Comments on: Blu-ray Review: Event Horizon

By: LiveWire

LiveWire — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:37:46 +0000

This is the first time any reviewer has successfully managed to articulate EXACTLY what I have been saying since Event Horizon first arrived. I, like the reviewer, continually revist the film hoping that somehow it WON'T fall apart this time. I also believe Anderson could be a great genre director if he wanted to (i.e. the first part of Event Horizon, first 2/3 of Soldier, some of Resident Evil, even a little of AVP).

By: Sara Michelle

Sara Michelle — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:08:06 +0000

@mostlyharmless: Literally, I find that the film falls to pieces during that 61st minute. The last half hour of the film is more or less a waste. The thought-provoking unsettlng nature of the piece is ditched for a seemingly endless cavalcade of gross-out effects straight out of Clive Barker (and influence, admittedly, both Anderson and Bolt own up to in the documentary and, to some extent, in their audio commentary) and "Hellraiser."

I'm not saying a film can't be boh gross and scary. I think John Carpenter's remake of "The Thing" is one of the flat-out scariest motion pictures I've ever seen, and even compared to today's effects standards its R-rating is more than earned. I'm just saying in the case of this film Anderson starts making the gore and viscera the end-all be-all with no sense of purpose or intent behind it all. It's grotesquerie for the sake of grotesquerie, and considering just how smartly terrifying the first hour of the picture is I can't help but find this a disappointing letdown.

I do agree with you about the sound design. It's flat-out incredible. I also am willing to give you that the filmmakers showed some guts going out on a relatively downbeat ending. I just wish both were enough for me. Sadly, they were not. Yet, like I said in the review, I'll probably keep going back to the film trying to prove myself wrong. That first hour is just too good to not revist every now and then, that's for sure.

Thanks for the comments.

By: mostlyharmless

mostlyharmless — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:48:14 +0000

This scared the paint off me, technically excellent as you mention, one of the best soundtracks I've heard in Surround, I would place it with the sound engineering excellence of Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, Speed (won an Oscar for it right?) and the LOTR Trilogy (won several golden little men). I bought it on DVD a while back, but cant bring myself to watch it :) , that Sam Neil plays a nasty demon from beyond. The missing eyes, the rivet gun, OMG!

I'm not sure where you think it breaks down, because its pace lead right up to till the ominous, non happy Hollywood, ending.