"Event Horizon" was originally released in the summer of 1997 and stars Laurence Fishbourne and Sam Neill. The story takes place in the year 2047 when the rescue vessel the Lewis & Clark have gone into deep space to investigate the mysterious return of the Event Horizon, a starship that travels using a dimensional engine and disappeared on its maiden voyage 15 years prior. Once the crew is onboard, they begin to slowly realize that not all is right with the Event Horizon and that it may have brought back something of pure chaos and pure evil.
"Event Horizon" had a hard time getting off the ground back in the day. Originally greenlit with a rather large budget for a small horror film, it was bogged down due to studio interference and poor early test screenings. It was rushed to completion to fill an empty slot in Paramount Pictures' roster due to the delayed release of their upcoming epic "Titanic" and was given little to no marketing. The original cut of the film was rumored to have a runtime of 130 minutes, and was infamously edited down mainly due to the it's more graphic moments. It failed to gain much of an audience in theaters and most critics of the time labeled it as an inferior clone of "Alien".
Thankfully, in the years since it's gained a strong cult following who long for the director's original cut which has been long sought after and has since become the stuff of film legend. Shout! Factory went far and wide attempting to locate the lost footage for this new Blu-Ray release but sadly was unable to find much beyond what has already been released in prior versions. After all that backstory and drama, what about the film itself? The edits and problems behind the scenes have definitely hurt "Event Horizon" and it's hard to deny it's many problems. Sam Neill's Dr. Weir character has little to no proper transitions to justify his actions throughout the film. Sometimes he's clearly under the influence of the ship and acts suspicious and evil and change back without notice in the very next scene.
Many of the character's backstories are left on the cutting room floor, making the scenes where the ship begins to show them their fears feel out of nowhere or goes unexplained. Some of the film's set pieces that are clearly symbolic in nature are ruined by some choppy editing as well. Make no mistake, going from 130 minutes to a measly 96 there is no possible way that just the film's gore was left on the cutting room floor. What is left in the film does still have its moments with strong visuals and throwbacks to "Alien" and even "Hellraiser" and even if the characters aren't as strong as I suspect they were in the original cut, they do play off each other very well and you do still get that feeling that these folks have been together for a long time and feel like a real crew.
The special effects that remained in the final product are still intense and gross but the film also was one of the first to attempt computer generated effects to create weather and individual objects which would have been amazing at the time. They may not hold up that well in high definition these days but the ambition deserves praise. Say what you will about his later work, but Paul W.S. Anderson clearly had passion for this project and put his all into it. He really wanted this film to work and despite the manipulation and constant sabotage his effort still shines through. Hopefully one day we'll see the full fruit of his and the crew's labors and that infamous director's cut will finally see the light of day. As of now though, "Event Horizon" is still an effective and disturbing sci-fi/horror that's worth a watch.
This new Blu-Ray from Shout! Factory comes with a new 4K scan from the film's original negative and it's never looked better! It retains a nice amount of film grain and the overall grimy metallic look remains intact. The soundtrack has good balance and the louder moments was really booming through my sound system. Special features are pulled from the previous releases such as an Audio Commentary with the director, an hour long documentary, an 8 minute behind the scenes montage, a special section for the few deleted scenes they could find, and of course the film's theatrical trailer. As far as new material, we have 11 interview segments with various cast and crew. These were shot on internet chats due to the Pandemic so while not the most ideal way, they work fine and give some new insight into the production and some retrospective thoughts overall.
This new edition of "Event Horizon" may not have the coveted director's cut we wanted but it's still an excellent release from Shout! Factory with a great new picture, audio, and a hefty amount of features to keep you happy.
Movie: B-
Blu-Ray: A
You can pick up "Event Horizon" HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment