Variety reports that Amazon Studios and You’re Next director Adam Wingard are creating a TV series based on the 1997 sci-fi horror film, Event Horizon. Details are scarce at the moment other than Wingard is working on developing the show along with producers Larry Gordon, Jeremy Platt, Lloyd Levin. This will be Wingard’s latest attempt at resurrecting a fondly remembered horror movie, after having made the Blair Witch reboot in 2016. It is unknown if original director, Paul W.S. Anderson will be involved in the project.
Event Horizon has been a cult classic among horror nerds for well over 20 years now. For those who haven’t seen it, the movie is focused on a spaceship that is fitted with experimental technology designed to travel via artificial wormholes. However, during it’s maiden voyage, the ship simply vanishes before suddenly reappearing near Jupiter 7 years later. A rescue ship is sent to search for survivors and to figure out what happened while it went missing. Turns out, the ship went to some very bad places and brought something evil back with it.
Personally, what makes me excited for this series is the fact that the movie is not very good. Yeah, that’s right, I said it. Event Horizon kinda sucks as a movie. I’m of the opinion that remakes should only happen to fix a flawed project rather than recapture the magic of a classic. While the film certainly has some effective visuals and jump scares, it is also very silly. It takes a very interesting premise and proceeds to throw any logic out the window. The ship seems to be able to do whatever the plot needs it to do and characters make stupid decisions for no good reason. If you thought Prometheus had bad writing, Event Horizon is nothing but that. The only thing that saves the movie is the fact that the cast (Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill) are able to make stupid dialogue sound good. However, the idea of a spaceship going beyond the universe and back again is still a killer premise and worth exploring. Being able to make a series out of the idea could allow for the tension to build and really explore what it would mean if scientists accidentally opened a portal to hell.
What’s more, the show could actually push the gore even farther than what the film could do. Event Horizon the movie had to have several minutes of it’s most shocking images cut out to get an R-rating. The missing footage appears to be lost meaning that the film will always be a compromised version of Anderson’s vision. If you have seen Amazon’s new series The Boys, you know they are unafraid of making something gleefully messed up. It’s exciting to see what Wingard could get away with since he is well versed in making effective horror films. Hopefully, they can really make Event Horizon into the classic it deserves to be.
