'Probably' everything that Event Horizon ripped off

Influences for Paul W. S. Anderson's space horror include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Solaris, The Shining and Hellraiser.

But 1997 cult classic folds space-time in more sinister ways.

Alien Universe¹ (1952 novel) - Volsted Gridban²

Over a dozen spaceships had disappeared into hyperspace, never to return. The lost vessels included the Jason, the Starbird, and the Invincible. Everyone assumed they fell victim to some kind of mechanical failure.

Rogue pilot Caleb (hired by Professor Armitage to find his missing daughter), finds the Invincible drifting in space six months after it vanished, with engines undamaged, the hull intact, but no trace of its crew or its two hundred passengers.

Something nasty is aboard.

Work was reprinted in 2009 as ¹The Green Helix under the author's real name ²E.C. Tubb.

Sphere (1987 novel) - Michael Crichton

In the South Pacific, 1,000 feet beneath the surface, a spaceship at least 300 years old - rests on the ocean floor of Habitat DH-8.

Five scientists are rushed to the scene: psychologist Norman Johnson, astrophysicist Ted Fielding, mathematician Harry Adams, zoologist Beth Halpern and biologist Arthur Levine, descend into the depths of the sea to investigate.

When they find a mysterious spherical object (clearly of extra-terrestrial origin), someone or something begins transmitting messages onto the team's computer screen, spelling danger for all concerned.

1998 film

Despite a stellar cast, Barry Levinson's adaptation bombed.

Surnames of characters played by Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone were changed to Goodman and Halperin respectively.

Why? Don't know.

There is no Arthur Levine (or equivalent), and the giant squid barely features due to budget constraints.

Titular sphere is described in the novel as an oversized ball bearing, but film depicts it as a smooth gold sphere that reflects everything except what stands in front of it.

Nightflyers

George R. R. Martin's novella was originally published in April 1980, in Analog Science Fiction & Fact.

Short was adapted into a film of same name in 1987.

Unlike excellent poster.

Robert Collector's effort (as T.C. Blake) sucked hard.

Mopping things up, 2018 TV series (based on expanded 1981 novella), ripped off imagery from Event Horizon.

Gravity Drive

The 'core' aka the 'heart of the ship', pays tribute to the Lament Configuration and Clive Barker was consulted during pre-production.

But...

Warlock (1989)
Richard E. Grant's Redferne gazes at his witch compass.

War Gods (1996)
End boss Exor apparently has a gravity drive spinning away.

Well it sure looks like one, right?

(Laughs).

Bringing in M. C. Escher.

Cube with Magic Ribbons (1957 lithograph)

The Black Hole (1979)

Deemed a loose remake of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), the first Disney film to be rated PG shares stark similarities with Event Horizon.

In 2130, the USS Palomino is returning to Earth after completing its mission.  En route, spaceship discovers a black hole, with the USS Cygnus nearby, that vanished 20 years ago.

Damaged by the black hole's immense power, the Palomino is forced to emergency dock with the Cygnus, and the crew soon encounter brilliant scientist Dr. Hans Reinhardt, who's hiding dark secrets.

Lest we forget, Dr. Weir explains that the gravity drive works by creating a singularity, an artificial black hole.

Both feature what is essentially Hell.

Now shit gets more serious than a heart attack.

Memories (1995)

Sci-fi anthology adapts three manga shorts by Katsuhiro 'Akira' Otomo, who also serves as an executive producer.

Magnetic Rose is directed by Kõji Morimoto and written by Satoshi Kon, who would soon helm brilliant psychological horror Perfect Blue (1997), 'inspiring' Black Swan (2010) and Smile 2 (2024).

Anyway.

Deep space salvage freighter the Corona responds to a distress signal from a giant rose-shaped space station.   

Heintz and Miguel learn the station belonged to Eva Friedel, a once-famous opera singer, who disappeared after her fiancé Carlo Rambaldi was murdered.

Eva takes on the form of Heintz's wife, telling him he "will never leave".

The station is controlled by AI that traps visitors as holographic memories of Eva, but haunting atmosphere drips with menace.

Roots Search (1986)

OVA was Hisashi Sugai's only directorial work, and was criticised for being highly derivative of Alien (1979), and even Galaxy of Terror (1981).

The Green Planet suddenly drops out of hyperspace in a forbidden sector near the Tolmeckis Station.

Moira and co board the ship and find everybody except second officer Buzz have been killed.

After a creature is destroyed on the Green Planet, shape-shfting psychic creature Alien X (calling itself a 'Messenger of God') invades the station and uses the environment and telepathy to rip crew's minds, forcing them to confront their darkest fears, leading to madness and death.

Sounds vaguely familiar, right?

Justin and Norman enter a room and are attacked.

The only difference is that Justin survives.

Claire vs Catherine

Weir's wife sunk into a deep depression due to husband neglecting her, whereas Scott's former lover reacted to him calling things off in the most extreme way.

Both took their lives by taking a straight razor and slitting their wrists inside a bathtub.

What... the... FUCK?

The Dark Side of the Moon (1990)

Sorry to disappoint everybody, but this is unrelated to 1973 Pink Floyd album of same name.

The year, 2022.

The maintenance ship SPACECORE 1 is on a routine "refab" mission. The refabs are fixers.

Their purpose is to repair nuclear-armed satellites orbiting high above the earth. Due to the atomic capabilities of these sataellites, refabbing is considered dangerous...

Very dangerous.

While doing its thing, the ship experiences a mysterious power failure, and drifts towards the Discovery 18; an old NASA shuttle that hasn't been in operation for 30 years.  Whilst on board, they hope to salvage parts to repair their ship, but the badly mutilated body of Michael Gotier falling from the rafters complicates matters.

Having learnt from the ship's records that spaceship disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle, a malevolent force initially possesses Gotier's corpse and begins playing a game of stalking.

Coincidences

The Event Horizon goes missing in 2040 and suddenly reappears seven years later.

So film was released seven years after D.J. Webster's obscurity.

WHY?

The entity of Satan gives its host snake eyes. 

With that said, check out this excerpt of Steven E. McDonald's novelisation, which is nothing like film:

"William Weir stood before him now, but this was not the Weir he knew. The body was larger, misshapen. The face was Weir's, but the skin appeared to have the texture of wood. Runes had been etched into Weir's forehead and cheeks.

The monster had eyes. They glittered green, too large, too deep. There was a reptilian coldness there, a look that spoke of millions of years. The creature had some of Weir's form, but it reaked of an alien nature that left Miller with a sense of horror that transcended anything he had ever felt."

Of course not all snakes have green eyes, but shit is still deliciously bizarre.