History Film / EventHorizon

* ActorAllusion: [[spoiler:[[Film/OmenIIITheFinalConflict Damien]]]] would feel right at home in a starship heavily implied to have accessed {{Hell}}.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: There is concern that the Event Horizon will "run out of air" (oxygen) within hours or there will build up a poisonous level of carbon dioxide. These are concerns that affect real spacecraft, perhaps most well known in the dramatic saga of Apollo 13. However, the Apollo craft interior were smaller than a small bathroom. The Horizon's interior is enormous, literally thousands of times bigger than Apollo's. Even the Clark's interior is hundreds of times bigger than Apollo's.

* UltimateEvil: The dimension that the ''Event Horizon'' crossed into, which has been equated to Hell itself (both in universe and out). Just a few minutes within was enough to drive one character to the brink of suicide, while the ''Event Horizon''[='=]s original crew went insane and slaughtered one another during the initial voyage.

** [[spoiler:Dr. Weir, after being exposed to the other dimension and blown out into space, basically turns into a [[Franchise/{{Hellraiser}} Cenobite]], with his facial scare resembling those of Pinhead's.]]

-->'''D.J.''': When the ion drive fires, you'll be taking about 30 [=Gs=]. Without a tank, the force would liquefy your skeleton.
-->'''Weir''': I've seen the effect on mice.

[[caption-width-right:300:''In the grim darkness of the not too distant future...'']]

* KnifeNut: After being told about [[spoiler:Weir's madness]], D.J. gets a badass moment when he starts picking up scalpels and bonesaws and muttering that he will take care of him. Sadly, he doesn't have the chance to use them. [[spoiler:They get used on ''him'' when he's ambushed by Weir, and when Miller finds him, he's been completely flayed, with his skin hanging on hooks above his body]].

** While at times brusquely hostile to unannounced passenger Dr. Weir, Captain Miller is firm bit fair, and devoted to the safety of his crew, becoming the hero of the movie later on.

* KnifeNut: After being told about [[spoiler:Weir's madness]], D.J. gets a badass moment when he starts picking up scalpels and bonesaws and muttering that he will take care of him. Sadly, he doesn't have the chance to use them. [[spoiler:They ultimately get used on ''him'', and when Miller finds him, he's been completely flayed, with his skin hanging on hooks above his body]].

** While he gets a bit snide in regard to the unaccountable phenomena, Dr Weir is generally polite, softly-spoken, and, even when fanatically determined to further explore the ship, is genuinely saddened on finding the recently deceased [[spoiler:Peters]].
** While at times brusquely hostile to unannounced passenger Dr Weir, Captain Miller is firm bit fair, and devoted to the safety of his crew.
* KnifeNut: After being told about [[spoiler:Weir's madness]], D.J. gets a badass moment when he starts picking up scalpels and bonesaws and muttering that he will take care of him. Sadly, he doesn't have the chance to use them. [[spoiler:They ultimately get used on ''him'', and when Miller finds him, he's been [[FlayingAlive flayed alive]]]].

* KnifeNut: After being told about [[spoiler:Weir's madness]], D.J. gets a badass moment when he starts picking up scalpels and bonesaws and muttering that he will take care of him. Sadly, he doesn't have the chance to use them.

** The Event Horizon has a pressurized environment that might well be described as-- enormous, from an oxygen consumption and CO2 waste point of view. The popular conception is of the lunar missions which had a few cubic feet of atmosphere or the Nostromo shuttle which was several times larger but they were considering a many months long duration. The Event Horizon would be able to support people for weeks before it would be become an issue, let alone 20 hours or whatever.

* AbsentAliens: Though it's implied there is ''something'' out there, no non-human life forms are ever seen. [[spoiler: Unless you count the possessed-by-evil ship itself.]]
* AgentScully: Weir keeps trying to think up increasingly ridiculous explanations for the obviously supernatural goings-on aboard the ''Event Horizon'', long after everyone else accepts that something weird is going on. Not played quite so straight later on, however: [[spoiler: At some point Weir found out what was ''really'' happening the hard way, being corrupted or possessed by the force responsible for said goings on, but kept up the pretense for a while to try and keep the crew around so they could suffer the same fate.]] This comes to an abrupt end when the crew find [[ApocalypticLog the ship's log]].

* AntagonistTitle: [[spoiler: The ship is heavily implied to have become alive and demonic after passing through Hell (or some kind of hellish alternate dimension).]]
* ApocalypticLog: "''[[spoiler: Libera te tutemet ex inferis...]]''" The final, decoded version of this log entry, which places those words into context, is one of the most (in)famous examples of this trope in cinema; it's even been referenced in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.

** While no human being has yet seen a black hole up close, we can be pretty sure that, should that ever happen, we wouldn't be able to stick our finger in one, pull out some black hole goo, get sucked in, and then thrown out again. However, even that may be more of a consciously [[{{DiscussedTrope}} discussed]] trope that's, at least partially, played with: Weir [[spoiler: ''before'' he is possessed]] explicitly says that an opening of the gateway the way it happened is not physically possible, which might imply that, under normal operation, the physical principles of the containment are quite different.

* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The final confrontation between Miller and [[spoiler: the demon-possessed Weir]].

* BigNo: Delivered by Weir when Miller [[spoiler: activates the explosives, detaching the front of the ship and allowing the surviving crew to escape]]. Depending on how one interprets [[spoiler:Weir as having become an extension of the ship's will, however, one can reasonably argue the ''Event Horizon'' itself delivered it]].
* BigOMG: Miller gives an understated and rather appalled "Oh my god" after he sees [[spoiler: Weir's self-inflicted EyeScream]].

* BizarreAlienSenses: Wherever the ''Event Horizon'' went, the [[Literature/RedDwarf eyeless look seems to be in fashion]]. The eyeless phantasm of Claire entices Dr Weir to [[spoiler: pull out his own eyes]], seemingly luring whatever inhabits the ship to possess him.

* BlackGuyDiesFirst: [[spoiler: Completely averted. Cooper is the only crew member to have survived the events of the movie with their sanity relatively intact, and Captain Miller is the last of them to die in a spectacular HeroicSacrifice.]]
* CameBackWrong: The whole ship. [[spoiler: Weir, too.]]
** The phantasms conjured by the ship invoke this; Dr Weir's eyeless wife Claire, serenely keen for him to join her in the "dimension of pure chaos", entices him to [[spoiler: pull out his own eyes]].
** Peters's son Denny, while still alive back on Earth, appears on the ship with a severe exacerbation of his disability; [[spoiler: lures the distraught Peters to her death]], and, having done so, sports a singularly chilling PsychoticSmirk.

* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: At the beginning of the film, the ship receives part of a signal from the title vessel containing a message in Latin. As the signal is partly corrupted, they initially take the message to be "''Libera te me''"--"save me." Upon acquiring the full signal and inspecting it closer, they find that the message is actually [[spoiler: "''Libera te tutemet ex inferis''"--"Save yourself from Hell."]]

* CoveredWithScars: When [[spoiler: Weir comes BackFromTheDead for the final showdown]], he is bald, naked, and covered in freaky scars. [[spoiler:It did give him his CreepyBlueEyes back, strangely enough.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: The opening scenes might incline you to believe that Weir is the protagonist, [[spoiler: but by the end, it's clearly Miller]]. Played with even further in that by the end, [[spoiler:[[SanitySlippage Weir has become the]] ''[[DemonicPossession villain]]'']].

* DrivenToMadness: Weir, after the ship continually shows him horrific visions of his wife and makes him relive his wife's suicide. Starck, in an interpetation of the film's ending. And of course, there was the ''Event Horizon'''s prior crew...

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: If he wasn't [[spoiler: transported to the hell dimension, and instead perished in the explosion]], Miller went out with a huge bang.

* EldritchAbomination: It's unclear just what happened to the ship, but it's hinted pretty heavily that it brought one of these back with it, or [[spoiler: became one itself]]. Whatever happened, the sensor suite on the ''Lewis and Clark'' says that the [[GeniusLoci ENTIRE SHIP IS ALIVE]].

* EldritchStarship: The ''Event Horizon'' was an excellent example of one even ''before'' it was [[spoiler: warped into a tortured consciousness by exposure to a [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace hellish extradimensional realm]]]]. Note the interior design of the ship, with its [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} odd cybergothic architecture, including its extremely strange "central core" and the "meat grinder corridor" leading to it, as well as the numerous spikes and other elements of its rather terrifying aesthetic]] (some of which, like the "meat grinder corridor," are handwaved as being essential to the ship's operation). It's definitely one of the weirdest human-designed ships on this list, even before being [[spoiler: possessed by extradimensional evil]]. It's also one of the closest examples on this list to a StandardHumanSpaceship, despite being simultaneously ''this'' trope.

-->[[spoiler: '''Weir:''']] Do you see? DO YOU SEE? '''[[LargeHam DO YOU SEE?!]]'''\\

* EvilIsHammy: For much of the film, [[spoiler: Weir is rather quiet and self-effacing]]. After [[spoiler: he's taken by the ship]], he quickly becomes as [[LargeHam theatrically evil]] as you'd expect.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Weir. Played with, as it seems he may have been possessed by the ship itself.]]

** Towards the end, Weir [[MindRape shows]] Miller gruesome visions of [[spoiler: what is presumably a hell dimension, in which his crewmates are [[BloodyHorror horrifically tortured and mutilated]]]]. These visions consist of very quick shots that are hard to see unless you pause at just the right moment.

* FullFrontalAssault: [[spoiler: Weir, after he is "resurrected" by the ship.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Miller lets himself get blown up just as the ship is about to enter hyperspace to save the rest of the crew. Granted he didn't have time to escape the ship and death is a far better fate than what was waiting for him in the other dimension.]]
* HiddenDepths: Invoked, as the ship uses the memories and regrets that haunt the protagonists most deeply against them, to horrifying effect. Interestingly, of everyone, it is [[spoiler: the rational, normal seeming Dr. Weir]] who proves the most susceptible to it, implying that the character was a touch more disturbed than he seemed to begin with.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Possessed Dr. Weir]] fires Miller's nailgun through the bridge's window in a reflexive attempt to kill Cooper outside. It instead shatters the glass, and he gets [[ThrownOutTheAirlock sucked into space]].
* HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler: Implied with Weir post resurrection. He gains a VoiceOfTheLegion in some parts and is covered with ritualistic scars, hinting that it's the ship using his form to confront Miller.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Dr. Weir has his moments, [[spoiler: [[SanitySlippage even before he loses it]]]].

** While he gets a bit snide in regard to the unaccountable phenomena, Dr Weir is generally polite, softly-spoken, and, even when fanatically determined to further explore the ship, is genuinely saddened on finding the recently deceased [[spoiler: Peters]].

* KnifeNut: After told about [[spoiler: Weir's madness,]] D.J. gets a badass moment when he starts picking up scalpels and bonesaws and muttering that he will take care of him. Sadly, he doesn't have the chance to use them.

** The ''Event Horizon'' is a ship that creates a black hole to travel through space-time; an event horizon is the point in the gravitational pull of a black hole beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape. [[spoiler: Ergo, once you're onboard the ''Event Horizon'', you can't escape because it won't let you.]]

** [[spoiler: Weir projecting nightmarish images to Miller of his crew in "hell."]]
** The ship seems to take a shine to taunting the characters with dead loved ones/former comrades, but Weir's nightmares are particularly recurrent/violent. [[spoiler: It eventually drives him insane.]]

* NakedNutter: The fate of the eponymous ship's crew has remained a mystery for most of the film. Towards the climax, the crew of the ''Lewis And Clark'' belatedly find a video log of what happened: [[spoiler: as soon as they activated the gravity drive, everyone on board descended into violent madness and murdered each other in a variety of hideous ways - many of the perpetrators being undressed at the time. The final shot is of the blood-splattered captain sitting in front of the camera, stark naked and holding his own eyeballs in his outstretched hands.]]

* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Possibly subverted. Dr. Weir is a doctor of theoretical physics, but shows an amazing grasp of surgery and anatomy later in the film. This is most likely due to [[spoiler: the ''Event Horizon'' [[PowersViaPossession possessing him]] as the 'surgery' was performed by an eyeless Weir]] and around/after this time he was also able to [[spoiler: [[NeckLift neck lift]] and throw people across a room with unnatural ease for someone with his build]].

* PosthumanNudism: The film unexpectedly concludes with [[spoiler: Dr Weir]] being brought back from the dead as a HumanoidAbomination by the ship; along with being given powerful new abilities in this new form, he's also stark naked - the better to show off the fact that he's bald and covered in bloody rune-marks.

** By the climax, [[spoiler: Sam Neill is basically reprising his role as [[Film/TheFinalConflict Damian Thorn]], but in outer space.]]
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Miller is haunted by the memory of the crewman he left behind to save himself. In the end, [[spoiler: he saves what is left of his crew by sacrificing himself.]]

* SayMyName: Weir screams Miller's name repeatedly, just before [[spoiler: he gets sucked out the breached window]].

* ShooOutTheClowns: Possibly the darkest example in cinema. [[spoiler: When Weir starts his rampage, his first act is to blow up the ''Lewis and Clark''. Cooper survives on a piece of wreckage, but is blown clear. He blows his air supply to try to return, but we don't see him again until much later.]]

* SlasherSmile: Possibly the most disturbing part of the ApocalypticLog (and that says ''a lot'') is Kilpack flashing one in front of the camera while holding up his own gouged-out eyes and uttering [[spoiler: ''"Libera te tutemet ex inferis."'']]

* TakeMeInstead: Captain Miller offers himself in exchange for his crew. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: "Weir" isn't in a negotiating mood.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Weir]]:''' No. There is no escape. The gateway is open, and you're all coming with me!

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[DefiedTrope Defied.]] This is what Captain Miller ''wants'' to do to the ''Event Horizon'' upon finding out what the ship did to its crew, but [[spoiler: Weir and the ''Event Horizon'' itself]] make sure he never gets the chance.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: The self-inflicted one attempted by Justin is averted by his team rescuing him. Later it's played straight with [[spoiler: possessed Dr. Weir]] breaking the window of the ''Event Horizon'''s bridge and getting sucked out.

* UltimateEvil: The dimension that the ''Event Horizon'' crossed into, which has been equated to Hell itself (both in universe and out). Just a few minutes within was enough to drive one character to the brink of suicide, while the ''Event Horizon'''s original crew went insane and slaughtered one another during the initial voyage.

* UnplannedManualDetonation: Needing an escape vessel because their own ship was destroyed, the surviving crew of ''Lewis and Clark'' decide to detonate the charges in the connecting tunnel between the ''Event Horizon's'' habitation section and its drive section, which the ship was designed to do in order to use the front as a lifeboat. Before they can detonate them, however, they're attacked by visions of their dead friends that the ''Event Horizon'' is projecting into their minds and even a resurrected Dr. Weir. Captain Miller is trapped in the drive section and detonates the explosives manually, sacrificing himself to save his remaining crew.

--> '''D.J.''': ...I thought it said ''Liberate me''. "Save me." [[spoiler: But it's not "''me''". It's "''Libera te'' '''''tutemet'''''." "Save yourself." And it gets worse... I think... that says "''ex inferis''". "Save yourself... from Hell."]]

* ExtyYearsFromNow: Produced in 1997, and set in 2047.

** Towards the end, Weir [[MindRape shows]] Miller gruesome visions of [[spoiler: what is presumably a hell dimension, in which his crewmates are [[BodyHorror horrifically mutilated]]]]. These visions consist of very quick shots that are hard to see unless you pause at just the right moment.

''Event Horizon'' is a CosmicHorrorStory which can be interpreted as an updated Creator/HPLovecraft story, a HauntedHouse movie [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE!]], or, as some like to think of it, a ''very'' disturbing prequel to the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' series.[[note]]Specifically, one set at the beginning of M3 (3rd Millennium AD), when humanity was first beginning to expand past Earth and colonize the Sol System (at some point of which they came to learn of the Immaterium's existence). Whatever dimension that the ''Event Horizon'' traveled through seems similar in nature to the Warp, and there are many telltale signs of corruption by Chaos.[[/note]]

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: ''Surprisingly'' hard - for a film with the core premise of a starship travelling [[spoiler: through Hell and coming back as an animated, possessed demonic entity.]] Aside from that [[{{SarcasmMode}} little matter]], there are only a few things in the movie that are manifestly impossible. The OneBigLie is the gravity drive, necessary for the plot, but the other notorious culprit of many SF movies, ArtificialGravity, actually follows from that in the internal logic of the setting: Weir mentions that the folding of space-time that generates the black hole in the first place is accomplished through a focused graviton beam. This implies that gravitons (whose existence is hypothetical in RealLife) are existent elementary particles in the physics of the movie, and that humankind has the capability to manipulate them - and thus directly control gravity. This handwaves the artificial gravity systems both on the ''Event Horizon'' and the ''Lewis and Clark'' in an internally consistent and fairly elegant way. Other than that, the film manages its science remarkably fine: astronomical distances and scales are fairly accurate, the notorious issues with depictions of ExplosiveDecompression and [[{{SpaceIsCold}} instant flash-freezing]] in space are averted and orbital mechanics seem to be more or less realistic as well. Apart from the aforementioned blooper regarding the ion drive, physics and engineering aspects are handled pretty well. Additionally, the film hasn't aged badly at all on the technology front, having made surprisingly accurate predictions of wireless hand-held devices, touch screens et cetera. All in all, not bad for a movie [[{{Fanon}} seen by many]][[invoked]] as a "prequel" to the soft-as-jelly ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' setting.

--> '''[[spoiler: Weir]]''' No. There is no escape. The gateway is open, and you're all coming with me!

* UncleTomfoolery: Cooper, all the damn time. "HERE I COME, MOTHERFUCKEERRRS!" Used for PluckyComicRelief and a foil to Captain Miller's dour seriousness. On the other hand, as a rescue technician, he's extremely competent - the crew treat him like a BunnyEarsLawyer.

* ShownTheirWork: Given the liberties taken with physics above, the astronomy is surprisingly on-point. UsefulNotes/{{Neptune}} looks like Neptune should look; we see accurate depictions of [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfNeptune Triton and Nereid]], and Miller mentions that they are "three billion clicks from the nearest outpost," which happens to be the orbit of UsefulNotes/{{Saturn}} (perhaps a colony on Titan?).

-->'''Cooper:''' ''(amused)'' Cap's got a case of the heebie jeebies.