There’s good news for Paramount+ subscribers, with one of the 1990s’ scariest horror movies recently hitting the streaming service. The ’90s was a decade of change for horror – after the rise of slashers from the late-70s through to the early 80s, the genre pivoted away from such extreme violence and gore (to a degree). Instead, it saw horror movies go full meta, first with Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and then to huge success with Scream. The end of the decade, meanwhile, gave birth to found footage thanks to The Blair Witch Project, and more Japanese horror movies (e.g. The Ring/Ringu) became popular in the U.S. too.
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Still, just because horror movies were different doesn’t mean they weren’t terrifying, as some of those examples above prove. Another great showcase for this is Event Horizon, which started streaming on Paramount+ on August 1st, 2025. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, the Sci-Fi horror follows a crew of astronauts in 2047, who are sent on a rescue mission to save those onboard another ship, the eponymous Event Horizon. The film is, given where the genre was at when it released in 1997, something of a throwback, taking inspiration from movies of the 70s and 80s, but that has very much worked in its favor.
Why You Should Watch Event Horizon
Event Horizon is comfortably the best movie Anderson has made. Its plot carries some notable similarities to both Alien and Aliens (as well as The Shining, for good measure), but when done well, that still makes for some big thrills and even bigger scares. And make no mistake, despite a poor critical reception at the time, Event Horizon is done well (and now regarded as a cult classic). In particular, and what will stay with you after watching on streaming, is some of the frankly traumatizing imagery Anderson commits to screen. It’s violent and gory, yes, but also conjures up the stuff of nightmares, a pure hellscape that sears itself into your retinas and some of the most striking visuals of any horror movie, ever.
It’s also worth mentioning the cast of the movie, which is another reason it works so well. Anderson assembles a great crew, led by Laurence Fishburne as Captain Miller, who is joined by the likes of Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, and you’ll even say hello to a younger, pre-Harry Potter Jason Isaacs. Fishburne is as excellent as you’d expect, and brings both gravitas and likability to the lead role. There’s a great dynamic between the team as well, which is key to any movie like this: you have to be able to root for them, especially when things start to go very, very wrong.
It is, admittedly, a movie that can’t always match its own ambition. There’s an attempt to marry the Sci-Fi horror thrills with deeper theological themes and ideas, particularly with the movie quite literally going to Hell. It doesn’t quite pull off the balancing act, but that it tries to be something more than a schlocky horror pic is itself worth applauding, and even if thematically it’s not all tied together, the story is never really bogged down by it. The movie zips along at a great pace and, clocking in at just 96 minutes, is even easy to fit into a weeknight watch.
Other Horror Movies Now On Paramount+
If you’ve already seen (and hopefully enjoyed) Event Horizon, or it doesn’t sound like your kind of horror movie, then fear not: Paramount+ has recently added several others that may be more up your (nightmare) alley. The additions in August include:
- Annihilation
- Crawl
- mother!
- Paranormal Activity 1-4, plus The Marked Ones and The Ghost Dimension.
- Red Eye
- The Ruins
- What Lies Beneath
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics -
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
