Day 1: Event Horizon

Event Horizon (1997)

A favourite to start out the month, and one of the few films on my "do not fall asleep to this" list.  It's not because I find space devilry or mostly naked Sam Neill nightmare inducing, but something about it occasionally monkeys with the twisted part of my brain and reminds it that being a gorehound doesn't exempt you from being creeped out.  It just happens less.

Sci-fi gone wrong, supernatural horror, and Sam Neill losing his mind (and eyes).  It's a gritty flick, not romanticising space, but it doesn't oversaturate the set in blood.

That said, if you ever need a reason to up the rating, go frame by frame on the found footage.  It must've been entertaining filming those brief sequences.  Also very sticky.

A serious beef I've had with this film since the beginning: the Latin drives me nuts.  It says "free me,"  as in liberate. This changes the initial translation into less of a rescue and more of a mystery, until later on the full message and full translation reduces the importance of the translation of the verb in the sentence.  'Free yourself from hell' and 'free me' pull the plot along without betraying it.  'Save yourself from hell' and 'save me' mislead the characters and audience into believing that there's still someone to save there until, whoops, no, just gotta get out of the trap we all walked into. I still don't know where that error crept in, but if it's the scriptwriters fault, I owe you a firm kick, fifteen years later.

Though, and here's a thought induced by this October challenge, the translation is intentional.  In which case, permit me to headslap the character for such a fatal fumble.

That aside, it's good. It's aged well, with a nice look at Morpheus before 'The Matrix,' and Lucius Malfoy before the blond hair.  The FX holds up, being mostly practical.

Wish the blu-ray had more new special features and a cleaner cut, but I hardly expected to own it this way when I was handed the VHS that fateful day and told to watch it (as the owner left the room, refusing to watch it again so soon). It could also be a case of a film and its extras too old or lost for a digital makeover.

Parting shot:  watching this after the Dead Space games (the first one, specifically), I agree with others.  There seems to be definite, connectable inspiration in 'Event Horizon,' helping it create an awesome (series of) game(s).

Would I watch it again?  Yes.  Frequently.
Would I own it? Already do.  And if something replaces blu-ray in ten years, I'll buy it in that format again.