Event Horizon : Le Vaisseau de l'au-delà

A doctor who designed the ship and a crew of rescuers are sent to pick up the crew from the space vessel Event Horizon, off the orbit of Neptune. What the rescuers don't know, however, is that the ship is powered by a black hole and is capable of opening portals to other planets or maybe even dimensions. What might have come through?

It seems appropriate I chose to watch this after "Snow White", the OTHER 1997 Sam Neill horror film (but he's more like the Neill from "In the Mouth of Madness" here than the Neill from "Snow White"). Never a bad time to catch two connected movies back to back.

I can't help but compare this film to other Paul Anderson films such as "Resident Evil" or "Mortal Kombat". There is a distinct look he is good at with technology and particularly the costumes. While I doubt Anderson designed the costumes, you get a sense he likes characters with jumpsuits. If I had to guess who directed this film without knowing, Anderson would be my first guess based on his scenery alone.

Paul Anderson also loves the techno-industrial music in his films (Orbital, The Prodigy, KMFDM) -- he's like a more lighthearted David Fincher in this way. I grew up on industrial music, so this really works for me. But also, I see metal or more specifically industrial crucial to good horror -- to really make the point, see Charlie Clouser's contributions to "Saw II". The whole violence and alienation vibe that is given off by industrial is very appropriate to horror.

The film in general is very likable. Sam Neill is an amazing actor, Laurence Fishbourne (after being Cowboy Curtis but before being Morpheus) is wonderful. And there's a sense of gore that is more hinted at than shown (most of the gore scenes are very quick, leaving an impression on your mind for you to create your own imagery). Many horror space movies are just really stupid (do I need to mention "Leprechaun in Space"?) or follow the same paths, but this one really stands out as unique. It needed both the horror and space aspects to work.

I could compare this to "Doom" (the game or the movie) with the portal to Hell in space... but I won't. Or how about comparing it to "Solaris" (George Clooney's only bad film) with the images of dead friends coming back to life? This is vastly superior, by far. Really, I can't stress enough how awful "Solaris" is.

The inclusion of the tesseract is really great. I don't think they used the word "tesseract", but they used the idea. I grew up with "A Wrinkle in Time" and another book about tesseracts (or, more precisely, wormholes since "tesseract" just illustrates extra dimensions and not so much how to travel through them) and this always gets me pumped. If such things are really possible, the future will be awesome.

Well, anyway, if you're looking for a horror film that's unlike all others you've seen -- but good -- this is a wise choice. Sam Neill cannot steer you wrong, and the elements needed for a good movie are in place here. It's not like the "Citizen Kane" of horror, but maybe the "Jurassic Park" of horror. Check it out.