IRAMantisShrimp

Event Horizon's a fun film. Fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe like myself liken it to the closest we've got to a movie set aboard a Space Hulk - a lost vessel in space that has entered into the Warp (or hell, in this case) that often brings back unintended monstrosities with it, posing a danger to both its surroundings and the people who dare trespass upon it in normal space. Really there's not much more to say to that which hasn't already been said. This is definitely a great film and one on the bucket list of my personal DVD collection. Definitely worth a look.

Europa Report, along with Apollo 18, are two of in my honest opinion the greatest found footage films ever made. Bold claim, I know, but while most found footage films are full of jerky camera angles, cheap jumpscares, and a repetitive focus on the supernatural, Europa Report and Apollo 18 both give us a glimpse at the potential of the camera style first by presenting a relatively accurate depiction of space travel and the stresses that can be caused by it. In Europa Report we see a group of astronauts in the near future on a manned mission to explore Jupiter's moon Europa, which is famous for having a solid outer casing of ice and evidence that through geothermal activity there could be entire oceans of liquid water beneath, housing the potential for life. Most of the cheesier scifi films would depict the characters arriving, drilling some sort of craft to get underwater, and depicting the astronauts fighting against weird aliens with tons of cgi and not a lot of care into the realism in favor of the graphic effects and shock value. Europa Report takes a more grounded and realistic look at how a team of astronauts would tackle such an operation, and while there are several silly scenes that make glaringly obvious breaks from reality (like a scene where an astronaut is asking what time it is back on Earth while in the middle of a repair mission) it still approaches things in a way that can be believable such as the risks of exposing a contained atmosphere to toxic chemicals from an outside source, or how limited in capacity certain space missions can be simply because of the presentation of unexpected variables such as the presence of more complex life in what was thought to be the equivalent of taking ice core samples from the Arctic. All the while the film is presented from on-board cameras on both the ship and the suits of the astronauts, which fortunately removes the worry of motion-sickness inducing jerky camera shots we're so familiar with in the genre. Europa Report gets a five stars from me simply because it shows the potential of what a good found footage film can be when done competently and approached by directors willing to try something new with it rather than use it as a go-to for cheap gags simply because it's what's popular at the time. It's fun, it's believable, and it's a great example of taking a cinematography style and testing/expanding its limits. A definite recommend from me for anyone who likes fun scifi thrillers.