Hooptober Neun (2022) - Film #26
1 horror film set in space or the future

I don’t know what to think of Paul W. S. Anderson. I know he’s generally considered quite low rent, but of the Resident Evil pictures I’ve seen, his have been the better entries. He did a solid enough job on Death Race, and I actually loved Alien vs. Predator. So, I found stuff to enjoy in his lower rated movies, and consequently, I was pretty hopeful going into his highest rated movie on Letterboxd - Event Horizon. Those hopes were well rewarded.

Event Horizon does start off a little ponderous, but when it gets going, it really gets going. There’s some really intense, grotesque imagery throughout the second half of the film, a lot of it pretty bizarre, and according to Anderson, inspired by the weirdness of Hieronymous Bosch. Talking of weirdness, Sam Neill pulls some strange stuff out of the bag here in a very solid performance.

In fact, there’s not really a weak performance that I can think of, partly demonstrating that Anderson can do the job when the scenario is right. Fishburne is excellent here, and I thoroughly enjoyed Richard T. Jones and Sean Pertwee in supporting roles.

Visually, the film is largely effective, albeit some CGI elements that have aged poorly. That’s to be expected, but it’s slightly disappointing that the bits that have aged the worst are the completely unnecessary bits - items floating around in low gravity and the likes. The CGI that is central to the plot helps up well comparatively.

The script is generally good, and the concept itself blends cosmic horror ideas with the isolation of space and striking, chilling visuals.

Although I haven’t seen his entire filmography, I feel that I can confidently say that this is Anderson’s best film. I’m not certain that I quite enjoyed it as much as AVP, even though I know the latter is not as well-made as this film, although it is close. I’m sure I’ll soon finish off the Resident Evil series, and then I might sample the delights of Mortal Kombat, but if you aren’t a W. S. Anderson believer like I am, at least give this one a shot.