“You can’t leave. She won’t let you.” Sam Neill as Dr. William Weir warns as the intrepid crew of the Lewis and Clark tries to escape the endless abandoned void of the Event Horizon. Director Paul W.S. Anderson’s first dip into the horror genre is one that directly clashes with the endless void of space. Where terror can’t be heard in the airless vacuum of the outside world. It’s almost like Alien… Meets Hellraiser. Or a hell of a lot of other things meets Hellraiser. Can Thomas Mariani and his own intrepid guest escape the horrors of space? Only time will tell.
Decades of Horror 1990s
Episode 07 — Event Horizon (1997)
Celebrating 20 years since its release, Event Horizon presents an interesting crossroads for big budget horror. Coming out right after the death nail of the slasher genre yet before films like Blade or Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil franchise took the genre to ridiculous actions heights, Event Horizon is a curious beast of pop culture pastiche. You’ve got bits of Alien, The Shining, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Lovecraftian horror, Galaxy of Terror and so much other stuff wrapped into one bizarre package. One that was clearly sliced on the cutting room floor as much as the doomed crew of the Lewis and Clark end up being. Yet, despite the clear homage influences, there’s really no other film like Event Horizon. It’s a big budget gorefest with a cross reference of character actor talent like Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne throwing everything at the screen and seeing what sticks. Surprisingly, it’s a more favorable ratio than you’d think.
Joining Thomas on this mission is Will Torres. Will may have been at the mercy of a sloppy internet connection. Damn Skype. However, his knack for snark and quick wit still shines through as he and Thomas list out the various homages Anderson sneaks, wonder how arousing the infamous blood orgy video really is and try to link together the missing character beats lost to the severe edits. Things may be choppy in terms of audio quality, but it doesn’t stop Will and Thomas from descending into space madness aboard the barely functioning ship that is Decades of Horror 1990s. Seriously, it’s being kept together by duct tape and gum. You can read more of Will’s antics via his twitter account Nazhair.
We want to hear from you — the coolest, most gruesome fans: leave us a message or leave a comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror 1990s podcast hosts at thomasmariani@decadesofhorror.com or tweet Thomas @NotTheWhosTommy.
Some of his favorite horror films include Evil Dead II, Poltergeist and An American Werewolf in London. He already has experience writing and podcasting about pop culture, which you can read/listen to on sites like www.oneofus.net, www.horrornews.net or even on twitter as @NotTheWhosTommy.
