Event Horizon poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones ... see more see more... , Jack Noseworthy , Jason Isaacs , Sean Pertwee

In this sci-fi/horror scarefest, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) is a scientist who has designed a spacecraft called Event Horizon which will explore the outer reaches of space past the planet Neptune; t... read more read more...he ship employs a special transport mechanism that, in effect, creates a black hole that the ship can pass through, allowing it to travel tremendous distances in a few seconds. The Event Horizon mysteriously disappears in the midst of a mission with no trace of either the ship or its crew, but it reappears in Neptune's orbit after a seven year absence and it's sending out a distress signal. The spaceship Lewis and Clark, and Dr. Weir, are sent to investigate; the crew -- Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee), engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy), navigator Starck (Joely Richardson), physician D.J. (Jason Isaacs), and emergency technicians Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) and Cooper (Richard T. Jones) -- are already tired and unenthusiastic about this assignment, and somewhat confused by Weir's reports. The crew of the Lewis and Clark are convinced that Weir is not telling them something, and when they discover the Event Horizon, they find that things are not what they seem, and an evil presence has taken over the ship. Incidentally, the term "event horizon" describes the outer boundaries of a black hole. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

62% liked it

63,322 ratings

Critics

23% liked it

35 critics

R, 1 hr. 35 min.

Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson

Release Date: August 15, 1997

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: December 15, 1998

Get It:

Stats: 5,245 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon Event Horizon event horizon Event Horizon Jason Isaacs, Kathleen Quinlan and Sam Neill Event Horizon
Upload a Photo | View All Event Horizon Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (5,245)

  • jmanard52
    March 21, 2007
    jmanard52
    Sam Neil shines in this. I think this an extremely underrated movie. Its awesome thriller horror flick
  • samoriley
    February 21, 2012
    samoriley
    This film can send shivers down your spine or have you laughing at it.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    August 22, 2011
    StarCrossedVoyager
    I very much looked forward to this film and the beginning started out well but I feel the plot wasn't really fully explained. It just seemed like the creators had shoved any old thing into it. It became loose and predictable. I liked how the ship made them hallucinate things that... read more were important to them or affected them but we couldn't believe the ship was 'alive' because they never gave us anything to go by other than the characters dialogue. The ship didn't look or act alive. It reminded me of better and more developed films such as Sphere and Sunshine. Pandorum was basically a not so good remake of this.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    May 20, 2011
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    Infinite Space - Infinite Terror

    This movie I thought was gonna be good and scary but fail inmensly for me. Nothing at all scared me and I watch it at night hoping it would shake me or something but never happen. The story isn't bad but there were some many questions unresolved... read more that left me dissapointed. They say this movie is scary well go see it and let me know what happens..

    In the year 2047, a signal from the starship Event Horizon is picked up on Earth. The ship had disappeared without trace beyond Neptune in 2040; her loss was considered the worst space disaster on record. The ship has reappeared in a decaying orbit around the planet Neptune, and the rescue ship Lewis and Clark is dispatched to investigate. The ship's crew is commanded by Capt. Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and carries the Event Horizon's designer, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill).

    When the Lewis and Clark arrives, the crew are informed by Dr. Weir that the Event Horizon had actually been built to test a secret, experimental gravity drive. The drive would create an artificial black hole to bridge two points in space to significantly reduce journey time. The ship had been on its initial test flight, intended to reach Proxima Centauri; it subsequently vanished without a trace. Weir plays to the crew the only signal received since the ship's reappearance, spoken by ship's captain, Cpt. Kilpack, which is a series of confusing screams and shouts, embedded in which is the Latin phrase liberate me ("save me").

    Upon approaching the drifting vessel, no definitive trace of human life is found; inconclusive sensor readings lead the Lewis and Clark's crew to enter the Event Horizon to search for survivors. Inside, the crew split up and Medical Tech Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) discovers a frozen human corpse floating on the bridge, with both eyes gouged out. Engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy) enters the ship's core and sees a black, liquid-like mirror within its drive; it sucks him inside as he touches it and emits a large shock wave, damaging the Lewis and Clark. Rescue Tech Cooper (Richard T. Jones) manages to pull Justin out of the core by his tether, but he is catatonic.

    With the Lewis and Clark heavily damaged, the remaining crew transfer to the Event Horizon, which only contains 20 hours of usable oxygen. A short time later, Justin emerges from his catatonia and attempts to commit suicide by ejecting himself from an airlock, to escape the memory of what he saw inside the ship's core. Although Justin is rescued by Miller, he is seriously injured.

    Soon afterwards the rescuers begin to experience hallucinations of their personal fears and regrets. Miller sees the manifestation of a subordinate he was forced to abandon in a fire; Peters sees images of her son Denny (Barclay Wright), with his legs covered in bloody lesions; and widower Dr. Weir sees his wife Claire (Holley Chant), missing her eyes and urging him to join her.

    The crew discovers that although the ship's drive successfully opened a gateway in space-time, it actually led outside the known universe and into another dimension, described as "pure chaos, pure evil". The Event Horizon's reconstructed video log shows the original crew activating the gravity drive and, moments later, engaging in a frenzy of torture, self-mutilation, cannibalism and sodomy. The ship's captain, who has torn out his own eyes, leaves the previously-heard Latin message which has since been found to actually say liberate tutame ex inferis ("save yourself from Hell").

    It appears that the Event Horizon has returned with a supernatural presence which is using its occupants' personal torments against them, with the aim of compelling them to return to the "chaos" dimension. The Lewis and Clark now repaired, Miller decides to destroy the Event Horizon despite the strong objections of Weir. While preparing to evacuate, Peters is led to her death by plummeting down a shaft as a result of being tricked by a manifestation of her son. Weir, having abandoned the crew and arriving at the core, discovers her body. He sees a vision of his wife's suicide, and is compelled by her reanimated form to tear out his eyes.

    Weir then uses bombs fitted to the Event Horizon to destroy the Lewis and Clark, which kills its pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee) and causes Cooper, on the ship's hull, to be thrown into space. Weir goes on to kill D.J. (Jason Isaacs) by vivisection, leaving him suspended from the ceiling of the medical facility.

    Seemingly possessed by the presence on board, Weir threatens Miller and X.O. Starck (Joely Richardson) with a nail gun, saying the ship is "alive" and will not allow anyone to leave. He activates the ship's gravity drive, beginning a ten-minute countdown, after which the Event Horizon will return to the chaos dimension. Cooper, having used his space suit's oxygen to propel him back to the ship, causes Weir to shoot the bridge window and be blown into space towards his apparent death. Miller attempts to detonate the explosives installed on the Event Horizon to split the ship in two; after arming all of the explosives and recovering the detonator for them, he is trapped by a burning manifestation of his former comrade and forced to escape to the ship's core.

    Inside the core, Miller again sees the vision of his comrade, which then changes into a scarred Dr. Weir (eyes restored) who shows Miller scenes of the Lewis and Clark's remaining crew being tortured and mutilated. The two fight, but Miller is eventually able to reach the detonator, which he then triggers, sacrificing himself as the ship explodes. Weir screams, denied the surviving crew.

    The ship explodes at the neck and splits in two. The gravity drive then activates, pulling the rear of the ship into a wormhole. Starck and Cooper, with a comatose Justin, survive in the remaining forward decks and place themselves into stasis. Starck has a nightmare of a mutilated Dr. Weir rescuing her and is awakened in a distraught state by the real rescue team. Cooper restrains Starck, as one of the rescuers calls for a sedative. As the film ends, the automated hatch leading to the stasis chamber seals shut behind the rescuers, implying the supernatural force is inherent to the ship and not dependent on the gravity drive.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    August 1, 2010
    TheDudeLebowski65
    A tense thrilling horror film, Event Horizon is one of the best Sci Fi Horror films since Alien. Blending gore and classic elements of old school horror films, Event Horizon is an underrated film. A very effective horror film, Event Horizon is a non stop terrifying outer space ni... read moreghtmare. Thought obviously not as great as Alien, this film is the best since, because of it's tense and horrifying mood and also because the crew of the rescue ship is in outer space a million light years from home. Simply terrific. Great acting and great storytelling here. A film definitely not for the faint of heart, Event Horizon is a film that blends the best elements of previous outer space horror films to create something very good. Maybe not as excellent as Alien, Event Horizon is still a very good film that in my opinion is very underrated. There's definitely something going for it, and it's scary as hell. And if it's scary as hell, then it's a fine horror film that did what it was supposed to do, and that's scary the hell out of you. Don't believe the critics, this is the best Sci Fi Horror film since Alien, maybe not as legendary of course, but almost as terrifying in a totally refreshing way.
  • ythelastman89
    June 3, 2010
    ythelastman89
    This is one of the most god awful excuses for modern science fiction. It does nothing but rip off the Alien film library and various scenes from 2001 and strangely Hellraiser. What is worse is that you are unaware it is going to be so bad for the first 30 minutes in, it's just du... read morell and vague for the most part. Paul W.S. Anderson constructed something that's almost so cocky and convoluted that you can laugh at it, but the fact that it's so straight-forward and serious completely prevents it. The only thing saving this movie from being a complete waste of time is the fact that there are some crazy cannibal scenes in it that come out of nowhere. I cannot believe this is actually considered a good or even great movie by some, it is nothing but recycled ideas and terrible direction/writing.
  • allan913
    March 21, 2010
    allan913
    It's Hellraiser is space. A brilliant and electrifying mixture of science fiction and horror. An exhilarating, mind-blowing and spectacular edge of your seat thrill-machine. It's loaded with heart-pounding suspense and blood curdling special effects. A chilling and nerve-frying f... read morelick with a great cast. It has enough razor-sharp thrills and heart-pounding excitement to go around for ninety minutes. Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neil are terrific. A classic.
  • CloudStrife84
    March 3, 2010
    CloudStrife84
    During the 90's, there was one year in particular that came to mean much to the sci-fi genre. At least for me on a personal level. Because it's the year that gave us two of my all-time favourite films in said category; namely Contact and Starship Troopers. But then ... read morethere was also a third film. One that, although not quite as brilliant and awesome, is just as deserving of mention. I'm speaking, of course, of the movie in question: Event Horizon.

    With its perfect blend of sci-fi and horror, it offers us an atmosphere and feel that reminds me a lot of the Alien movies. Very cool story as well, made even better by the excellent cast. The only thing I didn't like about it, is that it gets a little weird in places. Jack Noseworthy's acting isn't much to cheer about either. It's so embarrasingly bad that it makes everyone else look like Oscar-winners. But other than that, this is a really good and exciting watch. A definite addition to my Blu-ray collection.
  • ScoopOnline
    December 29, 2009
    ScoopOnline
    A great Scifi.
  • mumby1988
    November 26, 2009
    mumby1988
    As the Alien franchise became less about horror and more about action, several films attempted to recapture the atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s original. But despite the best efforts of Ken Russell in Altered States or David Cronenberg in The Fly, the original remained unmatched as ... read morethe franchise it spawned slowly ran itself into the ground. By the time Alien Resurrection came along, many had given up hope of seeing another sci-fi horror which could genuinely scare people. Event Horizon made them reconsider.

    The best way to view Event Horizon is as a spiritual sequel to Alien. It’s clear from watching the film that Paul W. S. Anderson is a fan of the original and of Scott – even if he chose to demonstrate it by making the god-awful Alien vs. Predator. There are references to Alien throughout the film, but interestingly enough they appear to be mainly visual rather than narrative. The opening twenty minutes does borrow directly from the story – a ship answers a distress call, only from another ship rather than a planet. But the main debt it owes to Alien is in the grimy look of the Lewis and Clark and the architecture of the main vessel (squint and it looks like the alien’s head).

    The film is well-aware of the debts it owes to famous horror films. The personality and attitude of the crew are close in make-up to Aliens, insofar as they are militaristic in outlook, reckless in pursuit, and care very little for the intelligent outsider in their midst. The death of Peters, in which she approaches the child from behind and then falls to her death, is a clear nod to Don’t Look Now. And the sight of hellish monsters rising up out of the water will remind many of The Amityville Horror.

    But the films which hang the most over Event Horizon are Solaris and The Shining. Both films are explorations of the inanimate being or becoming conscious, whether a distant planet or the Overlook Hotel. Both films use hallucinations or encounters with ghostly characters which lead us to question the intentions of everyone on screen. And both end with an ambiguous sense of darkness, leaving you unsure of the lead character’s fate.

    Sam Neill’s character is the focal point where these two films collide. On the one hand, he shares with Solaris the desire to make amends with his wife, who committed suicide back on Earth many years ago. As before, the wife appears as an apparition, though Anderson changes her from a benevolent creature into a demonic force which sends Dr. Weir over the edge. On the other hand, the film focuses on Weir’s gradual descent into madness and the dark consequences of it. Like The Shining, it takes its time, allowing the madness to take hold and only slowly become apparent, and by the time we find out, it’s too late to save him.

    There is a fine line between acknowledging your references and allowing them to dominate the film to the point at which it all becomes derivative. It’s a line that Quentin Tarantino has crossed all too often recently, but for the most part this film holds itself together. The first two-thirds are genuinely tense and genuinely scary, making the most outlandish concepts (like the gravity drive) seem believable. If you’re a quantum physicist, you might have a heart attack, but the rest of us will be engrossed.

    A number of great scenes in this film are brought to life by a gallery of fine performances. Laurence Fishburne in pre-Matrix mode really holds the film together as Captain Miller. He brings both gravitas and a gung-ho spirit which make him the perfect balance for the different extremes of the crew. Sam Neill, as mentioned before, comes through very strongly, and like all the best villains we understand why he acts the way he does to the point at which we feel for him. And there are good supporting turns from Jason Isaacs and Joely Richardson, who have to deal with a lot of exposition but generally take it in their stride.

    The problem with Event Horizon is that it squanders all this hard work in the last 30 minutes. As everything starts blowing up and the scares become more obvious, it turns into a dumb action movie and you start to give up on its premise. The idea of the ship ‘taking revenge’ on the crew undoes the film’s good work because it breaks (or rather forgets) the golden rule of horror: the scares are just relief from the tension you create, whether in sound, editing or dialogue. Unlike the other Alien directors, Scott realised that it was scarier not to show the evil in action, thereby making the audience imagine the evil and terrify themselves in the process. In this, the film resorts to one over-the-top shock after another, leaving us feeling cheated rather than chilled.

    As the action elements encroach, both horror and credibility die away. It’s ludicrous to believe that the Cooper character could use his puny air tanks to propel himself back to the ship after an explosion, get on board with air to spare, survive a head shot from a nail gun and still be alive at the end of the film. And then there’s the ending, in which the survivors are rescued and the ship doors close around them. Since the core, ‘the heart of the ship’, had vanished after the drive had been engaged, how can the dark presence which emerged from it still have an effect on the crew? Watching the last half-hour, you’d swear you were watching test footage for Michael Bay’s Armageddon, it is that stupid.

    Event Horizon is a flawed but underrated film. It has its heart in the right place, wanting to tackle its subject gracefully, build up believable characters and work hard to scare us. But ultimately it cannot sustain the great weight of both its subject and its predecessors, and it falls apart in quite a silly way. Much like David Fincher’s Alien 3, Event Horizon is a potentially intelligent, dark and frightening film, which has been buried under several thick layers of dumb action and clunky plot devices. But it remains strangely satisfying, and a must-see for all Alien fans.

View All Event Horizon Reviews

Critic Reviews

Gregory Weinkauf
July 25, 2011
Gregory Weinkauf, ÜberCiné

Where's the application form for the job where you get paid to rip off the lamer and more bombastic aspects of Barker, Kubrick and Scott? I'm sorry I missed that notice.

Walter Chaw
April 24, 2009
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

You look at Event Horizon as you would something that fell out of someone's nose. Full Review

David Nusair
February 10, 2009
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews

...a tremendously entertaining, flat-out disturbing horror effort that boasts a number of justifiably indelible sequences... Full Review

Jules Brenner
December 31, 2008
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals

High-tech ghost story takes a grip until credibility goes into orbit. Full Review

Steve Biodrowski
December 30, 2008
Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

Paul Anderson shoots things to look cool, but he has no grasp on how to modulate the visuals to carry the audience into the deepening nightmare of the plot. Full Review

Ryan Cracknell
December 30, 2008
Ryan Cracknell, Movie Views

Paul W.S. Anderson's outer space horror Event Horizon is an example of a potentially great and complex idea given a simplistic and ultimately ridiculous execution. Full Review

John J. Puccio
December 24, 2008
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

It's disheartening to see how quickly this movie degenerates from an intriguing premise into an absurd gore-a-thon. Full Review

David Noh
July 16, 2007
David Noh, Film Journal International

The perils the actors face would be far more shuddersome were their characters more sharply delineated from the outset. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
May 12, 2006
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

... incrível como um filme que suga tantos elementos de clássicos como 2001, Alien e Solaris pode ter resultado em uma besteira tão grande. Mas é este o talento de Anderson: dirigir besteiras colossais.

Keith Breese
April 17, 2006
Keith Breese, Filmcritic.com

a retarded Goth version of 2001. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Sunshine
    Sunshine (83%)
  • Pandorum
    Pandorum (87%)
  • Sphere
    Sphere (83%)
  • Deep Rising
    Deep Rising (50%)

More Movies like Event Horizon

Facts

Submit a Fact | View All
    • Captain Miller: You miss me, you blow out the hull.
    • Weir: What makes you think I'll miss?
    • Captain Miller: This place is a tomb!
    • Cooper: I'm back! I'm back, baby! I'm back!
    • Captain Miller: Vacate! I want off this ship!
    • Weir: You can't leave. She won't let you.
    • Captain Miller: You just get your gear and get back on the Lewis and Clark, Doctor, or you'll find yourself walkin' home.
    • Weir: I am home.
    • Captain Miller: Oh. My. God. What happened to your eyes?
    • Weir: Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see.
    • Captain Miller: What are you talking about?
    • Weir: I created the Event Horizon to reach the stars, but she's gone much, much farther than that. She tore a hole in our universe, a gateway to another dimension. A dimension of pure chaos. Pure... evil. When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was alive! Look at her, Miller. Isn't she beautiful?
    • Captain Miller: Your "beautiful" ship killed its crew, Doctor.
    • Weir: Well... now she has another crew. Now she has us.
    • Weir: You can't leave. She won't let you.
Submit a Fact | View All

Event Horizon : Watch Free on TV

Event Horizon Trivia

  • "Event Horizon" Gary Sinise turned down the role of Dr. Weir, not wanting to do another space movie. Actor who got the part: Sam Neill.   Answer »
  • Name the actor who appeared in the following movies: Event Horizon Armageddon The Patriot Black Hawk Down You Chose: Jason Isaacs (Incorrect - 0 pts) Correct Answer: Jason Issacs The Correct answer is: Jason Isaacs. The original creator of this question can't spell.  Answer »
  • Event Horizon: Each crew member wears the flag of their country of origin. Dr. Weir (Sam Neill) wears the Australian flag, but with what modification?  Answer »
  • Event Horizon (1997) If you look closely at the design of the Event Horizon ship as the rescue vessel, the Lewis and Clark flies past on its first approach, you can see a Star Wars X-Wing model has been incorporated as part of the ships communications array.   Answer »
More Event Horizon Trivia

Movie Quizzes

Create a Quiz |

All Quizzes

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Event Horizon to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

daisy184 Skin by daisy184
952 Profiles
Add to Profile

More Skins