Movie Defense Force: Event Horizon - You Won't Need Eyes To See

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

When I first heard about the plot of this movie, I was very interested, but I was completely disillusioned when I found out the director was Paul Anderson.

I finally got around to it and absolutely adored it.

Pretty much everything I was going to mention you did instead.

I fucking [i/]love[/i] the theory that it's a 40k prequel. It just fits [i/]so[/i] well. 40k is basically my favorite thing ever, so by extension Event Horizon is as well.

The other thing I really liked about it was Sam Neil. From the beginning, I thought he was going to be the hero and Morpheus was just another redshirt.

I think one of the biggest failings of the movie is that it has Paul Anderson's name attached to it. The RE films are mediocre at their very best and it's too bad their failings get attributed to Event Horizon.

For example, I just wrote my Master's thesis on 40k.

Please please please please please elaborate. This sounds amazing.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

Well to be fair, Khorne is more about swinging swords and axes at his foes than mind fucking with them.

My personal take on it was yes it got lost in the Warp but some minor daemon managed to get on board the ship, just a little minor daemon not belonging to the Four.

None of the four are particularly subtle. The game itself isn't to blame, really, because you can't translate subtle horror into an over-the-top war game. A lot of the fluff suggests Event Horizon-like horror, but it gets lost in the nonsense.

Honestly, if you removed the physical evidence of the Chaos Gods and Daemons from the setting and just had implied horrors and Chaos Space Marines going all Sam Neil "don't need eyes to see" on people, Warhammer would be 40,000 times more awesome and scary. But there I go again, dreaming my little dreams.

 

[Talvrae]

It'S actually one of my favorite horror movie... It play with the fear of the characters, theyr psyche, and i love that

in the mouth of madness is the only horror move that i love as much as Event Horizon

 

[Nazmazh]

Just saw this, must've been a little over a month ago, after reading about it (Thanks TvTropes' random button!). I completely loved it. I wish there were more horror movies out there like this, with the confidence to take their time and build up tension properly. Admittedly, I probably like horror stuff more than most.

 

[ninjaRiv]

I saw this movie when I was 8? Maybe 9? Scared the shit out of me. But I've seen it again since, and I don't think it's a great horror movie at all. It's got enough to scare somebody who's easily scared, but I just don't see how people can say it's STILL scaring them as an adult and it's haunting and all of that. It's not a BAD movie, I just don't understand how anyone can say it's their favourite horror movie... But tastes differ and all that.

 

[Ritchian]

I always liked Event Horizon. I remember seeing it in theaters with some friends as a teenager. I wasn't big into horror movies, but Event Horizon caught my eye anyway, probably for the same reason things like Alien did. It was horror in a sci-fi setting. Just moving things into the future in space was enough to pique my interest. And I had a blast watching it. It had some genuine scares and wasn't too predictable until late in the film. And you can see its influence in a lot of sci-fi/horror that came in the future.

I never quite understood where the hate came from as far as the critics go. And I wouldn't have thought this was a film that needed much defending either. Still, good to see it highlighted here.

 

[deth2munkies]

This movie scared the fuck out of me in a way that no other film has since I hit my teenage years (when I was ~11, Sixth Sense scared me, but I grew outta that pretty quick).

 

[Darknacht]

Man Jim must be running out of films if he is now 'defending' good movies just because they where not a big success.
*checks Rotten Tomatoes*
24%?!?
What is wrong with people?

 

[el_kabong]

Echoing the sentiment in the video, I love Event Horizon. I'm also mildly surprised that so many people, like me, instantaneously seem to think of the 40K universe when they watch it.

 

[Strazdas]

there are people that thought Event Horizon was bad? to the burning these heratics!

This movie is indeed one of the best horror movies out there. loved it since the first time i saw it and it just does not get boring.

 

[Saltyk]

people just don't expect it to be as scary as it is.

and that's why it gets you...
"Oh look it's Sam Neill, he's a nice guy.... oh god what is he doing!!!!"

Agreed Jim, this is an overlooked classic, an overlooked "I'm not going to sleep for a week" classic!

"What is Dr Grant doing? No, Dr Grant. Stop that. Please, stop it!"

Yeah, when I saw this movie, I just couldn't wrap my head around Dr Grant as a bad guy. Probably doesn't help that Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies, if not my favorite movie of all time.

 

[DoctorImpossible]

Love the hell out of this film. The air duct sequence haunted me for weeks. Lovecraft would approve.

 

[ZorroFonzarelli]

I remember seeing Event Horizon in the theater. It wasn't the kind of movie that hit you in the theater.

It waited until you got home. Then, it hit you what you actually saw - and what you didn't...

Awesome, awesome movie; great horror film. I'm glad so many appreciate it.

 

[Magmarock]

Oh buy I've been waiting for this one. Jim I know you're a fan of Event Horizon, but you know what... so am I

I've been looking forward to a movie defense force episode on Event Horizon for as while and now that it's finally here you've said everything I wanted to hear and I mean that as a complement

 

[God of Path]

The clear allusions to the Hellraiser series, be it the Hooks, the opening mechanism, or the horrible facial mutilation make Even Horizon all the more enjoyable. After watching this review, I viewed the film and loved it.

 

[Metalrocks]

seriously? it was criticized? i have only good memories of it and watched like nearly 15 times because i enjoyed it so much. its creepy and surely made in such a way that that you just try to figure out where it has been. was it hell? an evil dimension? not even sam neil him self explained it in such detail where it has been.

i would not say its my favorite horror sci fi movie but surely among my top 10 horror film list.

 

[loa]

It didn't strike me as a great movie but it was certainly a memorable one.
I had no idea it needs defending because I would never call it a terrible movie on any account.

 

[Namewithheld]

And that, my friends, is why you DON'T GO INTO THE WARP WITHOUT A FUCKING GELLER FIELD!

 

[Scorpid]

After re-watching this on netflix after so long im convinced its a warhammer40k film lol set in the early days of warp traval and simply got lost in the warp and the shit was possessed by a warp deamon and then in tern corrupted the science guy to chaos who made the ship. Think.....i need to lay off the 40k novels

Wrong. You go deeper. You need to not just see but understand the infinite shifting miasma of the warp. Your mind will break but it will then be reformed into something glorious! Find the meaning in the pages and the film and the impossible pattern will emerge.

 

[Kyrian007]

Jim is right. I have always said that Event Horizon is better at being "Hellrasier in Space" than Hellrasier 4 which ACTUALLY WAS "Hellrasier in Space." I will always remember my first viewing of Event Horizon. Took the advanced copy VHS home with me after work (I worked at rental place at the time.) Did some homework, then popped it into the VCR at about midnight. I lived in university dorms in a single room back in those days. My college dorms were a real ghosttown some weekends and that one was a fairly quiet weekend. So when I finished the movie at around 2 AM or so there wasn't the usual amount of activity on the floor (like gathering in the tv lounge, people getting back from the bars... stuff like that) just kind of an empty feeling and an odd (unusual) silence. I opened the door from my room to go down the hall to the bathroom... and as I was walking down the hall my mind was replacing the hallway with the image of the "meat grinder" hallway. To get to the bathroom I had to open a door at the end of the hallway...

It was just super spooky. Luckily the image of one of my friends passed out hunkered next to a vomit filled toilet kind of took me out of that revirie. Thinking to myself "Do You See... DO YOU SEE," was replaced by "oh yeah, it was dollar you-call-it-night at the 7 oh 7."