Event Horizon

Laurence Fishburne was last seen as "Othello," Sam Neill starred in "Jurassic Park," Kathleen Quinlan got an Oscar nomination for "Apollo 13" and Joely Richardson was in last year's hit "101 Dalmatians" — and now they're all in "Event Horizon."

But this big-budget no-brainer is hardly a step up, career-wise, despite what they may be saying on the talk-show circuit. We can only hope they were well-paid.

"Event Horizon" is little more than a cross between "Alien" (everything jumps out at you except the cat) and "Hellraiser" (although it owes something to "Stargate" and a dozen other sci-fi and horror flicks). And since the last entry in that series — "Hellraiser: Bloodline" — was partly set on an isolated space station, maybe "Event Horizon" could actually qualify as a sequel!

A warning: Not that it matters in a film like this, but I am going to be giving away some key plot points that occur late in the picture — so if you plan to see it, you might want to stop reading here.

The film begins as a rescue team, headed by Fishburne, is on leave in "deep space" during the year 2047. The team's respite is cut short when a scientist (Neill) joins the crew for a top secret mission.

They are to dock with a vessel called "Event Horizon" that has been missing for seven years, and which the government said was destroyed. But Neill tells them he is the inventor of the vessel and that it is actually a transport device that can cross over space and time.

Eventually, we learn that the ship's central power source is a huge ball with revolving rings (this film's equivalent of "Hellraiser's" puzzle box), which opens an artificial black hole in space — "the most destructive force in the universe." By the end of the film, however, it is apparent that the black hole is actually a portal to hell.

Along the way, unknown forces kill off members of the crew in particularly gruesome ways, luring them to their doom by conjuring up images of their deepest, darkest secrets.

And the blood flows . . . and in some places, floods.

As a result, "Event Horizon" is for splatter fans only — and even they might find themselves disappointed as they search the convoluted goings-on for a story or some semblance of character development.

The film is rated R for considerable violence, gore and profanity, along with some vulgar language and nudity.