Although both its sets and cinematography are reminiscent of ALIEN and its first sequel, EVENT HORIZON director Paul Anderson prefers to identify THE HAUNTING and THE SHINING as his celluloid inspirations, the eponymous craft acting as a deep space hybrid of Hill House and the Overlook Hotel.
It's an even greater pity, then, that Anderson apparently failed to grasp that both Robert Wise and Stanley Kubrick embued their projects with a tangible tension; moreover, the characters were well defined (even if Jack Nicholson's performance stretched his to breaking point) and ensured the audience actively cared about their fate.
Anderson is correct, though, in stating that the sf elements in Philip Eisner's screenplay are scarcely crucial: the casual regularity with which Laurence Fishburne and his crew are dispatched during their attempt to salvage Earth's first faster-than-light probe has much in common with the stalk-'n'-slash thriller epitomised by the FRIDAY THE 13TH series. Perhaps the worst victim is Sam Neill, as the ftl drive's designer, who switches from mystified scientist to raving lunatic with bizarre suddenness.
It could be that the missing heart of EVENT HORIZON lies beating upon the cutting floor, in the 45 minutes of footage reportedly excised prior to its release. If so, we could all do ourselves a service by skipping this lamentable first draft and awaiting the "special edition" director's cut.
| Tavern Home Page | The Screen Menu | Previous Article | Next Article |