Henry Cavill has built a career on embodying icons of strength, discipline, and moral clarity. From Superman in Man of Steel to Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher, his screen presence often represents order standing firm against chaos. Yet behind that polished image lies a lifelong “geek” with a taste for the darkest corners of science fiction. Among all the films he’s publicly praised, there is one that fans often call “seriously deranged” — and Cavill defends it without hesitation: Event Horizon.
Released in 1997, Event Horizon baffled audiences and critics alike. Part hard science fiction, part supernatural horror, the film follows a starship that returns from a failed experiment with faster-than-light travel — having passed through a dimension of pure chaos. Cavill once described the movie’s nightmarish otherworld as “far more beautiful than reality,” a statement that perfectly captures why this cult classic resonates so deeply with him.
Hell on the Big Screen
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, Event Horizon was a commercial disappointment, earning around $42 million on a $60 million budget. But time has been kind to it. Through home video and fan discussion, the film gained cult status for its uncompromising vision of cosmic horror.
Anderson famously designed the ship’s interior as a “cathedral in space,” drawing inspiration from Gothic architecture like Notre Dame. The result is a setting that feels sacred and profane at the same time — a visual metaphor for humanity confronting forces it was never meant to understand. The infamous “visions of hell” sequences were so extreme that the original cut earned an NC-17 rating before being trimmed down, adding to the movie’s unsettling legacy.
The Warhammer Connection
Cavill’s admiration for Event Horizon becomes even more meaningful when viewed through his passion for Warhammer 40,000. Fans have long speculated that Event Horizon feels like a “spiritual prequel” to Warhammer’s Warp — a chaotic dimension where time, space, and sanity collapse.
This connection is not accidental. Screenwriter Philip Eisner has openly admitted that Warhammer 40,000 influenced his writing. The DNA is obvious: a grimdark universe, technology flirting with damnation, and humanity paying a terrible price for progress.
Now serving as executive producer and star of Amazon’s upcoming Warhammer 40,000 cinematic universe, Cavill has emphasized how difficult it is to honor the franchise’s “complexity, trickiness, and nuance.” In that context, Event Horizon stands as the closest cinema has come to capturing Warhammer’s brutal, uncompromising tone.
“Far More Beautiful Than Reality”
Where others see excess, Cavill sees commitment. To him, the beauty of Event Horizon lies in its refusal to soften its vision. The film embraces discomfort to explore fear, obsession, and the fragility of the human mind when faced with the infinite.
By championing a movie many once dismissed as “too much,” Henry Cavill signals exactly what kind of storyteller he wants to be: one unafraid of darkness, complexity, and worlds that feel terrifyingly alive. If Event Horizon is any indication, the future he’s building for Warhammer won’t shy away from hell — it will stare straight into it.