After 25 years, Event Horizon has garnered itself a cult following and is considered by many to be one of the best horror sci-fi movies ever made. Written by Philip Eisner and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, the film is set in the future and follows a rescue crew boarding a spaceship that had been missing with the hopes of locating survivors, but what they find instead is something much more nightmarish. The film, released on Aug. 15, 1997, stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson.
Looking back at the film in honor of its upcoming 25th anniversary, Anderson had a lot to say about Event Horizon in a new interview with Variety. At the time of its release, there really hadn't been many major motion pictures released that were anything like it. That apparently had Paramount execs "shocked" by what they saw when Anderson was working on the film, and as the filmmaker explains, this resulted in "a lot of tough notes" being given to him.
"I think Paramount was a little shocked. It had all this gross horror and all these disturbing images. I don’t think anyone at the studio had really seen that stuff before because I was shooting in England. Generally, people from the studio watch what the main unit shoots, but all of the horror stuff was being done second unit, directed by me on the weekends. I don’t think anyone at the studio actually watched the second unit material, so they hadn’t seen all the impalings and all the other people getting their eyes out and the intestines. I got a lot of tough notes."
In the interview, Anderson also says how one person at Paramount had suggested to him that making an outer space movie with such horrific imagery could potentially tarnish the Star Trek brand.
“Someone actually said to me, ‘We’re the studio that makes Star Trek!’ They weren’t only horrified by my movie; they felt I was besmirching ‘Star Trek’ somehow, because I was also in space and doing all this terrible stuff.”
Kurt Russell Knew the Film Would Become a Cult Classic
When Event Horizon was released, it didn't exactly pull in the box office numbers that Anderson and Paramount had been hoping for. Little did he know that in due time, the film would get recognition as more and more fans came around, turning Event Horizon into a cult favorite. But someone who had known at the time that Event Horizon would hold up would be actor Kurt Russell.
"When the movie was first released, it did okay business, but it wasn’t what I had hoped for it. I was going on to make a movie with Kurt Russell (1998’s sci-fi action film Soldier) and I showed him Event Horizon. He said, 'Paul, in 20 years time, that’s the movie you’re going be really glad you made.' He was right! I thought it was very generous of Kurt, considering I was about to go make a movie with him. The film was striking. It didn’t pull its punches and it was true to what it wanted to do. We didn’t have a huge amount of time to cut trailers and do posters and do a very elaborate campaign, but over time people found the movie. It’s been a wonderful experience to see the audience for it grow."
In honor of the 25th anniversary, a new limited edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Steelbook of Event Horizon is now available. As for Anderson, he will be shooting his next movie, In the Lost Lands, with Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista in November.