Moviegoers loved Sam Neill’s portrayal as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993). Were they surprised four years later, in the sci-fi/horror film, Event Horizon, to see his riveting performance as Dr. William Weir, designer of a spaceship…from Hell? I believe so. These roles exhibited the depth of this fine actor’s abilities.
INFINITE SPACE – INFINITE TERROR
With that tagline, here is a brief overview of this film, which has since been deemed a cult classic in many circles. In the year 2047 a distress signal is received from the Event Horizon, a spaceship that had disappeared seven years earlier on an exploratory trip to Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth after the Sun. The ship is now orbiting Neptune. In the distress signal, amid screams, a voice is heard using a Latin phrase that is interpreted as “Save me.”
A rescue ship, the Lewis and Clark, is dispatched to investigate. It is under the command of Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), who heads a crew of seven. Dr. William Weir (Neill), the ship’s designer, is also there as a consultant.
The crew of the Lewis and Clark will wish they’d never gotten out of stasis.
Members of the crew board the Event Horizon, where they discover signs of a massacre. When a gravity drive is activated, a shock wave causes considerable damage to the Lewis and Clark, and the entire crew is forced to board the derelict ship until repairs can be made. Uh-oh…
“SAVE YOURSELVES FROM HELL”
One by one the crew succumbs to visions of their greatest past fears or regrets. Dr. Weir is especially affected, having to witness his late wife’s bloody suicide. Her eyes torn out, she begs Weir to join her.
A video log is discovered, containing the longer version of what they heard from the original distress signal. The crew of the Event Horizon, which had been laughing and waving, are now tearing one another apart, while the captain, displaying his eyes—which he had torn out—expands on his Latin phrase, which is interpreted as “Save yourselves from Hell!”
Dr, Weir (Sam Neill) is becoming one with the ship from Hell.
The ship, they now believe, had gone through a gateway beyond the known universe to a place of chaos and evil, and had brought this evil back with it. Captain Miller pushes for the completion of repairs on the rescue vessel, adding that before they leave Neptune’s orbit, they can destroy the cursed Event Horizon. Dr. Weir, himself now eyeless and mutilated and “as one” with the ship, has other plans. This conflict dominates the rest of the story.
So, Dr. Weir doesn’t sound much like Dr. Grant, does he? Therein lies the talent of the late, great Sam Neill, who I understand was as fine a human being as he was an actor. He will be missed.