10 Best Movies To Watch If You Love Event Horizon

Several titles found success and acclaim almost immediately, but others garnered attention only after their theatrical release. Paul W.S. Anderson's Event Horizon falls into that category. Critics were not kind to the 1997 sci-fi horror movie, and the project actually lost money at the box office.

Years later, audience perceptions surrounding Event Horizon changed dramatically. The movie is widely regarded as a 90s horror classic, mentioned in the same breath as other genre masterpieces, like Alien. The film takes audiences on a journey into the unknown. We're introduced to Captain Miller (Lawrence Fishburne) of the Lewis and Clark. He begrudgingly takes his weary space crew on a voyage into deep space with a special passenger on board, Dr. Weir (Sam Neill).

Weir offers support in locating the Event Horizon, a ship that suddenly vanished while using black hole technology. We know something is wrong with the ship almost immediately, and unraveling the mystery of where it's been is alluring, even during a rewatch.

Event Horizon doesn't shy away from disturbing imagery, offering audiences a glimpse of "hell." The movie boasts an all-star cast and strong psychological horror where we're often unsure what's real. Ultimately, the 1997 movie remains remarkable because there are so few titles like it. Nevertheless, there are some that scratch a similar itch.

10 1408 (2007)

1408 features an entirely different setting from Event Horizon, though the premise and horror style are similar in all the right ways. The movie stars John Cusack as Mike Enslin. He's a washed-up writer with a tragic past, relegated to writing about alleged haunted houses.

Enslin receives a mysterious call about room 1408 at The Dolphin Hotel. The manager, Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), begs him not to stay there, explaining that many guests never leave alive.

The exchange between Enslin and Olin is incredible, but room 1408 feels like a character of its own. 1408 is a tense supernatural horror film, far scarier than its setting would suggest. Cusack is brilliant as Enslin, sarcastically documenting his experiences before the scares become all too real.

9 Ghost Ship (2002)

Ghost Ship boasts a charming, grungy, early-2000s vibe, with arguably one of the most shocking intros to a horror film at the time. The story is also similar to Event Horizon, even though it takes place at sea.

Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) is the captain of a salvage ship. A stranger approaches his crew at a dock, revealing the coordinates of a mysterious vessel in the middle of nowhere. They find a derelict cruise liner and board in search of riches, but quickly get stuck with no way home.

The ship has a dark past, and it's immediately apparent that nothing is what it seems. Ghost Ship is full of great scares, clever special effects, and a hard-rock soundtrack that feels like a time capsule.

8 Infini (2015)

Infini is a gritty sci-fi horror movie set in a future where humanity runs numerous off-world mining stations. Earth receives a distress signal from a distant facility named Infini and sends a group to investigate.

The team uncovers disturbing scenes at the station. They find a survivor, Whit Carmichael (Daniel MacPherson), who explains that they exposed a deadly contagion and that nobody is safe.

There's more to the contagion in Infini than meets the eye, and it's far more disturbing than any regular virus. It seems to break its victims down mentally, but with a purpose. The movie delves into body-horror territory, and bizarre events have the survivors questioning what is real.

7 Hellraiser (1987)

One oddly fascinating aspect of Event Horizon is its depiction of hell. We know the ship has been 'somewhere,' but as Dr. Weir says, "Hell is only a word. The reality is much, much worse." We see horrifying glimpses of this alternate dimension, and if you enjoy that aspect of the movie, you'll likely appreciate Hellraiser.

Hellraiser is an 80s horror classic that introduced audiences to the legendary Pinhead. Frank (Sean Chapman) solves a puzzle box known as the Lament Configuration. However, he doesn't realize that doing so opens a gateway to a hellish dimension, summoning the Cenobites, terrifying, grotesque creatures, in the process.

The Cenobites take Frank, and the movie becomes far more twisted when he returns. Hellraiser is full of disturbing imagery, and many of the special effects are practical, so they still hold up even today.

6 Sphere (1998)

Sphere feels like Event Horizon underwater in many ways, and was only released a year later. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman as Norman. He leads a group of highly skilled professionals at the top of their fields on a journey to the ocean floor.

The US Navy uncovers a mysterious alien spacecraft deep in the South Pacific. Norman's crew is tasked with investigating. They know very little about the ship other than that something is still running inside.

Sphere quickly enters psychological thriller territory for reasons I won't spoil here. The movie captures the same ominous fear of the unknown as Event Horizon and proves that underwater voyages are just as unforgiving as those among the stars.

5 Annihilation (2018)

Annihilation is one of the newest films on the list, starring Natalie Portman as Lena. She's a military-trained biologist and part of a team sent to investigate a strange phenomenon on Earth called the Shimmer.

The Shimmer acts like a gateway to an alternate reality. The team encounters strange lifeforms inside, but they also realize that some creatures that look normal have bizarre features that should not be possible. Events take a dark turn when Lena's team decides to stay overnight and realizes the rules of reality do not apply.

Annihilation fully commits to psychological and body horror as our heroes explore the unknown. The Shimmer may be different from the hell of Event Horizon, but both films share many similarities, including a strong cast.

4 The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

The Cloverfield Paradox is a wild sci-fi horror movie with a great cast, including Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Hamilton and Chris O'Dowd as Mundy. The pair are part of a crew onboard the Cloverfield Space Station.

Earth is on the brink of a global energy crisis, which they hope to solve with cutting-edge, experimental technology. The crew plans to use a particle accelerator called the Shepherd to effectively generate unlimited energy. Naturally, the device does not work as intended, causing chaos onboard the ship and beyond.

I'm being purposely vague because the story has a few important twists that are so much better if you don't know what's coming. The Cloverfield Paradox is arguably a little muddled at times, but it is like Event Horizon in that it showcases humans meddling with technology they cannot comprehend.

3 Pandorum (2009)

Pandorum is a chilling sci-fi horror movie with a great premise. Earth has run out of resources, forcing humans to leave on massive colony ships containing thousands of travelers. One of those ships is called the Elysium, with 60,000 on board, sleeping for the journey.

Two passengers, Payton (Dennis Quaid) and Bower (Ben Foster), wake up early with no clue how or why. The ship seems deserted, though they quickly realize they aren't alone, and the vessel is crawling with creatures that barely resemble people.

The story of Pandorum explores what happened on the ship and where its new inhabitants came from. It's a tense movie, full of ominous dread, as Payton and Bower realize nobody is coming to help.

2 Europa Report (2013)

Europa Report is a unique movie on this list, as it's a sci-fi horror shot from a found-footage perspective. A group of astronauts is on a bold voyage to one of Jupiter's moons in search of life. However, their journey becomes fraught with danger as the crew makes a discovery beyond their wildest dreams.

Europa Report is lighter on scares than Event Horizon, and feels grounded despite being a sci-fi movie. Still, the film tells a great story about a journey into the unknown and how helpless humans are when they're so far from home.

The found-footage perspective also makes you feel like you're part of the crew. Most of the action is shot from static cameras around the ship, and the astronauts are relatable as they aren't action heroes.

1 Sunshine (2007)

The plot of Sunshine is arguably the closest to Event Horizon on this list. It's an exceptional sci-fi horror movie with an all-star cast, including Cillian Murphy as Capa and Chris Evans as Mace. They are part of the highly skilled Icarus II space crew on a mission to revive our dying sun.

The crew intends to launch a powerful bomb at the sun to reignite it and begin the voyage into uncharted territory. While en route to the Sun, they detect a distress signal from another ship, Icarus I, a vessel that attempted the same mission but never succeeded.

The similarities between Sunshine and Event Horizon are obvious. Sunshine has plenty of psychological horror moments, but it is far from a carbon copy of the 1997 cult classic. The movie boasts great characters, a tense story, and jaw-dropping imagery as the crew of Icarus II begins to realize the voyage could become a one-way trip.