Film Review: EVENT HORIZON (1997)

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Running time: 93 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror/Mystery
UK Release date: 22^nd August 1997

Watched on DVD Friday 18^th November 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I remember being impressed with this film when I first saw it way back in the late 1990’s. It’s one of those that, once you’ve seen it, it keeps coming back to you. I have been meaning to watch it again for some time now and so I though now being as good time as any I popped it in the DVD player, turned the sound up and let her rip! I wasn’t disappointed; it’s every bit as good as I remember, right down to the pumping ‘Prodigy’ track that runs over the closing credits. I will give you my take on it after this very brief summary.

The experimental spaceship, The Event Horizon, has been missing for seven years after it left the solar system bound for Proxima Centuri. After its beacon is detected in the vicinity of Neptune, a rescue mission is launched. A specialist crew is sent out along with Dr. William Weir, the man who designed the ship. The crew consists of; Captain Miller, Peters, the Med Tech, Lt. Starck, Cooper, Justin, D.J. and Smith. Dr. Weir is haunted with memories of his dead wife, who had recently committed suicide. None of them are prepared for what they find when they reach the, now deserted, Event Horizon. The experimental drive had taken it to places beyond understanding… and it hadn’t come back alone. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be signing me up for another trip.

A very well made film with some really excellent effects. Great performances all round; everyone did a very professional job and made the story believable. So, special praise goes to; Laurence Fishburne as Captain Miller, Sam Neill as Dr. William Weir, Kathleen Quinlan as Peters and Joely Richardson as Lt. Starck. Honourable mentions go to; Richard T. Jones as Cooper, Jack Noseworthy as Justin, Jason Isaacs (hello to him) as D.J. and Sean Pertwee as Smith.

I must admit I really like this film, how it’s got such a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes I will never know! Yes, the plot is a little complicated but I did find it truly scary and there a very few films I can say that about these days. To me I think it’s probably the best space horror since the Alien films… and it’s certainly better than Alien 4! I haven’t read what the professional critics have to say on it, but I will stick to my guns and say it’s a very underrated Sci-Fi Horror that deserves better recognition… Recommended.

My Score: 7.7/10

IMDb Score: 6.4/10 (based on 54,832 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 23/100 (based on 35 reviews [No Consensus] counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/event_horizon/

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Miller: Mr. Cooper!
Cooper: Skipper!
Miller: Ion Drive in 10 minutes.
Cooper: Ooh! It's time to play Spam in a Can!

Dr. Weir: What was made public about the Event Horizon - that she was a deep space research vessel, that her reactor went critical, and that the ship blew up - none of that is true. The Event Horizon is the culmination of a secret government project to create a spacecraft capable of faster-than-light flight.
Smith: Uhm, excuse me. See, you can't actually do that.

Miller: Vacate! I want off this ship!
Dr. Weir: You can't leave. She won't let you.
Miller: You just get your gear and get back on the Lewis and Clark, Doctor, or you'll find yourself walkin' home.
Dr. Weir: I am home.

LINKS:
Official Site (German): http://movies.uip.de/event_horizon/
Trailer:

Film Review: DAYBREAKERS (2009)

Writers/Directors: Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig
Running time: 94 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

UK release date: 6th January 2010

Watched on DVD Friday 19th November 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

A film about vampires set in the not to distant future can’t be bad, can it? I liked the ‘Blade’ movies so this one should be good too, shouldn’t it? Well, it’s not bad, but at the same time it ain’t no ‘Blade’. More of my thoughts later, first here’s a short summary (haters of summaries please spontaneously combust… or more practically, just omit the next paragraph).

About ten years into the future nearly all of the world’s population has been turned into vampires. How this happened, we are not told, but only about five percent of the humans remain. The vampires catch them and farm them for their blood, but there is not enough to go around. Desperately searching for a substitute for human blood is Edward Dalton, a haematologist working for a pharmaceutical company lead by Charles Bromley. If vampires are deprived of blood for too long they become more like giant bats and this is seen as a retrograde step by those in charge. Edward is contacted by a group of humans, one of which, Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac, was once a vampire but was cured in a freak accident. The humans want Edward to help them recreate the conditions of the accident. He does so and is turned human again. He now has to convince the entire vampire population to do the same… or die.

There was obviously quite a bit of money spent on this movie. There are some great special effects and an awful lot of gore on view. Decent enough performances all round despite a rather weak script IMO. Even Willem Dafoe as Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac struggled at times, but still stood out above the rest. Ethan Hawke as Edward Dalton and Sam Neill as Charles Bromley were not really stretched by their roles, but did a good enough job. Honourable mentions go to Claudia Karvan as Audrey Bennett, Michael Dorman as Frankie Dalton and Isabel Lucas as Alison Bromley.

I liked the concept of this film; unfortunately the execution did not ultimately live up to my expectations. It was quite hard to identify with any of the characters and thus it was really hard to care who lived or died in the end. The effects are very well done but this ultimately didn’t make up for a rather flawed script. If you’re a hard-core vampire movie fan then I’m sure you’ll find some redeeming features here, I don’t fit into that category, and so, sadly, not recommended.

My score: 5.4/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0433362/
Official Site: http://daybreakersmovie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi1687225369/