Event Horizon . Tucson Weekly . 08-25-97

Event Horizon

DIRECTED BY: Paul Anderson

REVIEWED: 08-25-97

Whose idea was it to set a haunted-house flick aboard a spaceship at the far reaches of the solar system? It's not a bad concept, really, but the filmmakers don't have a clue where to take it. Despite some of the best futuristic special effects and set design of the year, director Paul Anderson keeps dipping into a tired old bag of horror-movie tricks including gushing blood, scary sequences that turn out to be dreams, and vague discussions of "pure evil" that sound like even more of a cop-out when couched in science-fiction terms. The cast--which includes Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, and Kathleen Quinlan--couldn't be better, but you end up wishing the script gave them more to do than run around tortured by their own worst memories. It's like a bad acid-trip combination of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Hellraiser and Flatliners. Some have applauded Event Horizon as an antidote to Contact's corny feel-good view of space, but they can keep their cure--the disease was a lot less depressing.

--Woodruff

Full Length Reviews
Event Horizon
Event Horizon

Capsule Reviews
Event Horizon

Other Films by Paul Anderson
Mortal Kombat
Soldier

Film Vault Suggested Links
The Craft
Body Snatchers
Invasion of the Body Snatchers

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