Being that I love a good science fiction movie as much as I do a good horror film, it only stood to reason that the original theatrical release of the film "Event Horizon" very quickly caught my full attention. After all, most of the advertising touted it as a 'haunted house in space.' "Event Horizon" was initially met with harsh criticisms, both by audiences and critics alike. Either they said the film was too cumbersome or that it was too gory. Neither would really accurately describe it. When I originally saw the film back in 1997, I was actually rather impressed by the creativity displayed by director Paul W.S. Anderson, who at the time was barely a blip on the director radar. He was most known for successfully translating the video game "Mortal Kombat" to the big screen, and this was to be his follow-up. Where "Mortal Kombat" was a big flashy spectacular type of film (in keeping with the style of the video game), "Event Horizon" was more a thinking man's horror film.

The plot was fairly simple, taking a crew of scientists into space to help retrieve a ship that had been missing for years. Once aboard, the crew learns that the ship went beyond 'where no man has gone before' and brought back with it some very unruly guests. What happens next comes in the form of a mixture or supernatural and psychological horror, where our heroes face all manner of terrors. In some ways, it is very similar to the more recent "Ghost Ship", just with a changed setting.

"Event Horizon" is one of those movies that tries a little too hard to give the audience too much, and in doing so relegates it to being a film that turns out to be less than it should have been. Watching it in a dark theatre, and now years later in a dark living room, there are moments that are truly terrifying. And while these particular scenes are written and shot very well, the anticipation of dread sometimes outweighs the final terrifying moment. (Of course to be fair this is true in most horror films.) The rest of the film does tend to be a bit ponderous, though still entertaining enough to keep your attention.

Paramount is releasing a 2-disc Special Edition this week, and admittedly I'm a little curious as to why. "Event Horizon" is not really what one would consider a 'classic' and there are no anniversaries I know of coming up. It just seems a little strange that a studio that does not often release 2-disc editions of films would choose this particular one to do it with. That aside, this release is a fairly impressive one.

The transfer offers an extremely nice looking picture, though not a perfect one. There are a few glitches here and there, and unfortunately some of the special effects shoe their age a little bit. However, the soundtrack is awesome. It sets up the atmosphere of terror perfectly, and in the scenes where silence takes over… it is almost deafening.

As for special features Paramount seemingly left no stone unturned. The first disc offers up a commentary by Anderson, who is joined by producer Jeremy Bolt. They share a ton of memories about the production, and for the most part deliver an interesting commentary. The 2nd disc in the set has several featurettes that cover a good portion of the making of the film. What I found most interesting about these particular featurettes is that almost everyone involved don’t hide their feelings about how they felt the film was shafted by the studio. Usually these are love-fests, but not so much here. Along with these featurettes you'll some deleted scenes as well as one that was never shot and some extraneous footage of the shooting of the film.

"Event Horizon" was one of those movies that I really wanted to better than it was. I still found it to be entertaining, and it is certainly better than anything that Anderson has directed since, but….

Directed by: Paul Anderson
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson
Extras: Commentary by Director Paul W.S. Anderson and Producer Jeremy Bolt, The Making of Event Horizon - 5 Documentaries, The Unseen Event Horizon, The Point of No Return, Theatrical Trailer, Video Trailer
Specifications: Widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 4/18/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R (For Strong Violence and Gore, Language and Some Nudity)
Website

We'll give Event Horizon a B-.