The Event Horizon

2. Voices from the Edge

2.1 How to Make a Good Horror Movie (or why Event Horizon failed), by Lai Tuck Chong

The making of EH (The Movie) was full of promise - a haunted house story set in space - a first in this genre. I mean, how often do you find a story like that set in space without the horrifics of headsnapping and spinepeeling aliens? Sadly though, what started out as an outstanding SF/x film spiralled into a black hole of poor editing, confused plot and uninspired characters. It was not the least scary. What made the whole thing worst was the plagiarism of sorts from classics such as The Shining, Silence Of The Lambs and Hellraiser.

Really, I wonder what the director, Sam Weisman, has to say for himself. Surely, he cannot claim this poor excuse of a space/horror movie as an original effort!

The movie could have developed into an original or even classic archive if Weisman had a better grip on the plot. If only he had executed it masterfully as a horror story. As it is, the story seemed like one told by a storyteller who had to go on frequent toilet breaks. The discontinuities were jarring. The only good use for this film, I think, is as a `how-not-to-make-a-scary-movie' learning piece for the film schools. The plot itself was nonsensical. It evoked neither empathy nor sympathy for any of the characters. Many a time, you'll wish they'd just wander off and kill themselves in a quiet corner and disappear. As for evil, I think the mechanical Borgs in ST:NG projected better malevolence.

The failure of EH is in the direction and a weak script. Under more capable hands, the movie could have been the definitive space/horror movie.

But could a haunted spacecraft story worked?

Well, if you consider it as just another 'house', maybe. But a spacecraft is not only a high-tech abode, it is a vehicle as well. The built-up area is different and we will identify with it differently. Our fears and uncertainties lurk at different nooks and crannies. It takes a skilled hand to immerse the audience into this space-age environment and have them be affected by the pathos within. It will then be easier to build up on the horror and terror.

In making EH, Weisman broke the many rules that govern a good horror story:

Rule Number One: Never reveal the source of the evil - we already know the evil from the blackhole.
Rule Number Two: The house was already haunted - the scanner showed an entity 'living' all about the ship. No more surprise!
Rule Number Three: Angst must work against the victims - victims continue to hallucinate and follow dumbly to their own early demise.
Rule Number Four: The Evil must be felt - not experienced by a dumbstruck junior staff who afterwards walk around catatonic, unable to speak a word. We know he's going to wake up sooner or later, and die. Or come back in a Lieutenant (Sam Neil's character).
Rule Number Five: Keep the suspense - EH could not sustain the suspense.
Rule Number Six: There should be a protagonist - Who's saving who? Who's fighting the Evil? Laurence Fishburne's character does not seem real enough (giving commands in a spinning deckchair) and does not endear himself to his crew. So no tear is shed when he sacrifices himself at the end.

I would have liked a story that went something like this:

Crew get selected to go on this mission to meet up with EH.
Crew gets all sorts of ominous things happening to them on their ship. Their minds play tricks on them. Only one person seem unaffected. What secret does he hold? Everything points to no good tidings ahead.
The ship arrives. EH looms across the `horizon' - a gloomy, ominous structure that reeks of Evil.
Crew boards EH. Flashbacks (bloody and gory) give little indication of what happened to the previous EH crew.
Discovers a mad crew person on board. Scares the shit out of everybody with his revelations.
Mad crew person disappears. Black Hole `rumbles'. Evil wreaks its havoc.
More dead bodies uncovered. Some more crew gets killed. Some spirits return to haunt, spirits captured in a space-time continuum, unable to escape, yet suffering still.
Rescue crew gets further decimated, horribly.
The Evil tries some more to get over the 'threshold'. But the key to the portal is held by the Black Hole Drive. If it powers up one more time, the Evil will cross over to this side of the Universe. The Universe as we know it will be doomed. Someone has to save the Universe, save Earth. Save those trapped souls.
Mad crew is responsible for the killings. He was possessed. Only way is to kill him/her. But his soul will be trapped. Time is running out. The Black Hole drive will kick in soon. The hero turns out to be a cyborg. That's why he is not affected by the Evil.
He has a dilemma. He 'feels' for the trapped souls. He discovers he is becoming more human. Destroying the BH Drive will close the portal, but banish the lingering souls to eternal damnation. He has to decide. Do robots dream of electrical sheep? Will his cyborg existence change forever? By acting good, will Evil find a way in?
The Cyborg decided he/she has to do what a cyborg has to do.
Last parting shot...the Captain (in damned agony) reaches out to him, tells him not to mind him and do the right thing. The last we hear is the Captain's scream (and all those caught by the Evil in the Black Hole) as the drive shuts down and closes the Hole.
The Universe is safe to function another day.
The Cyborg is exhausted and alone. He/she contemplates the future and dreams of his cyborg family while on hypersleep on his long journey home. Funny thing these dreams.
Earth looms. Cyborg wakes up with evil gleam in his eye. Will there be EH 2? No one knows. The End.

Well, that's it then. Someone told me that Starship Troopers is another 'half-ass' job with a very juvenile script. Nevertheless, I'll watch it on VCD.

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