Science fiction is one of the biggest genres at the movies and the 1990s was a particularly great decade for it. It was a decade of massive, culture-defining blockbusters like The Matrix, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Total Recall, Independence Day and more. Yet, while there were plenty of hits, there were some misses as well, including some that didn’t get the credit they deserved at the time. Now, one of the most criminally underrated sci-fi horror movies of the decade is headed to free streaming in April — and audiences will actually have two different places they can watch it.

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Cult classic sci-fi horror film Event Horizon is coming to both Tubi and Kanopy in the month of April. Tubi added the film as of April 1st while the film will be available on Kanopy starting April 17th. If you unfamiliar with Kanopy, it’s a free, on-demand streaming service that offers thousands of movies, documentaries, and more without ads for users with their library card or university login. As for Event Horizon, the Paul Anderson directed film is set in 2047 and follows a group of astronauts who are tasked with investigating something unusual: a spaceship that had gone missing seven years previously after sending out a distress signal has suddenly and mysteriously reappeared. The film starred Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson. It was a box office bomb but has since gone on to be a cult classic.

Event Horizon Failed At the Box Office But Is a Chilling Sci-Fi Horror (And Has a Comic Book Sequel)

When Event Horizon hit theaters, it didn’t win over audiences or critics. The film was widely panned as being a “boring” horror film and derided for being needlessly gory with many critiques settling around the assertion that the film prioritized its style over story substance and did so poorly. Audiences at the time seemed to agree, given its box office performance. However, in the years since people have come to reconsider the film and really consider the constraints the story is being told within. Event Horizon largely takes place on the spaceship of the same name, the one that. had mysteriously disappeared years previously. By nature of being a spaceship, it’s a small, contained environment that lends to a claustrophobic sense of things that quickly descends into disturbing, nightmarish horror as the film’s events play out. To be fair, there is a good deal of gore, but it works, given the nature of what the astronauts are dealing with and turns the whole store into an evil haunted house in space mystery.

What’s fascinating about Event Horizon is that, while it failed to find success in the 1990s, it’s certainly found its place today. Not only has the film become regarded as an underrated classic, its story continues. Last year, IDW launched Event Horizon: Dark Descent, a prequel comic taking place before the events of the film and following the ship’s doomed crew while a sequel series, Event Horizon: Inferno, is coming out this month with that story set 200 years after the events of the movie. It will follow a billionaire seeking to salvage the remains of the ship only things are not likely to go quite the way he plans. Both series have proven to be popular, with the latter already breaking sales records ahead of its debut. It makes now the perfect time to watch the original movie, especially with it coming to free streaming.

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