Event Horizon (film)
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- This article is on the film Event Horizon. For the physics term, see event horizon.
| Event Horizon | |
|---|---|
 Event Horizon DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Paul W. S. Anderson |
| Produced by | Jeremy Bolt Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin |
| Written by | Philip Eisner Uncredited: Andrew Kevin Walker |
| Starring | Laurence Fishburne Sam Neill Kathleen Quinlan Joely Richardson |
| Music by | Michael Kamen |
| Cinematography | Adrian Biddle |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 15th, 1997 (U.S.) |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Event Horizon is a 1997 science fiction/horror film that was directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and written by Philip Eisner (with an uncredited rewrite by Andrew Kevin Walker). The movie is distributed by Paramount Pictures, runs 95 minutes, and is rated R in the USA.
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[edit] Plot summary
In the year 2047, faint radio signals from the starship Event Horizon are picked up on Earth. The ship had disappeared mysteriously in 2040; her loss was attributed to an accident. The ship appears to be in a decaying orbit around the planet Neptune, and the rescue ship Lewis and Clark is dispatched to investigate. The crew, which includes the Event Horizon’s designer, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), must spend a 56-day journey to Neptune in stasis in order to reach the ship.
When the Lewis and Clark reaches Neptune’s high atmosphere, the crew comes out of stasis. They are informed by Dr. Weir of the true story behind the “accident” which befell the Event Horizon. The ship had been a top secret prototype vessel equipped with an experimental stardrive. The drive, which would fold space-time and create an artificial wormhole extending to any point in the universe, allowed the ship to traverse great distances instantaneously. To test the new gravity drive, the ship was sent to a designated “jump-point” with the goal of reaching Proxima Centauri (the next closest star to our Sun); it subsequently vanished without a trace.
Upon approaching the drifting vessel, the crew scan for life signs aboard the Event Horizon. No definitive trace of human life is found; instead, it seems to be mysteriously abandoned, although strange, incomprehensible readings come up on the Lewis and Clark’s sensors, which leads the crew to assume an equipment malfunction and search for Event Horizon’s crew.
The crew board the ship to find that its artificial gravity and heating systems are inoperable. Engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy) eventually reaches the Event Horizon’s gravity drive. The drive suddenly activates itself, as though alerted to his presence. Justin sees a black, liquid-like mirror within the drive; he curiously touches it. Without warning, he is sucked into the drive and a large shock wave flows through the ship, damaging the Lewis and Clark. Cooper (Richard T. Jones) manages to pull Justin out of the gravity drive, but he is catatonic.
With the Lewis and Clark heavily damaged, Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) has no choice but to transfer the entire crew over into the Event Horizon. Although they successfully reactivate Event Horizon’s life support, heating, and artificial gravity systems, the rescue crew is now in danger themselves with only 20 hours’ worth of usable oxygen on board. Shortly after this discovery, Justin emerges from his catatonia and, seemingly possessed, tries to eject himself into space through an airlock. When Peters tries to talk him out of killing himself, Justin says that images of death, sex and torture he saw while in the interdimensional gateway were so horrific that he can’t bear the memories he has of them. Captain Miller, working outside the ship on repairs, rescues Justin, who has awoken from his strange possession. Justin is seriously injured during the rescue.
Once on board the Event Horizon, the rescuers almost immediately experience macabre visions, which bring to life their inner demons and personal guilt. Captain Miller (Fishburne) sees the manifestation of a subordinate whom he was forced to leave to die in a fire on board a ship on which he previously served; Medical Technician Peters (Quinlan) sees images of her son, with his legs covered in sores. Dr. Weir is assaulted by images of his deceased wife Claire, who committed suicide (there is some indication that Weir’s constant absence from their home due to his work contributed to her decision to kill herself). She urges him to “join us” so he can be reunited with her.
The crew continue to explore the ship, and discover the truth behind its disappearance; the ship had indeed succeeded in opening a gateway in space-time by using the gravity drive. However, when it made the jump, it passed outside the known universe and into another dimension: “a dimension of pure chaos, pure evil.” This dimension is thought to be analogous to Hell. Upon inspection, the ship’s highly-degraded video log shows the ship’s original crew engaging the gravity drive and, moments later, committing an orgy of torture, cannibalism, rape, and general depravity. At the end of the recoverable portion of the log, Event Horizon’s captain, who has torn out his own eyes, leaves an initially misinterpreted warning in Latin which, at first glance, appears to be Liberate me (“Save me”). A clearer interpretation later reveals him to be stating Liberate tutame ex inferis (“Save yourself from Hell”).
It eventually becomes clear that wherever it was that the ship has been, it has brought back with it a presence which is methodically trying to drive its new occupants insane by using their own personal torments against them. The aim of this appears to be to compel them to reengage the gravity drive and “go back” to the chaos dimension. Captain Miller decides to destroy the ship to prevent this from happening; when he informs Dr. Weir of his plan, the evil presence on board delves into Weir’s mind, turning him against the rest of the crew in order to help it complete its mission. Weir relives Claire’s horrific suicide, which finally drives him over the edge, turning him completely and utterly mad. He demands that Miller not destroy the Event Horizon, but when Miller growls back, “You just get your gear and get back on the Lewis and Clark, Doctor, or you’ll find yourself walkin’ home,” Weir, in a shot reminiscent of the final moment of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang calmly replies, “I am home,” and disappears into darkness. Later, he, like the deceased captain before him, gouges his eyes out and proudly announces “where we’re going, we won’t need eyes to see.” Weir destroys the Lewis and Clark and brutally kills several of the crew members who try to stop him from activating the gravity drive.
Completely possessed by the evil presence on board, he tells Miller that the ship is now alive and will not let anyone leave it. He engages the ship’s gravity drive on a 10-minute countdown to initiation. Dr. Weir eventually is blown out into space by a ruptured window. Miller makes an attempt to set off the explosives, which will sever the long “neck” which connects the ship’s command module at the bow from the stern-mounted gravity drive and sublight engines; he manages to arm the explosives, but is forced to rush to the gateway room after almost being roasted by his personal demon: the former comrade who burned to death under his command. The doors of the room close just in time, but as he turns, he sees the burned man standing in front of him once again.
This time, Miller manages to overcome the vision and the flaming figure dissipates, revealing a mutilated Dr. Weir (with his eyes restored), who has been brought back by the ship. He gives Miller a glance at the hellish dimension to which the ship will travel. Miller distracts him long enough for the explosives to detonate. Event Horizon explodes at the neck and separates in two, with their half plunging toward Neptune. Seconds later, the gravity drive is activated, and Dr. Weir and Captain Miller are dragged back into the chaos dimension, plunging into a gateway in Neptune’s atmosphere.
Starck and Cooper, together with the comatose Justin, had remained in the forward half of the ship, and survive the ordeal. When a second rescue team arrives for them, one of the crew (Richardson) sees the face of Dr. Weir as a soldier lifts up his mask to greet her. As Starck snaps out of this delirium, it is revealed that they have been rescued. As the scene pans out, the doors of the ship close, leaving the viewer wondering whether the evil on board Event Horizon really was over.
[edit] Cast
- Laurence Fishburne – Capt. Miller
- Sam Neill – Dr. William Weir
- Kathleen Quinlan – Peters (Med Tech)
- Joely Richardson – Lt. Starck (Executive Officer)
- Richard T. Jones – Cooper (Rescue Tech)
- Jack Noseworthy – Justin (Engineering)
- Jason Isaacs – D.J. (Trauma)
- Sean Pertwee – Smith (pilot)
- Peter Marinker – Capt. John Kilpack
- Holley Chant – Claire (Weir's wife)
- Barclay Wright – Denny (Peters' son)
- Noah Huntley – Burning man/Edward Corrick
- Robert Jezek – Rescue 1 technician
[edit] Production & design
The first draft of Philip Eisner’s screenplay was written in 1992. The film borrows elements from others in the science fiction and horror genres, such as Stanisław Lem’s Solaris, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Black Hole, Alien, Aliens, The Haunting, The Shining, and Hellraiser. For instance, the interior of Lewis and Clark was inspired by the starship Nostromo from Alien. The film is thematically similar to The Haunting and The Shining, with an added homage of the blood tidal wave scene added into the film.
The film makes extensive use of Christian symbology and themes. Seen from above, the Event Horizon itself approximates the shape of a Christian cross, while some internal areas are reminiscent of Gothic architecture, although influenced somewhat by the work of H.R. Giger.
In keeping with the naturalistic science fiction setting of the film, costumes are based upon present day flight suits complete with shoulder patchs and modified United States Coast Guard officer rank insignia. The sailing ship in the center of the Lewis and Clark’s mission patch is a United States Coast Guard Cutter in reference to the ship’s search and rescue role.
The flag depicted on Dr. Weir’s uniform is a variation of the flag of Australia with the Aboriginal flag replacing the Union Flag. Other crewmembers also have modified flags on their uniforms to suggest political change prior to 2047; one shows the flag of the United States with fifty-five stars, while another shows the European Union flag with an extra circle of stars within the original one, suggesting an enlarged Union, although in reality the European flag has a fixed number of 12 stars deliberately lacking political connotations.
Anderson claims that his initial cut of the film, before the visual effects had been completed, ran to about 130 minutes in length. The film was even more graphic in this incarnation, and both test audiences and the studio were unnerved by the gore. Paramount ordered Anderson to cut the film by 30 minutes and delete some of the violence, a decision that he regrets. The lost scenes were offered as special features but were taken from poor-quality video tape as the studio had little interest in keeping unused footage and the original film has been lost. [1]
[edit] Trivia
- The idea of the “Hell dimension” allowing FTL travel or teleportation has also been used in Games Workshop’s older “Immaterium” concept and various levels in the DOOM and Quake video game series.
- The film was novelized by Steven McDonald.
- In the science fiction/horror first-person shooter computer game F.E.A.R., a magazine cover displays the headline “EVENT HORIZON FOUND.”
- Metal band Zao’s album Liberate Te Ex Inferis has references to Event Horizon, including the album title.
- The Xbox video game Conker: Live & Reloaded uses a ship similar to Event Horizon as one of the multiplayer maps. In capture the flag mode, the flag itself is a miniature version of the gravity drive found in the film.
[edit] Soundtrack
The score of the film was written and performed by Orbital and Michael Kamen. The end credit theme was the song “Funky Shit” by The Prodigy. The movie has been extensively sampled by many bands, notably on Zao's 1999 album, Liberate Te Ex Inferis, (a phrase which is similar to one that occurs in the dialog of Event Horizon). Several samples also appear in the song “The Technogoat” from The Codex Necro album by Anaal Nathrakh as well as on The Ichneumon Method album by The Axis of Perdition, the song “Fun with Knives” (from the album of the same name) and “The Dark Inside Me” by Velvet Acid Christ and on the song “Age of Suffering” by Norwegian death metal band Bloodthorn from the album Under the Reign of Terror. Popular trance producer John Graham under the alias Space Manoeuvres created the track “Stage One” which took samples from the theatrical trailer of the film.
[edit] References
- ^ Special Edition DVD Commentary
