Event Horizon
25th Anniversary Steelbook 4K
review by Bobby Blakey
Before he dived head first into the mega Resident Evil franchise director Paul W. Anderson took the world into the terror of space with the 1997 film Event Horizon. The film was not a hit at the box office, but over the years has found cult status. The film stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, and Jason Isaacs, but does it have more to offer than audiences thought back then or will it in fact be the terror they remembered?
Event Horizon follows the pioneering research spacecraft “Event Horizon” mysteriously vanished without a trace on its maiden voyage seven years ago. But then, in the darkness of deep space, a persistent signal prompts a crew to make their way through the galaxy on a bold rescue mission. What they uncover is an unimaginable interstellar horror that will test the entire team’s sanity and souls.
I am the first to admit that I wasn’t a fan of the film upon its release which always baffled me since it was so heavily influenced by Hellraiser complete with Clive Barker himself even consulting on the film. I haven’t tried watching it again since its initial release, but was eager to go into it with fresh eyes to see if there is in fact that special thing there that just didn’t connect with me back then. After re-watching this new release I can say that while I still; think it is lacking in a lot of areas I did enjoy it quite a bit more than I remembered.
I think the first issue with the film for me was the pacing as it seems to limp a long for a bit before anything really happens. When it finally gets going it is a bit all over the place and feels like it cuts away too often and quick before letting the true horrors of it all fully impact its direction. This makes more sense now knowing that around 30 minutes or so of the film had been cut dropping a lot of
the harder edged horror and gore to get the R rating. This would have no doubt stepped the film up and fully embraced what it was meant to be.
That being said, I still enjoyed it more so this time around and there reflections of both the Shining and Hellraiser are all over it and that is a good thing. The cast are good and I think the film holds up way better than I had expected. The effects still look good in the 4K transfer for the most part, but there are a few that come off a bit dated which is too be expected with the film being 25 years old.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film’s release Paramount is bringing the film to Limited-Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook. In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including commentary, trailers, featurettes and more. Grab your copy of Event Horizon when it hits Limited-Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook on August 9th from Paramount Home Entertainment.
