October 30, 2013 13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2013: Night #12 Event Horizon (1997)
Even space isn't free of supernatural horror. Event Horizon (1997) (movie) is about a ship of the same name. It was built to test out a faster than light propulsion system. On its test voyage the ship vanished. It reappeared 7 years later in a decaying orbit around Neptune. The movie begins with the ship's engineer, Dr. William Weir, travelling out with a salvage crew to investigate what happened. Where did the ship go? What happened to the crew? Those two mysteries can only lead to horror. The quick and easy way to describe this movie is Hellraiser in space, without the copious hook bearing chains, or Cenobites. Yes, it that's nicely nasty. It also has a nice mix of mundane space danger horror added.
There are some good connections to other movies from the cast and crew. Paul W.S. Anderson who only directed Event Horizon also both wrote and directed Resident Evil (2002) (movie), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) (movie), and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) (movie). Event Horizon's screenwriter Philip Eisner also wrote Firestarter 2: Rekindled (2002) (TV), and Mutant Chronicles (2008) (movie). Laurence Fishburne plays the investigating ship's captain and he is of course famous for his role in The Matrix (1999) (movie) and its sequels. You may also have seen Laurence way back in the day in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) (movie), and you may have recently seen him in Hannibal (2013) (TV). Dr Weir is played by Sam Neill from Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) (movie), Jurassic Park (1993) (movie), and In the Mouth of Madness (1994) (movie). Kathleen Quinlan plays the ship's medic and you may remember her from The Hills Have Eyes (2006) (movie) remake with Ted Levine from yesterday's Night #11. Enjoy your nightmares!