What actually happens
A distress call that sounds like a sales pitch for Hell
In 2047, a distress signal arrives from the Event Horizon, a ship that disappeared on its first voyage toward Proxima Centauri seven years earlier and has now reappeared in orbit around Neptune. The rescue ship Lewis and Clark is sent to find out why. The crew is Captain Miller, navigator Starck, pilot Smith, Peters the medical technician, Justin the engineer, doctor D.J. and rescue technician Cooper, joined by Dr. William Weir, who designed the Event Horizon. Weir explains the ship's experimental gravity drive, which folds space so the ship can cross enormous distances at once. Then he plays the signal, which is made of screams and howls and a voice saying something in Latin. D.J. translates the phrase as a request to be saved.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
Everyone on board starts seeing their worst day
The crew boards the Event Horizon and finds evidence of a massacre. While they look for survivors, the gravity drive switches on and drags Justin into a portal. A shock wave punches a hole in the Lewis and Clark, which forces the crew to live on the Event Horizon. Cooper pulls Justin out, but Justin is catatonic. Smith and Cooper go outside to repair the hull. The crew start to hallucinate their worst fears: Miller sees a crew member he left to die on an earlier mission, Peters sees her son with bloody sores on his legs, and Weir sees his dead wife, now eyeless, asking him to join her.
The video log and the translation nobody wanted
Justin wakes up and tries to eject himself through the airlock, and Miller rescues him and puts him in stasis. Miller then tells D.J. about his visions, and D.J. admits he has found a longer phrase in the distress call, which he translates as a warning to save yourself from Hell. D.J. thinks the drive tore open a way into somewhere outside the known universe and that something followed the ship home. Then, in the middle of the movie, the crew finds a video log, which is the scene people dread. It shows the original crew attacking and mutilating each other after the drive was used, while their captain chants in Latin and holds his own eyeballs in his hands. It is a recording of events that are already over.
Weir has accepted the ship's offer
Miller tells the crew to hurry up and leave, over Weir's objections. Miller and Smith go to get carbon dioxide scrubbers from the Event Horizon, and a hallucination of her son lures Peters to her death. Weir finds her body, is thrown into a vision of his wife's suicide, gouges out his own eyes, and joins the ship's evil. He blows up the Lewis and Clark with an explosive, which kills Smith and throws Cooper into space, and then he kills D.J. by cutting him open. Miller faces Weir on the bridge and loses. Weir starts a ten-minute countdown to send the ship back to Hell. Cooper uses his suit's oxygen to push himself back to the bridge window, Weir fires at the glass, and the window breaks and carries Weir out into space.
The ending, explained
Miller, Starck and Cooper survive and seal the bridge. Their own ship is gone, so Miller decides to blow up the central corridor, split the Event Horizon in half, and use the front half as a lifeboat. Hallucinations attack him, and they turn out to be Weir, who has come back to life and is even more mutilated. Miller fights him at the gravity drive and sets off the explosives, killing himself to save the others. The drive activates and drags the back half of the ship through a black hole to Hell. Starck and Cooper go into stasis next to Justin, who is still comatose, and wait. A rescue party boards the wreckage 72 days later and finds them. Starck sees Weir among the rescuers and screams herself awake, and Cooper and the rescue team try to calm her as the doors close.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Event Horizon scary?
Yes, Event Horizon is a 6.5 out of 10 with medium dread. It has jump scares, and the fear comes from a ship that shows each crew member their worst memory.
How does Event Horizon end?
Miller blows up the middle of the ship and dies, and the back half goes through a black hole to Hell. Starck and Cooper wait in stasis and are rescued 72 days later, and Starck screams awake at the sight of Weir.
Does the dog die in Event Horizon?
No dog dies in Event Horizon, and no other animal dies either.
Is there a post-credits scene in Event Horizon?
No. Event Horizon has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What is the Event Horizon's gravity drive?
In Event Horizon, the gravity drive is an experimental engine that folds space so the ship can travel across huge distances instantly. D.J. concludes that it tore open a way into somewhere outside the known universe, and something followed the ship back.
