Event Horizon (film)
Development
After Mortal Kombat) (1995) was a commercial success in the United States, English director Paul Anderson was inundated with screenplay offers, as well as the opportunity to direct the Mortal Kombat sequel Mortal Kombat Annihilation (1997) and the upcoming X-Men) (2000). He turned down the offers in favor of making an R-rated horror film, wanting to shift away from making another PG-13 film. Paramount Pictures sent him Philip Eisner's original script for Event Horizon, which they had been trying to develop with producers Lawrence Gordon) and Lloyd Levin. According to Eisner, he first pitched) its concept to Gordon as a "haunted house story in space", which the producer thought had potential: "Luckily", said Eisner, "he liked the idea enough to trust me to do it."
Development
Anderson's initial reaction to the script, which involved the cruiseship Event Horizon experiencing a series of hauntings by "tentacular" aliens, it having crossed the threshold of their planet or "dimension", was that it bore striking resemblance to Alien) (1979). Producer and longtime collaborator Jeremy Bolt felt it was a "terrific concept" but was "very dense" in terms of length and the storyline was "a bit lost". Anderson did not want to direct a mimicry of Alien, so he gave the script a major rewrite, picturing a "classic haunted house movie". He incorporated significant influences of successful horror films such as Robert Wise's The Haunting) (1963) and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining) (1980), because they created suspense from the unknown—the evil presence was hidden from the viewer—and their endings induced ambiguities of perception in the audience. He said he was also interested in the concept of Hell, and of "the ship itself being possessed rather than going 'Oh, it's an alien consciousness that is doing this'", and added these to the script. Anderson also said that the science fiction film Solaris) (1972) was an inspiration for Event Horizon.
Development
Screenwriter Philip Eisner acknowledged that Warhammer 40,000 influenced the story. In the setting of Warhammer 40,000, spaceships travel the galaxy by passing through "the Warp"—a parallel dimension where faster-than-light travel is possible, conceptually similar to "hyperspace" in Star Wars, but which is also inhabited by evil spirits that can infiltrate the ship and possess the crew if said ship is not properly shielded.
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