Event Horizon – Brain Dead Space

Event Horizon was Paul W.S. Anderson's follow up to Mortal Kombat. At the time, he was highly sought after. In the wake of that movie's success, he was offered the sequel to MK and even an X-Men film, amongst other things. Wanting to veer away from PG-13 fare, Anderson settled on Event Horizon.

The basic premise of the film is that a salvage crew is dispatched to secure the titular ship, the Event Horizon, which has been missing for seven years. What they find is not something they will ever un-see, even if they don't need eyes to do so. Why? Well, in the ship's journey through the pockets of space, it took a detour.

As a result, its original crew slaughtered each other, bathing in blood and doing other unsightly things. This is a hard R, folks, and we don't even get the majority of the insanity he wanted to include. That last bit is unfortunate because, ultimately, Event Horizon feels like an unfinished film.

Its slapdash editing, done over the course of just six weeks, is unable to hide its story flaws. It's not surprising then that the film was trashed by critics (29% on Rotten Tomatoes with 79 reviews); and failed to recoup its pricey $60 million budget, grossing just $42 million.

Despite that, it is a pseudo-cult classic. Online fans have even attempted to insert what's left of the lost footage to build a director's cut the studio will never release. Its intense visuals, strengthened by dynamite sets and practical effects, also elevate what are mostly pedestrian scares.

So sit back, unearth the cosmic horrors of a Hell Lager from Surly Brewing, and get off that ship! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Chumpzilla, Capt. Cash, and Mayor McCheese are doing our best to avoid the creepy Dr. Weir as he prances naked around the Event Horizon!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – Pitched as "The Shining in space," Event Horizon can't quite reach the lofty heights of its comparison. (00:00) 
• Lingering Questions – We hear from our brothers in beer at Hop Nation USA, and then determine what could've improved this movie. (1:02:24)
• The "Save Yourself from Hell" Trivia Challenge – The Double Turn Podcast enters a wormhole to Hell, and then Chumpzilla challenges the field to trivia about the movie. (1:23:02)
• Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up: We get rowdy for "Hops and Floptober" with the John Carpenter classic, They Live.  (1:31:20)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the lost footage and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, and Amazon Music!

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