Event Horizon: Part B-Movie Schlock, Part Unsettling Horror

From lost footage to a directorial career's outcome forever changed because of the film, we delve into hell to look at this cult sci-fi horror film.

Photo: Paramount Pictures

The directing career of one Paul William Scott Anderson is interesting, to say the least. His films have had varying degrees of commercial success, but he’s never fully been able to direct a generally well-received film, judging by how not a single one of his films has ever achieved a ‘Fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Anderson has repeatedly stated he considers himself a "populist filmmaker", and in an interview with The Scotsman in 2011, said: 

“I don’t make films for critics, and I’m not particularly interested in what they have to say, and they don’t have a bearing on my audiences. I’ve always positioned myself as a populist filmmaker. People see my films and they cheer and they clap, and they are the kind of movies I like to see myself. Audiences are my barometer.”. 

With this in mind, a few of his films retain a following of some description, from his first crack at a Hollywood production in 1995’s Mortal Kombat, considered one of the better attempts at adapting a video game into the medium of film, to 2002’s Resident Evil, also considered one of the better attempts at adapting a video game into the medium of film, and the subject of this article, 1997’s Event Horizon.

Event Horizon is a fascinating film in many senses, from its uneven tone to the ludicrously violent snippets it showcases, alongside the curious and troubled production history this film had to go through. Like with most of Mr Anderson’s films, Event Horizon is flawed, and the D+ CinemaScore is not exactly the best form of advertisement, but there is a reason it has attained a cult following in the 25 years since its release, as well as potentially being his best film.

Event Horizon’s plot concerns the crew of ‘Lewis and Clark’, sent to investigate a distress signal from the starship ‘Event Horizon’, which disappeared mysteriously 7 years before on its maiden voyage. With its return, the crew of the ‘Lewis and Clark’ discovers the real truth behind the disappearance of the ‘Event Horizon’ – and in typical sci-fi horror fashion, all hell (literally) breaks loose.

Cast-wise, the film includes the talents of established stars Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill, alongside early Anderson regular Jason Isaacs and Kathleen Quinlan of Apollo 13 fame. None of them do a terrible job, but barely any of them come close to giving off a performance worthy of being considered ‘great’. The sole exception is Sam Neill’s Dr William Wier, who clearly understands his role of portraying a character on the verge of a breakdown. The issue is not with the cast, but with the characters they play. The film is more focused on the action, the horror and the suspense than ensuring the crew of the 'Lewis and Clark' are refined characters in their own right. When the hallucinations of the specific fears and regrets of certain crew members start occurring, it's engaging, undoubtedly, but only a select few receive this special treatment. This can be potentially attributed to the footage that had to be cut after its initial test screening went down terribly, which will be explained in more detail later.

Laurence Fishburne's Captain Miller and Joely Richardson's Lieutenant Starck (Photo: Paramount Pictures)

As for the action and the horror, it's here in all of its shlocky glory. Despite being a sci-fi horror film, Event Horizon never really nails down the tone it wants to have, and as a result, the film ends up feeling unintentionally hilarious at points. This can be seen clearest with the comic relief character of Cooper, who doesn't adjust to the tonal shift in the second half of the film. Granted, he is the only character who never got to see the video log of the original Event Horizon crew (besides the pilot who was already suspicious of the Event Horizon and who ended up dying anyway, and Justin, who probably already got a taste of hell itself when he stepped into the portal). Regardless, it still feels odd to keep slight comedic bits in once that revelation happens. Yet, at the same time, Event Horizon also ends up being terrifying, with the brief glimpses into the messed-up hell the crew of the Event Horizon experienced. Despite most of the blood and gore having to be dialled back for its theatrical release, there is a reason why the aforementioned video log, otherwise affectionately known as the 'blood orgy', is infamous, and one can only be mildly curious as to how much worse it would have been like had Anderson been given the all clear to release his intended cut of the film.

The main issue many people have with the film is nothing to do with what made it into the final product, but more so a case of what didn't make it into the final product. Paul W.S. Anderson ultimately did not turn out to be as acclaimed a director as his fellow namesake Paul Thomas Anderson, but had his original cut of the film not been shelved, who knows what could've happened? Regardless of which version of Event Horizon was released, it would have been unlikely to have made a profit. It was released to a negative critical reception, and ultimately grossed $42 million against a budget of a $60 million, a figure that might have been lower, since it would be a fair guess that had the deleted footage of Event Horizon been included, the film would have earned an NC-17 rating without a doubt. When it was released on DVD, it sold so well that Paramount contacted Anderson to begin working on a restoration of the deleted footage, but it had either been lost or destroyed. Even though a producer found the VHS tape with the original footage on it, it is unlikely that we’ll ever see the intended version of Event Horizon, besides a few deleted scenes that have made their way into the public’s eyes. 

Photo: Paramount Pictures

A quick dive into the film's Wikipedia page reveals the lost footage, including character backstories, additional exposition, and much more gore and sex. While it's undeniable that the main aspect people would have loved to see more of is graphic scenes filled with blood, gore and sex galore, the omissions of character moments and backstories feel most disappointing in hindsight. There were additional scenes detailing some of the decisions and reasoning of the crew of the ‘Lewis and Clark’, which could have added depth to these underdeveloped characters. Cooper’s biggest fear is losing someone he cares about, which explains why he is so upset when his fellow crewmate, Justin, nearly kills himself. There was a backstory for Jason Isaacs’ DJ’s body scar, which resulted from childhood operations, and he would have revealed that his greatest fear is being dissected alive. Joely Richardson’s Starck had feelings for Fishburne’s captain. Justin himself had a backstory that provided a stronger explanation for why he entered the ship's strange vortex. It’s undeniable that a deeper psychological exploration of the characters from Event Horizon would have greatly enhanced them as a result, and the film as a whole. 

Then there’s the blood and gore. Anderson certainly admits that many of his “visions of hell” shots were among the gore-soaked moments that were cut out of the film at the studio’s behest, and given how insanely brutal the snippets left in the film look when pausing at specific moments, it’s fair to say viewers in 1997 could have been traumatised more. The ‘blood orgy’ sequence was originally much longer, with specific moments in that sequence cut off probably not for the faint of heart. The fact that the film crew hired real-life amputees and porn actors for this scene to make it appear more realistic and graphic speaks volumes to how dedicated or insane, depending on your view, the filmmakers were. You could argue whether the film feels better or worse without these changes, but it certainly feels incomplete. The third act and the final ending suffer from this the most, because, despite the glimpses into Hell, it feels rather unsatisfying, coupled with a final scene that feels rushed, likely due to the result of combining two unused alternate endings. Regardless, whilst there will likely never be a director’s cut of Event Horizon that enlightens all the horrors these madmen filmed in the 90s, they do give Event Horizon one of the more fascinating production troubles in recent memory.

Interestingly, there is another aspect to consider in the wasted potential for this film, and the reason why it ended up the way it did. Directors usually have a standard 10-week editing period to produce a film's first cut, as guaranteed by the Directors Guild of America. However, due to the short production schedule, the rapidly approaching release date, and the fact that principal photography had not finished, Anderson agreed to a six-week editing period and promised to deliver the film by August 1997, as Paramount wanted the film out before Titanic released in September of that same year (it ultimately was delayed and released in December, making this decision ultimately pointless). When the main unit wrapped, Anderson was supposed to start editing the film, but he had two weeks of shooting left with the second unit, shortening post-production to just four weeks, during which only a rough cut could be assembled.

When the test screenings went poorly, with claims that test audience members fainted, the Paramount executives, who were also seeing the complete film for the first time as they had stopped watching the dailies before any of the gore was shot, demanded a shorter runtime, cutting it down from 130 minutes to 96 minutes. This had the unintended downside of being too short, with Anderson believing the film would benefit from restoring around 10 minutes of footage.

There are many questions to ask with all of this information about the behind-the-scenes issues regarding Event Horizon. What if Anderson had been given the 10-week editing period instead of 6 weeks? What if Titanic was never intended to be released in September 1997 and was always intended to be released during the holidays? What if Paramount let Anderson make a third cut of the film that wasn’t overly long, incorporating some of the previously mentioned deleted character moments? These are questions one can only imagine the answers to. As for the director, how his career panned out can be ultimately traced back to Event Horizon. Anderson turned down the chance to direct the upcoming X-Men film and the sequel to Mortal Kombat; Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, in favour of wanting to make an R-rated horror film instead of another PG-13 film. The critical failure of Annihilation ultimately resulted in Anderson regretting the opportunity to take the directing helm, with it being the reason why he ended up being involved with all the live-action Resident Evil films, saying that “I felt if I’m going to do another one of these adaptations, this time I’m going to stay with it”. Had he turned down Event Horizon to direct X-Men, maybe his career might have panned out in a more positive light. At the very least, it would have meant there would be one less film in that series that did not have a controversial director behind the camera. 

While it’s sad a director’s cut likely won’t happen, Event Horizon remains a fascinating film in its own right, and its cult following is only likely to grow in the years ahead. Moreover, it is already seen as special to a specific community, with fans of the Warhammer franchise considering Event Horizon to be an unofficial prequel to Warhammer 40,000 when humankind discovers the ‘Warp’ and learns of its dangers the hard way. There's still a television series based on the film reported to be in development by Paramount Television and Amazon Studios that was announced in 2019, although there has been nothing set in stone regarding its development yet. For fans of Event Horizon, a prequel comic series called “Event Horizon: Dark Descent” from IDW Publishing was announced recently for an August launch, with the comic promising to "embrace the hard-R rating" of the film and combine it with the "terrifying cinematic universe”. Ultimately, whether you like or dislike Event Horizon, whether you would prefer the lost footage to be recovered or not, or whether you feel it was right or wrong for the film to end with 'Funky Shit' by The Prodigy, there is one thing that can be said about Event Horizon. It is fascinating beyond belief.