It may never have reached the ranks of Alien or The Thing From Another World, but many sci-fi horror fans consider it one of the genre’s greatest cult classics: Event Horizon. The $60M Star Vehicle Starring Laurence Fishburne (“Matrix”) and Sam Neil (“Jurassic Park”) went mercilessly at the box office, but over the years the film-turned-fever-dream has developed into a real shocker with cult status in home cinema – which has lost none of its effect to this day.
But on the contrary: Celebrating its 4K premiere this week, Event Horizon shines in a whole new light and maybe even better than ever 25 years later.
Paramount donated the dark space adventure of director Paul WS Anderson (“Resident Evil”, “Mortal Kombat”) very special 4K debut as Collector’s Edition, which not only offers the film for the first time in Ultra-HD and also on Blu-ray. The comprehensive box contains the discs filled with plenty of extras in a noble steel book including a transparent slipcase, on top there is also a patch, a pin, six trading cards and the Event Horizon blueprint.
» “Event Horizon” 4K Collector’s Edition: at Amazon* / at MediaMarkt*
We took a close look at the new “Event Horizon” edition and found that the 4K version is worth it all along the line – above all, of course, because the trip on the eponymous, lost spaceship, on which the darkest nightmares become a cruel reality, is just as terrifying today as it was once.
In addition, “Event Horizon” has never looked as good as in 4K. And the (well-known) bonus material is a must anyway for anyone who wants to learn more about the film and the shooting. After all, there are also numerous disturbing scenes that were filmed but have been considered as lost for years as the Event Horizon once was…



Paramount / Webedia GmbH
It’s all in the Event Horizon box
“Event Horizon” like never before – a promise that the 4K first edition of the film keeps in many ways. On the one hand, the film stands out from current blockbusters, which are often unnecessarily stretched to lengthy runtimes, and thus seems even more entertaining today than ever before. In the almost 95 minutes, in which the arc of suspense almost never drops, there is hardly any time for slacks: As soon as the ominously pulsating title music starts at the beginning of the film, you find yourself in an oppressive vision of horror from which there is no until the end seem to be escaping.
What “Event Horizon” always distinguished, in addition to the bitter game with the most diverse human fears and an incredibly dense atmosphere, were the outstanding special effects. Because Anderson brought together a crew for his film that not only brought a lot of experience with them (and also worked on Ridley Scott’s “Alien”, among other things), but above all ensured an incredibly harmonious mix of practical and digital special effects – which apart from a few Exceptions, it still works splendidly today and, considering its age, looks really great in 4K. test of time? Passed without a doubt.



Paramount / Webedia GmbH
A special highlight: the Steelbook comes with a stylish slipcase
As always, when comparing Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray, don’t expect a jump like there used to be from DVD to Blu-ray – and that’s a good thing. Because many films (famous example: “Predator”) were visually distorted on Blu-ray, film studios in the UHD era are trying to get the most out of the original material without compromising the look and subsequently the atmosphere of the to adulterate restored films. The result is usually – and also in the case of “Event Horizon” – a transfer that lives above all from the many detailed modifications, which together provide a completely new film experience.
In many bright as well as in dark scenes, much more detail than ever before can be seen. At the same time, the natural look of the film is preserved – after all, “Event Horizon” was not shot digitally, but still on film. Individual digital effects (e.g. right at the beginning, when various objects float through the weightless space) naturally seem a bit dusty, but all in all it is quite impressive how well the film has aged, especially visually.



Paramount / Webedia GmbH
Nice extras for collectors: pin & patch
US reviews place the 4K version of “Event Horizon” even a good deal above the outstanding Blu-ray version of Shout! that was released in the United States a few years ago. Factory (which unfortunately never appeared in Germany). Although we only made a comparison with the older German release, in which the differences become all the more clear: If you want to experience the sci-fi cult classic from 1997 in the best possible quality, you can’t avoid the 4K version. In addition to the main film, it also offers a lot more…
If you are interested in the extremely exciting origin story of “Event Horizon”, you should definitely take a look at the making-of in feature film length, which was also included on the Blu-ray. Raised like a classic background documentary, the cast and crew not only reveal exciting insights into the shoot (some of the huge sets specially built for the film are particularly impressive), but also talk about the ultimately unused scenes that have long held urban legend status in Hollywood.



Paramount / Webedia GmbH
In direct comparison: 4K Steelbook (left) and Blu-ray Steelbook (right)
So if the 4K edition of “Event Horizon” brings with it a downer, it’s the still missing long version of the film, which is still considered lost and will probably never be released.
You can find out what the sometimes disturbing material is all about in the making of and in the following article, in which actor Jason Isaacs talks about working on those sequences:
And if you want to give the film a very special place on the shelf, you have all sorts of options for bringing that Event Horizon feeling into your own living room with the gimmicks included, such as the Event Horizon blueprint, the crew patch or pin. We’ll take care of that, though no guarantee, should nightmares haunt you shortly afterwards…
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