The only officially released movie, 2010’s Ultramarines, was not well-received, but there may actually be a better Warhammer movie already in existence. A popular fan theory states that the 1997 sci-fi/horror flick Event Horizon fits quite well in the timeline and mythos of Warhammer 40k. This film recently came back to Netflix in the US, so let’s see if the fans are right about this one.
The events of Warhammer 40k take place in the distant future (the 41st millennium) at a time when mankind has spread across the stars. The technology they use to do this is called the Warp-Drive, and this is what ties Event Horizon to Warhammer in a rather intriguing way. If you’ve never seen Event Horizon, there will be some minor spoilers here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVlnER8SxfQ?wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geek.com&widgetid=1]
Event Horizon stars Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill as they and a small crew of investigators try to find out what happened to an experimental starship called the Event Horizon. It was testing a first-of-its-kind gravity drive that could allow it to cover the vast distance between stars, but it vanished on its maiden voyage only to return several years later without the crew. Proponents of the Warhammer connection explain that the gravity drive tested in the mid 21st century is an early version of the Warp-Drive from Warhammer. In Warhammer lore, traveling through “The Warp” without proper protection is a sure recipe for death.
Warhammer’s Warp (sometimes called the Immaterium or just Chaos) is an alternate dimension of pure psychic energy populated by so-called Chaos Gods and their Daemon servants, along with a plethora of other warp entities. To protect the crew of ships in Warhammer, humans have psychic navigators that guide them through the warp and a technology called a Gellar Field. To go without the Gellar Field would expose the crew to attack by Chaos beings. So why go through there? It’s a shortcut from anywhere to anywhere else.
In the film, we learn that the Event Horizon was in a dimension of pure “chaos” or “hell” that caused the crew to either kill each other or be killed by some unknown power. The ship seems alive after its mysterious trip, and something is manipulating and murdering the investigators. So, the question of where the Event Horizon was and what happened to the crew is answered rather simply by this fan theory — it was in The Warp. Neither psychic navigators nor the Gellar Field existed when Event Horizon took place, leaving the crew exposed to Chaos — a term that’s actually used in the movie. The Chaos God Khorne, for example, would have been quite happy to eliminate the crew of the ship. He’s the Chaos God of blood, murder, and war — pleasant fellow.
When Event Horizon came back and the rescue party arrives, its engine is still online (we see it fire up on occasion). If we assume the above explanation is correct, the ship still has a connection to The Warp. Thus, Chaos Gods could influence the crew, hoping to lure them back to the other side. According to the theory, a Daemon of Chaos might even have hitched a ride back on the Event Horizon to torment humanity. This is something that has happened repeatedly in the Warhammer universe when the barrier between realspace and The Warp is breached.
It’s a hard sell to claim that writer Philip Eisner came up with this story specifically as a Warhammer prequel, but maybe he took some inspiration from the nature of The Warp in Warhammer 40k. Even if it’s all baseless, it adds an interesting new dimension to the movie. Check it out and see if you agree.
Información via | geek