Bluray Movie Review- Event Horizon

Let me begin by saying I was not one of those who saw this in the theatre.  So I did not bring all that baggage with me when I first saw it.  I first saw this either on video (VHS or DVD), or on one of the movie channels.  Thus I had the ability to watch this in the comfort of a home, even if it wasn’t my own.  A lot of people were disappointed with Event Horizon when it came out.  Personally I blame the Paramount marketing folks for this.  They couldn’t make up thier minds if they wanted to push Event Horizon as a SciFi flick or as a horror flick.  In the end, many people ended up going into the movie thinking it was one thing and getting another.

But I like the movie.  It was not a traditional SciFi movie, nor was it a traditional horror movie, though it has elements of both.  The story is fairly striaght forward.  Sam Neill is a scientist who had designed an experimental space engine to travel vast distances instantaneously.  The initial flight went wrong, and the ship disappeared for 7 years.  But it reappears, and a rescue ship, captained by Laurence Fishburne is sent, with Sam Neill in tow to investigate what happened to the titular Event Horizon.  Naturally, nothing goes as expected.

The most stunning part of this movie is the visuals, and is one of those movies that just demanded a Bluray treatment.  The secenes with ships, the fly by, the near orbit space station, and even the singularity drive were impressive at the time.  In Bluray, on an HDTV they are still so.  Yes, there are a few instances where the CGI shows through, mainly in the opening sequence with objects “floating in zero-g.”  Some of the object look decidedly like CGI constructs, and the lighting is off in a few scenes.  Even so, there’s more to praise than detract visually.  The ships alone are worth the price of admission.

The audio didn’t seem to me to have been remastered in anyway.  Then again, it was done originally in a high end Dolby at the time.  So the actual sound quality is fine, if not spectacular.  Even so, it could have been remastered into Dolby Digital for this release.

The etcras are fairly typical.  The usual making of short, commentary tracks, and deleted scenes.  They obviously did some new interviews for one of the segements, which was interesting to watch.  Interviews with Paul Anderson (director), Jason Isaacs (DJ), as well as production team members were actaully fairly interesting to watch for once.  Not a whole lot of insights to be had, but the anecdotes were of value.

On the whole, this is a more than worth while pick up for fans of the movie, or of similar genres.