I feel that "Event Horizon" is severely underrated. The film wasn't successful at the box office, and I was actually lucky enough to catch it at the cinema when it was in it's first run before it disappeared quickly thereafter. Aside from a dreadful ending, this film contains some of the most deeply atmospheric and terrifying moments put in to a sci-fi/thriller for quite some time. Production design is first rate - all the ships feel and look very real and capture a very strong science-fiction feel (kind of the way the early Alien films did - but obviously not as good as those). It's actually a decent directing job by Paul Anderson (the director of such 'classics' as "Mortal Kombat" and "Soldier"... enough said). It's a shame this film didn't get the recognition it deserved, but at least on DVD format, it can still be enjoyed for what it is - a chilling, terrifying haunted house film set on a spaceship with some superb sci-fi images and production design.
There are some high quality actors in this film and they mostly do a decent job but nothing remarkable. This film is more about the terror and the production design. Laurence Fishburne is particularly good, as are most of the crew. Sam Neill is a bit of a let down - he just doesn't ever seem comfortable or natural, especially as he becomes the personification of evil on the ship by film's end. Maybe the material just didn't work him. The music is chilling and well composed... except for the opening and end credits which has a bizarre techno dance beat which is completely out of whack with the rest of the film (what was going on there?!). There's an attempt to go into Exorcist territory in some moments, particularly towards the end, and there's a bit of blood spilt. I'm not a fan of the latter but it should please the horror buffs.
I've already said it but I'll say it again; this film has a dreadful ending. After a fabulous build-up of tension and anxiety (combined with some very atmospheric space scenes), it turns out that the terror comes from the spaceship having gone to hell and back. That's it. The ship could have gone anywhere in the universe and it goes to hell. How original. Maybe some people will go for it but I felt it wasn't interesting enough (and definitely not original), and when the big reveal is made, it's so overblown, over-acted and over the top that it's kind of silly. A good, solid ending is a must for a film and it's amazing that this unimaginative, overblown ending still doesn't manage to kill the film. The rest of the film is of high quality and absolutely worth the ride.
A very solid, quality film that delivers on almost every aspect of the sci-fi, thriller and horror genres.
For the original DVD review, click this link: http://www.allaboutmovies.net/dvdrevieweventhorizon.htm
Alex DeMattia is the lead DVD reviewer at the film/DVD review web site All About Movies.net - He is also an administrator of the web site http://www.approachingsexywomen.com
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Event Horizon Movie Review
Movie Review - Sweeney Todd
by Misty Copher
Having never seen the stage version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I can't speak to the fidelity the film shares with the play. That said, let there be no doubt that Tim Burton has crafted a true piece of musical cinema from Stephen Sondheim's bloody masterpiece. To their discredit, early previews have hedged a bit regarding the singing in the film. In them we only see Johnny Depp canting some recitative as he prowls the streets of London. While this scene is certainly in the movie, it's barely representative of the actual film which contains at least a dozen fully-staged numbers and only intermittent dialogue.
As the former Benjamin Barker, Depp is magnificent as Todd. His voice may lack the thunder that would be expected on stage, but on the big screen it's more than suitable. Purists may find it a little ragged and flat at times--Michael Crawford needn't worry about Depp--but it's an ideal manifestation of the corrupting anger and rotting vengeance that fill Todd's soul. The same can be said for Helena Bonham Carter as the fiendish Mrs. Lovett. Sure she will occasionally descend into something approaching a hectoring screech, but consider for a moment that she's a baker who grinds people into meat and serves them up in piping hot pies!
Voices aside, both actors deliver rich, complex performances. The focus and intensity that Depp brings to his role is riveting. Within minutes of the film's opening there is no doubt that Depp will have his revenge and have it with gusto. Taking a step back from the film, realize that Todd is a thoroughly despicable character. He often kills indiscriminately, but Depp is so powerful as Todd that you eventually begin to relish his countless murders. Carter's Mrs. Lovett is, perhaps, even more of a psychopath. Slicing a throat is one thing. Butchering a man and then serving him up for dinner is quite another. Nevertheless, you delight in her, too.
As for the killings, Burton stages them in spectacularly gory fashion. The phrase 'geysers of blood' is often used casually when describing a violent film. In Sweeney Todd the phrase is explicitly correct. Depp is often obscured under the high-powered jets of plasma that repeatedly erupt from his customer's necks. Amazingly, these scenes aren't even the most disturbing. Once Todd finishes giving a 'shave', he dumps the corpse down a hole where it cracks loudly at the bottom as the skull splinters and the neck breaks cleanly. It's all completely over the top and, of course, wonderful, hilarious, inspired.
The same can be said for the film as a whole. In Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton has found material that meshes perfectly with his artistic sense. You could call it a horror film or a screwball comedy and you'd be right both times. The design is, as would be expected from a Burton picture, lavish and spectacular. The supporting cast, especially Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall, are superb. Only the love story between Johanna and Anthony falls a little flat. It's a minor quibble, though, in an otherwise outstanding film. Sweeney Todd joins Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands as Burton's finest work. It may eventually even be considered his best.
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