“The doctors referred to it as ODS symptom. The privates, we call it Pandorum.”
Sometimes I’m just in the mood to watch a movie like Event Horizon. Not the movie itself – I’ve seen it plenty of times, and already reviewed it for SAW. Something creepy and Lovecraftian, but set on a spaceship (or space station – I’m not picky). I’m inevitably disappointed – there just don’t seem to be enough horror/sci-fi films around when you need them. (I’d watch the hell out of a live action Dead Space. I think.) Usually, I just end up watching Event Horizon or Alien again.
Luckily, as I was perusing the movies available on Tubi, I happened to see that they had Pandorum. It’s been a few years since I last watched it, and while I remember being slightly underwhelmed, I also remember being impressed with the mood and effects.
I still need more recs for more flicks like this, though. If you’ve got any, please post them in the comments!
The Medium
I watched Pandorum on Tubi, and it was serviceable enough – though not HD quality. There is a Blu-ray from Anchor Bay that was released in 2009, but I’ve never felt the need to pick it up. (There was a multi-disc release with three other films – Let Me In, The Crazies and Apollo 18 that might be worth it, though.) For streaming options, you can view Pandorum free with ads on Tubi, Hoopla and FreeVee, as well as free for subs on Amazon Prime. It can be purchased or rented via Amazon, Apple TV and Microsoft.
The Movie
It’s 2174 and the Earth is chock-a-block full of human beings. The recent discovery of an Earth-like planet leads to the construction of an enormous interstellar ship, the Elysium, meant to carry 60,000 humans in hypersleep/cryosleep/goopy-second-skin-sleep to their new home. Eight years into the journey, the crew (on a rotating cycle of sleep/awake with other crews) gets a message from Earth. “We done screwed up. Planet’s gone. You’re it. Good luck.” Maybe not in so many words – but that’s the gist.
An indeterminate amount of time later, Corporal Bower (Ben Foster) is awakened in the cold and dark, along with Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid). They’re both suffering from partial amnesia, a result of an unusually long time in hypersleep. How long, exactly, they’re unable to determine – as power surges are playing havoc with the computers and they cannot contact the bridge.
Bower heads off through the ventilation system to try and get to the reactor and stabilize it. Payton stays to try and get into the computer system and figure out why they’re the only two members of their rotation to awaken. Bower is beginning to suffer the early stages of a deep-space psychotic syndrome known as “Orbital Dysfunction Syndrome.” Also called Pandorum.
I’m a sucker for amnesia stories in general – the ‘who are you and what did you do and what will you do now that you’ve got a clean slate’ sort of thing. It’s one of the reasons I got sucked into Dark Matter (damn you SyFy for cancelling it). Memento, Bourne Identity, Dark City, Total Recall. Even Paycheck. So just with that conceit I’m already predisposed to enjoy the film. Add to that a grimy, dark and claustrophobic first act that treats the ship as a giant haunted house full of monsters, and I’m all in.
Pandorum doesn’t manage to keep up with the promise of that first third – morphing into more standard sci-fi action fare as Bowers meets more survivors and the ‘monsters’ are revealed in brighter light as more Mad Max rejects than the xenomorphs. The dark, cramped hallways and holds give way to brighter, open areas that work better for the action-oriented set pieces and chase sequences. Not to say it’s bad – it’s quite fun, really – but it’s not as oppressive and weird as it sets out to be.
In fact I find myself more interested in Payton and the survivor he finds, Corporal Gallo (Cam Gigandet). Gallo claims the ship is lost in space and that he was forced to kill his fellow crew members after they succumbed to Pandorum. There’s something more going on with the twitchy (and sketchy) Corporal, however. We know it, and Payton knows it – leading him to take precautions.
Bower and the two survivors that join his quest to find the reactor – Nadia (Antje Traue) and Manh (Cung Le) – dodge groups of the creatures (who are incredibly difficult to kill – except when they’re not) and run across yet another survivor, Leland (Eddie Rouse). Leland offers them sanctuary and food and tells them the real story – about the message from earth, and how one of the crew went mad and killed the others. That the crew member then ‘played God’ with the passengers before putting himself back into hypersleep and abandoned the passengers to time (and an evolution accelerating enzyme). Leland’s also drugged the food, because he’s an opportunistic cannibal as well as a storyteller.
Things go on from there with the ‘final countdown’ race to the reactor, a confrontation between Payton and Gallo that goes a way you shouldn’t expect, but probably do, and well as a final reveal that should feel like more of a twist than it does. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but it was close enough to feel disappointing.
The Bottom Line
There are a bunch of interesting ideas and imagery, but Pandorum ends up feeling both lighter and more familiar than it should. It doesn’t quite scratch that Lovecraft-in-Space itch that Event Horizon does so well either, being more of a horror/adventure tale with some pretty standard action beats and familiar sci-fi tropes. It’s still got plenty to recommend it, with some great set design and performances (including a pre-Walking Dead Norman Reedus) and a story that’s still enjoyable, if not groundbreaking. This was supposedly the first in a planned trilogy, but box office returns meant the rest of the series was shelved. It’s too bad, as I think a followup might be interesting.
