BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: The year is 2047. Years earlier, the pioneering research vessel Event Horizon vanished without a trace. Now a signal from it has been detected, and the United States Aerospace Command responds. Hurtling toward the signal's source area, fearless captain (Laurence Fishburne), his elite crew and the lost ship's designer (Sam Neill). Their mission: find and salvage the state-of-the-art spacecraft. What they find is state-of-the-art interstellar terror. What they must salvage are their own lives, because someone or something is ready to ensare them in a new dimension of unimaginable fear.

FILM REVIEW: I feel that "Event Horizon" is severely underrated. The film wasn't successful at the box office, but 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.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: The transfer for this film is fairly good, with some rich images faithfully transferred to the DVD format. It could have been better. It's not good to see film scratches on a DVD transfer but for the most part they're limited. The audio is very good, creating a very effective atmosphere of terror. Overall, the technical aspects to this disc are very reasonable.

EXTRAS REVIEW: Only a theatrical trailer, some different language soundtracks and subtitles. Pitiful in a nutshell.

BOTTOM LINE: Don't buy this version unless it's under five bucks, otherwise buy the Collector's Edition which has a more extensive range of extras - a must have for sci-fi fans.