that may share a story with it, but can't compete with its cast.

While the original cut of "Event Horizon" was much longer, the bulk of that footage has been lost and therefore doesn't appear on the DVD. A good deal of the footage cut apparently involved scenes of gore and bloodshed, material that would have likely easily passed muster today when movies like "Hostel", "The Hills Have Eyes 2" and the Saw franchise compete with each other who can paste more gore on the screen, but was considered over the top back in the naive days of the previous millennium. The movie may have lost something through their not being included, but since they are lost, we'll never really know. The bonus scenes that are included consist of one exposition scene and two gore scenes that don't add very much to the movie.

"Event Horizon" is not a must have film, but for the serious collector, this DVD is worth adding to your collection.