Pandorum (2009)

Pandorum (2009)

Pandorum was directed by Christian Alvart (who previously directed Case 39) who also co-wrote the story with Travis Milloy. While both of these names are lightweights when it comes to a large history in the film industry Christian's previously reviewed horror film, Case 39, makes a decent argument on why it is worth watching for that reason alone! It's fitting that the film was produced by Paul W.S. Anderson as it has the complete feel of Event Horizon on humanity's turn to evil while out in space.

To be honest science fiction horror is what initially got me into horror. Alien is the first movie that completely sold me on the idea of not only watching a horror movie but completely enjoying it. It's slowly become an addiction consuming my life and it's good to know that it all started back in a movie that was marketed to me exactly how Pandorum was - using science fiction.

The movie starts as we see Bower (Ben Foster) awaken from cryosleep and apparently has no idea what is going on. Soon after Payton (Dennis Quaid) awakens from the tube next to his and we soon discover that extended use of being put into a forced sleep and frozen tends to eat away at your memories and takes time for them to be restored. We spend the introduction of the movie with the two trapped in a room and there clearly being an issue with the power aboard the ship. Bower uses a ventilation and cable shaft in the ceiling to get out of the room and we soon discover even more of the ship is not what they are expecting.

The ship is covered in both traps an what appears to be an alien race that is hunting any humans that are awakened early as pray, think Predator without the cloaking technology. Back in the room Payton is stuck waiting and another crew member, Eden, comes into the room from the same shaft that Bower had left through. While Bower is running for his life trying to avoid the aliens we are given hints at the back story of the ship which roughly translate into Earth being ruined from overpopulation and the ship we are currently watching is an early colonization ship to attempt to colonize a livable planet for mass transport of populations to. At this same time Eden tell us that he is the last member of the previous crew as his two commanding officers ended up suffering from "Pandorum" (a space madness that manifests itself in the form of paranoia.)

While the plot itself keeps it from being as well done as either of the first two Alien movies or Event Horizon it is a fun film to watch. If you are a fan of science fiction being mixed in with your horror you won’t be disappointed in this one. You may not enjoy it as much as the films I had just mentioned but with how few truly come out this one goes up as one of the better ones. I do have to say that Dennis Quaid absolutely has to be in more horror films after seeing this one. I don’t know if it’s the ability to look tense or the voice but he can pull off the creepy factor perfectly.