Cosmic Horror

Event Horizon is light years away from being perfect, but there’s no denying its distinct, evocative flavor. The film’s cult status stems from the way it uses CGI and practical effects to build a disturbing outer space atmosphere with gratuitous gore. In many ways, Event Horizon feels like a spiritual successor to Ridley Scott’s Alien. But instead of a single extraterrestrial threat, it introduces an entire gateway to a dimension that mirrors Hell. This brand of cosmic horror was ahead of its time, but its campy "haunted house in space" vibe is celebrated by sci-fi movie fans today.

That’s not to say everyone hated Event Horizon when it first came out. Even back then, some reviewers like Total Film pointed out its merits and justified its tag of “The Shining in space.” Apart from its obvious influences from Kubrick's horror masterpiece and Alien, the space thriller also took cues from Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris, and in many ways feels like an unofficial prequel to Warhammer 40,000. This speaks volumes about the film’s cultural evolution into a bona fide sci-fi nerd classic...