Movies - Event Horizon

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	Movies - Event Horizon

Event Horizon is a 1997 science fiction and horror film. It was directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, written by Philip Eisner, and stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, and Joely Richardson.

Plot summary

In the year 2047, a rescue crew (on board the ship Lewis and Clark) investigates the miraculous re-appearance of the spaceship (the Event Horizon) that was supposedly destroyed in a disaster seven years earlier. As they embark on this mission, they are informed by the ship's designer of the true story behind this "accident." It had in fact not exploded, as was reported, but had been a top secret ship designed to travel faster than the speed of light. It had a gravity drive on board which created an artificial black hole that folded spacetime thus creating a temporary gateway to any other point in the universe, instantaneously. To test the new gravity drive, the ship was sent to a designated jump-point with the goal of reaching Proxima Centauri (a star relatively close to the Sun) and had then vanished. When they board the ship, they discover the truth about its disappearance and come to realize that it had brought back something absolutely horrifying from where it had been for those last seven years.

It turns out that the ship did indeed succeed in opening a gateway in space-time by using the gravity drive. However, when it made the jump, it passed outside the known universe and into another dimension; a "dimension of pure chaos, pure evil." This dimension is seen as analogous to the Judeo-Christian Hell. On inspection, the ship's log shows the original crew engaging the gravity drive and moments later, committing an orgy of torture, cannibalism, rape, and depravity. The captain of the original crew, who has by now torn out his own eyes, leaves an intially misinterpreted warning in Latin which, at first glance, appears to be Liberate me ("Save me"). A clearer translation later reveals it to be Liberate tutamen ex inferis ("Save yourself from Hell").

In 2047, faint signals from the lost Event Horizon were picked up on Earth, the ship having ended up on a low orbit around the planet Neptune. The rescue crew is assembled for a 9 month (56 day journey in sleep stasis) trip into deep space.

When they reach Neptune’s high turbulent atmosphere, the Lewis & Clark's detectors find no trace of human life onboard the floating Event Horizon, instead it mysteriously seems abandoned with strange life readings everywhere at the same time. Assuming that the life scan is malfunctioning, they decide to try to find the crew by going onboard. At the time the crew boards into the ship, there is zero gravity and cool temperatures. After docking, Justin (Jack Noseworthy), the engineer, reaches the gravity drive (the heart of the Event Horizon). The gravity drive begins to activate, as if sensing his presence; he sees a black liquid mirror in the gravity drive, and curious, touches it. Suddenly, he is sucked into the mirror and a large shockwave flows throughout the ship, causing damage to the Lewis & Clark. Cooper (Richard T. Jones) finally manages to pull Justin out of the liquid, but he is unconscious. With the Lewis & Clark heavily damaged, Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) has no choice but to lead the entire crew into the Event Horizon itself. Although they successfully reactivate life support; heat, artificial gravity, etc., the crew is now in danger themselves as they only have 20 hours worth of usable oxygen onboard the Event Horizon.

Once onboard the Event Horizon, the rescuers almost immediately begin to experience macabre visions exposing their inner demons and personal guilt. Captain Miller (Fishburne) sees images of the comrade he was forced to leave behind in a fire; another person sees images of her son, whose legs are covered in sores. Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), the man who designed the ship, sees images of his deceased wife Claire who committed suicide, something which makes him feel intensely guilty (there is some indication that Weir's constant absence in their home due to his work contributed to her decision to cut her wrists and kill herself). She urges him to "join us" so he can be reunited with her. Upon exploring more of the ship, they find the bloody remains of some of the previous crew. It eventually becomes clear that wherever the ship has been, it has brought back a presence with it which is methodically trying to drive these new arrivals insane by using their own personal torments against them. The aim of this appears to be to compel them to re-engage the gravity drive and "go back" to the chaos dimension.

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