Event Horizon is one of those classic horror films of the ninties. Practical effects are dominant, special effects are expensive and seldom used and some good ol’ “show ’em nothing” style of horror helped make this a pretty good film. But not a great film.

Event Horizon is also a perfect example of studio meddling, with the final product being a watered down, jump cut edited version of what director Paul “Yes the Resident Evil guy” Anderson wanted to unleash on the big screen. And if he had had his way, Event Horizon would have been a far gorier and intense film. See for yourself after the NSFW jump.

Why did they have barbed wire on a space ship? Still, it’s clear that Anderson had a much darker vision in mind for Event Horizon, judging by these stills from Dread Central. Originally, Anderson had completed the film and the running length was 130 minutes, including those very graphic mutiliation scenes seen in the pictures above. Paramount, the studio backing the film was clearly unnerved by this version of the film, as were test audiences, and told Anderson to trim his movie down by 30 minutes and to make it less gory.

Since then, the only evidence of these footage that has existed was on a poor VHS copy of the film, as Paramount decided to just scrap all that extra content instead of preserve it. Until last year that is, when a fresh VHS tape cropped up with the missing footage in much better condition.

I’m personally hoping that Paramount and Anderson release a director’s cut of the film. I’d pay good money for that version of Event Horizon.

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