Terrible film

I saw this when it came out and thought it was atrocious, but in the decades since it has gained a cult following and credible people have said it’s worth another look - well I did and found it to be even worse than last time.

Wafer thin characters, career-worst performances from its decent cast, bland staging and photography, some of the worst special effects in a Hollywood movie, bad cliche-ridden script with crummy dialogue, loads of nonsense that made no sense. I put all the blame on the ever-awful Paul W S Anderson who should be banned from going near any film set.

To cleanse my palette I had to watch Sunshine immediately afterwards. Now that’s how you film a space horror - believable characters, intelligent dialogue, every frame a work of art, nail-biting tension, rich in ideas, themes and visual motifs. Danny Boyle is a proper director who always makes interesting and thoughtful choices, and of course Alex Garland is one of the most exciting writers in Hollywood.

The only thing EH has going for it is a decent premise, but Hellraiser did the ‘one look at hell and you go instantly insane’ concept better, and it was more intriguing because people who glimpsed it became obsessed with the pleasure and pain. Doctor Chanard’s line in Hellraiser II ‘To think I hesitated!’ still haunts me to this day.

I’ll never understand the cult following of Event Horizon.