Digress on Film: a Commentary on 1997's Sci-Fi Horror Classic Event Horizon

Event Horizon is a 1997 science fiction horror film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and written by Philip Eisner. It stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan and Joely Richardson. Set in 2047, it follows a crew of astronauts sent on a rescue mission after a missing spaceship, the Event Horizon, spontaneously appears in orbit around Neptune. Searching the ship for signs of life, they learn that the Event Horizon was a test bed for an experimental engine that created a rift in the space–time continuum and left our universe entirely, allowing a malevolent force to possess it.

In 2047, a distress signal is received from the Event Horizon, a starship that disappeared during its maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri seven years earlier, and has mysteriously reappeared in a decaying orbit around Neptune. The rescue vessel Lewis and Clark is dispatched. Its crew—Capt. Miller, second-in-command Lt. Starck, pilot Smith, medical technician Peters, engineer Ensign Justin, doctor D.J., and rescue technician Cooper—is joined by Dr. William Weir, the Event Horizon's designer. He briefs them on the ship's experimental gravity drive with a simple visualization of how it folds space-time. The distress signal seems to consist of a series of screams and howls but D.J. believes he can discern the Latin phrase "Liberate me"("Save me").