Audiences weren’t the only ones left shocked by it as
Event Horizon director Paul W.S. Anderson recalls Paramount’s hilarious first reaction to seeing the movie. The 1997 sci-fi horror film centered on the crew of the space rescue vessel
Lewis and Clark as they answer a distress call from the titular spaceship, which had vanished for seven years and has mysteriously returned in Neptune’s orbit. While venturing onboard the
Event Horizon, the crew discover an experimental engine that was used to create a rift in space and time to a horrific alternate dimension.,Sam Neill led the cast of
Event Horizon alongside Laurence Fishburne, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee and Peter Marinker. HItting theaters in Summer 1997, the sci-fi horror pic was largely considered a failure by the studio, only grossing $42 million against its $60 million production budget and scoring generally mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects, but felt there was nothing more to the film. In spite of this,
Event Horizon has gone on to enjoy a cult following for said visuals and Anderson’s stylish direction.,Related: Why Event Horizon Deserves A Proper Sequel Movie,In honor of the film’s 25th anniversary,
Variety caught up with Paul W.S. Anderson to discuss
Event Horizon. When asked about how the studio responded to the film, the director recalled Paramount’s hilarious first reaction to his sci-fi horror movie, negatively comparing it to their tentpole
Star Trek franchise. See what Anderson shared below:,Given the blood-soaked nature of its story, it’s understandable Paramount would find themselves shocked by
Event Horizon upon first seeing the film. Anderson had purposely sought to make a hard-R horror film following
Mortal Kombat‘s box office success, which propelled him into the spotlight, though turned him off from making PG-13 movies at the time. This PG-13 aversion would largely carry over in the rest of Anderson’s filmography, having written all of and directed most of the
Resident Evil movie franchise starring his wife Milla Jovovich and 2006’s
Death Race, only occasionally returning to the more tame rating for 2004’s
Alien vs. Predator, 2011’s
The Three Musketeers, 2014’s
Pompeii and 2020’s
Monster Hunter.,As humorous as Paramount’s first reaction to seeing the film was, it nearly derailed Anderson’s vision for
Event Horizon as they forced him to edit much of the gore down and trim it from his original 130-minute cut to the released 96-minute version. Despite Anderson’s desire to release the deleted footage in a director’s cut, including two alternate endings, the excised material has largely been lost to time, with the filmmaker confirming the unlikelihood of it coming to be multiple times over the years. Audiences can revisit
Event Horizon in honor of its 25th anniversary with the film streaming on Fubo now.,Source: Variety