Review Detail
8.4 49 10
(Updated: September 02, 2012)
Overall rating
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
5.0
Enjoyment
8.0
jokersmailbag jan 25 2009
Event Horizon was cool idea- kind of an attempt to mix elements of 2001, The Shining, and Alien – with a dash of The Philadelphia Experiment thrown in. It has a lot of positives, solid production design & visual effects and a mostly talented cast. Unfortunately, the rest of it -dialogue, characters, story- never really comes together. It borrows from other films, but doesn’t deliver anything new of it’s own. It has a few OK moments, but also has a lot of “huh?”- corny lines, confusing plot points, etc. From my point of view, it is pretty deeply flawed in a lot of ways. So, plenty of opportunity for a creative faneditor to apply his skills. Enter Mollo.
I have seen a few of Mollo’s edits now and can fairly say I believe his skills improve with each new edit- of course, technically he has always been way above average in the video and audio departments. So far this ranks as the best edit of his I have seen overall, both creatively and technically. Mollo strives for perfect with each edit- you know you are always getting his best effort. He also seems to like coloring outside the lines, always thinking of alternate routes form point A to B and isn’t afraid to take risks to get there. The more his skills improve, the more this approach is paying off. I think the guy may well create a perfect fanedit one day. Killer Horizon is certainly a step in that direction for him.
As I said, this is his finest work, for me, so far. Firstly, the video quality is top rate. And the titles are expertly done, and mesh perfectly with the new opening music. I was particularly impressed with the insertion of footage from other films, which is by now sort of a Mollo trademark. Here I found it his most seamless use of this technique by far. Really imaginative and assured, very smartly done. They give the film much needed jolts of energy. Especially good is Justin being “tempted” (although it might have been nice to hear a female voice seductively calling his name before he puts his hand in). Audio-wise, the work here is fantastic, really impressive. From the new soundtrack to the new little bits of sound design here it was a magnificent job. One thing I would have left out: The “I am Lucifer” dialogue near the end. It sort of made the evil more “Earthbound” in a sense, less universal. Plus I recognized it straight off. But this is more of a storytelling quibble, for technique my hat goes off to you. Flawless.
While Mollo has given it much more direction and life I still did not find it to be too great of a movie in terms of character and narrative flow. And I found myself not really caring to much about the characters- they didn’t seem to have any real relationship with each other and some were just not that strong anyway. Plus, I never got the sense of location or proximity. I wasn’t sure where some things were taking place, or how far characters were from each other at various times. Plus, some of the side characters didn’t seem to be affected at all by the mysterious goings on, so overall there was not an all-encompassing atmosphere of claustrophobic fear. The danger level is not really felt all the time. But, most of this is due to the problematic source material. The crew just does not seem all that smart or together to begin with, and there are some questionable logical and motivational choices made throughout. And frankly Sam Neill for me is never a very interesting actor. Here is no exception; he just doesn’t seem to have it in him to give the sort of slowly unhinging madman performance that I think the role required.
While it still sports a few logical gaps and some weak characters and dialogue, Mollo has done much to improve the original. By adding a more sinister tone through the intelligent use of new visuals and enhancements to the sound design/soundtrack (as well as cutting out some “huh?” stuff) Mollo effectively makes it a better watching experience. However, for me, the result is now simply an average sci-fi movie instead of a rather bad and boring one.
Video/Audio: An enthusiastic 5
Editing: 5
Entertainment/Story: 2.5
Overall: 4
Again, Mollo delivers a product that is superior to the original.
Event Horizon was cool idea- kind of an attempt to mix elements of 2001, The Shining, and Alien – with a dash of The Philadelphia Experiment thrown in. It has a lot of positives, solid production design & visual effects and a mostly talented cast. Unfortunately, the rest of it -dialogue, characters, story- never really comes together. It borrows from other films, but doesn’t deliver anything new of it’s own. It has a few OK moments, but also has a lot of “huh?”- corny lines, confusing plot points, etc. From my point of view, it is pretty deeply flawed in a lot of ways. So, plenty of opportunity for a creative faneditor to apply his skills. Enter Mollo.
I have seen a few of Mollo’s edits now and can fairly say I believe his skills improve with each new edit- of course, technically he has always been way above average in the video and audio departments. So far this ranks as the best edit of his I have seen overall, both creatively and technically. Mollo strives for perfect with each edit- you know you are always getting his best effort. He also seems to like coloring outside the lines, always thinking of alternate routes form point A to B and isn’t afraid to take risks to get there. The more his skills improve, the more this approach is paying off. I think the guy may well create a perfect fanedit one day. Killer Horizon is certainly a step in that direction for him.
As I said, this is his finest work, for me, so far. Firstly, the video quality is top rate. And the titles are expertly done, and mesh perfectly with the new opening music. I was particularly impressed with the insertion of footage from other films, which is by now sort of a Mollo trademark. Here I found it his most seamless use of this technique by far. Really imaginative and assured, very smartly done. They give the film much needed jolts of energy. Especially good is Justin being “tempted” (although it might have been nice to hear a female voice seductively calling his name before he puts his hand in). Audio-wise, the work here is fantastic, really impressive. From the new soundtrack to the new little bits of sound design here it was a magnificent job. One thing I would have left out: The “I am Lucifer” dialogue near the end. It sort of made the evil more “Earthbound” in a sense, less universal. Plus I recognized it straight off. But this is more of a storytelling quibble, for technique my hat goes off to you. Flawless.
While Mollo has given it much more direction and life I still did not find it to be too great of a movie in terms of character and narrative flow. And I found myself not really caring to much about the characters- they didn’t seem to have any real relationship with each other and some were just not that strong anyway. Plus, I never got the sense of location or proximity. I wasn’t sure where some things were taking place, or how far characters were from each other at various times. Plus, some of the side characters didn’t seem to be affected at all by the mysterious goings on, so overall there was not an all-encompassing atmosphere of claustrophobic fear. The danger level is not really felt all the time. But, most of this is due to the problematic source material. The crew just does not seem all that smart or together to begin with, and there are some questionable logical and motivational choices made throughout. And frankly Sam Neill for me is never a very interesting actor. Here is no exception; he just doesn’t seem to have it in him to give the sort of slowly unhinging madman performance that I think the role required.
While it still sports a few logical gaps and some weak characters and dialogue, Mollo has done much to improve the original. By adding a more sinister tone through the intelligent use of new visuals and enhancements to the sound design/soundtrack (as well as cutting out some “huh?” stuff) Mollo effectively makes it a better watching experience. However, for me, the result is now simply an average sci-fi movie instead of a rather bad and boring one.
Video/Audio: An enthusiastic 5
Editing: 5
Entertainment/Story: 2.5
Overall: 4
Again, Mollo delivers a product that is superior to the original.
J
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