EVENT HORIZON Special Collector's Edition

DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 95 minutes (feature film), audio commentary, disc 2 extras (128 minutes)- Making of Event horizon documentary (5 parts) three deleted scenes, trailers, unfilmed rescue scene, conceptual art, 4 Behind-The-Scenes featurettes

STUDIO: Paramount/ Golar/ Impact Pictures

RELEASE DATE: 4-18-2006

EVENT HORIZON is one of my favorite sci-fi horror movies. I saw it on a very cloudy August day at a 5 pm bargain matinee on opening day. EVENT HORIZON starts off as a realistic sci-fi film before launching into a haunted house in space story. ALIEN used the same approach of setting some the sci-fi before turning into a full throttle horror flick. Director Paul W.S. Anderson was given free rein to cast and crew EVENT HORIZON. EVENT HORIZON features one of the best casts since ALIEN: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Sean Pertwee, Jason Isaacs, Joely Richardson, and Kathleen Quinlan. Fishburne is Captain Miller who leads the crew of the Coast Guard ship, Lewis and Clark, to travel out to Neptune on a mission to find out where the long missing Event Horizon has been and rescue any survivors. Coming along with them is the designer of the ship, Dr. Weir (Sam Neill). The Event Horizon was the first ship that could create black holes to travel to any point in the universe and Weir wants to know what went wrong with her maiden voyage. Soon Miller's crew and Weir discover the ship went to Hell and didn't come back alone.

EVENT HORIZON is a fast movie that is over before you know it. It was finished in 10 months from green light to theaters. I read of a longer cut that the studio wanted cut down due to a bad test screening. Hearing that Anderson wanted to put together a longer cut of the film, I waited and hoped it would appear on DVD. Unfortunately most of the audio elements to the cut scenes were missing and a few other scenes couldn't be found. Whether EVENT HORIZON one day has a new cut put together, it is Anderson's best film as a director and the big thing that no one disagrees about (whether they hate or love the movie) is the fantastic production design.

VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)- feature film

disc 2- 2.35:1 and 1.78:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)/ 1.33:1 (Full Frame)

From the stories I have heard about the original DVD, the transfer for the SCE is an improvement. Image detail is good and grain is kept to a minimum. Definitely a better transfer than what was done with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE for it's SCE.

AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Surround, English 5.1 DTS, English 2.0 DS, French 5.1 DS

Subtitles: English, Spanish (feature film)/ English, Spanish, French (disc 2 extras)

Great 5.1 mix. Dialogue is always clear and the surround action is impressive.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Disc one has an audio commentary for the film with Director Paul W.S. Anderson and Producer Jeremy Bolt. This is the first time they have seen the film in years and sometimes they don't say anything. They talk about the design of the sets, the production of the film, and how they like the more extreme cut from the first test screening better (and how they wished they had more time to edit EVENT HORIZON). The track is OK, but you get better insight on the making of the film on disc 2.

Disc 2 has 128 minutes of extras.

THE MAKING OF EVENT HORIZON is a five part documentary (103 minutes):

Into The Jaws Of Darkness- How Paul Anderson and Jeremy Bolt got involved in Event Horizon, the pre-production process of the film

The Body of the Beast- stories about the cast of EVENT HORIZON

Liberate Tutme Ex Infernis- covers principal photography and the prosthetic effects/ animatronic effects

The Scale To Hell- the digital effects work (400 digital effects shots)

The Womb of Fear- The first cut of EVENT HORIZON (130 minutes long) was put together in 4 weeks (he had agreed to deliver a first cut in six weeks and he was doing second unit for the first two before starting) and was a disaster. The second test was a week later. Incomplete deleted scenes are featured. Paul and Jeremy feel they could have put together a stronger cut than the theatrical cut if they had more time. Paul, Jeremy, Jason Isaacs, and other crew members reflect on why the movie is popular today.

Three deleted scenes (10 minutes) are found on the disc under the SECRETS section. Only the briefing room scene has an audio track. All three scenes (including an incomplete alternate version of the ending) feature audio commentary with Paul Anderson (it's optional for the briefing room scene). Paul would have shortened the briefing room scene if he left it in the film and many of the elements for the film were found stored in a salt mine in Transylvania.

THE UNSEEN EVENT HORIZON has two sections (both with audio commentary by Paul Anderson): storyboards for the unfilmed rescue scene that would have been the start of the film and it was cut for budget reasons (and many elements were incorporated into other parts of the film) and early conceptual art before Production designer Joseph Bennett was hired.

THE POINT OF NO RETURN is a section of 4 featurettes that look into the filming of EVENT HORIZON with Paul's commentary (from the rotating tunnel to wire work to Paul's talk about a cut scene with Weir's wife he couldn't find). Rounding out disc two are the original theatrical and video trailers for EVNET HORIZON. THE POINT OF NO RETURN fetaurettes and trailers are 1.33:1 while the rest of the disc (the documentary, concept art, and deleted scenes are in Anamorphic Widescreen). The extras on disc two are worth watching more than once. The attention given to the making of the film is what Paramount should have done for the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SCE.

FINAL ANALYSIS: The EVENT HORIZON Special Collector's Edition is one of the best special editions of 2006. If you're a fan of EVENT HORIZON, this edition is a must own.