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Gizmodo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Sunshine' and ‘Event Horizon' Bring Deep-Space Madness to Gruesome Heights
With Danny Boyle's recent comments about his never-made 'Sunshine' trilogy, we're revisiting that 2007 film as well as a thematically similar 1997 cult classic. Millions of miles from Earth, a spaceship receives a distress call—so its crew changes course to investigate. Disaster follows. That's famously the set-up for Alien, but it's used often in sci-fi stories, including 1997's Event Horizon and 2007's Sunshine. Sunshine's been in the news since director Danny Boyle revealed he'd originally hoped it would kick off a trilogy; that never happened, because like Event Horizon, it flopped at the box office. But both Sunshine and Event Horizon have since earned new appreciation, and they share enough similarities to make for an excellent sci-fi horror double feature. Both films riff on that Alien 'mysterious transmission' as a plot turning point; both films take place in the not-so-distant future (Event Horizon is set in 2047; Sunshine in 2057). Both films take place in uncomfortable realms of our solar system, with Event Horizon in Neptune's orbit and Sunshine near the surface of the sun. Both films discover the distress call is coming from a ship everyone back on Earth thought had been lost; in Event Horizon, it's the titular vessel, while Sunshine's Icarus II discovers its predecessor, the Icarus. Further, both films feature characters who transform from regular (if eccentric) men into outrageously evil, scenery-devouring villains. And both films feature ridiculously good casts, including those far-out space nuts: Event Horizon's Sam Neill, and Sunshine's Mark Strong. But there are some key differences too. While the weary crew aboard the search and rescue vessel Lewis and Clarke in Event Horizon is on a top-secret mission, chasing down the long-missing title ship, the Icarus crew in Sunshine is on the most high-profile assignment of all time: launching a gigantic payload into the dying sun, hoping to reignite it and save everyone back home from a frozen death. Scientists and astronauts trying to save the planet from certain apocalypse was a trendy theme around 20 to 25 years ago. The Core came out in 2003 and concerns the frantic quest to drill into the center of the flailing Earth and restore the rotation of the core. A few years earlier, we had the battle of the asteroid movies in Deep Impact and Armageddon. But Sunshine, whose central conflict evokes elements of 1961 Twilight Zone episode 'The Midnight Sun,' takes itself more seriously than your average doomsday tale. At the very start of Sunshine, we learn—thanks to a voice-over from Cillian Murphy as Icarus II physicist Capa, a guy dealing with a bomb poised to alter humankind even more than Oppenheimer's did—that the previous mission went missing seven years ago. Capa and company have been in transit now for over a year, and they're closing in on the make-or-break moment to prevent all-out extinction. Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland carefully seed the early part of the story with hints of the terrors to come. Naming the ships Icarus and Icarus II is a bit heavy-handed—flying too close to the sun and all that—but the mood aboard Capa's ship is generally peaceful at first. Sure, the ship's doctor, Searle (Cliff Curtis), is a little too obsessed with staring at the sun, and sure, the engineer, Mace (Chris Evans), is a bit hot-tempered. But even as the mission cruises into the 'Dead Zone' that'll cut off all external communications, things seem to be going surprisingly well. Until, of course, they pass Mercury and pick up a garbled transmission from the Icarus, somehow still functioning all these years later. The debate over whether or not any crew is alive to be rescued—a cause felt more deeply by certain crew members than others—becomes a moot point when Capa decides a detour is well worth it to pick up the Icarus' abandoned payload. Their mission is the very last chance to save Earth, so if they can have two bombs at the ready, that makes the potential for success even greater. Adjusting their trajectory, however, sets off a domino effect of disasters for Icarus II, swiftly imperiling the most important space mission ever—and that's before they encounter the surprise human element that'll further seal their doom. While Sunshine's approach to science may not be entirely fact-based, Event Horizon goes full fantastical once things start to go off the rails. We need the sun to survive, but it's also frightening for a lot of reasons, all of them natural. It's hot! It's fiery! It'll burn you to a crisp! Event Horizon, on the other hand, imagines that a black hole could force a wayward ship into hell—then spit it back out into our dimension with full sentience and an urge to mentally and physically torture anyone who dares step aboard. It's a decidedly operatic idea and the production design backs that up, imagining a spaceship that pulls not just from H.R. Giger (an Alien hat-tip there), but also Hieronymus Bosch and Hellraiser. The Icarus ships are far more utilitarian (and while the AI on Icarus II sometimes goes against the crew, it's always very polite about it), but they do have a key added feature: an observation room that allows crew to admire their irradiated destination with the help of carefully calibrated safety filters. It's there that the madness of Strong's character, Icarus captain Pinbacker (a John Carpenter Dark Star hat-tip there), takes hold. Since we don't really meet him before he's become a raving, solar-mangled mix of evangelist and Freddy Krueger, we can't say if his mind was in a good place before he headed into space. In Event Horizon, we get a meaty foreshadowing that Sam Neill's character, Dr. Weir, is dealing with PTSD following his wife's death by suicide—and we get a front-row seat to his complete unraveling. However, the biggest contrast between these self-mutilated monster men is perhaps their ultimate intentions. Dr. Weir's consciousness becomes entwined with the cursed ship he designed, and he's determined to drag the Lewis and Clarke crew to hell with him. That's entirely freaky, but Pinbacker's twisted motivation is possibly worse. He believes that the sun dying is part of God's plan to end humanity. He's also come to believe that God speaks directly to him, and that none of what God has set in motion should be challenged or altered. 'He told me to take us all to heaven!' he insists, explaining why he sabotaged the Icarus and why he's determined to do the same to the Icarus II—ensuring certain death for everyone back on Earth. It's a lot of heaven talk for such a diabolical man, as the flames from the sun's surface loom ever closer. Against all odds, both Event Horizon and Sunshine find their way to—not happy endings, but something resembling hope. Event Horizon bids farewell to Dr. Weir and the haunted vessel, but lets a couple of shell-shocked characters survive. In Sunshine, all the space travelers perish, but it's implied a successful detonation has indeed kick-started the sun, and that Earth will be saved. For years, filmmakers even beyond original director Paul W.S. Anderson have talked about digging deeper into Event Horizon's world. Fans may never get to feast upon the film's legendary lost scenes, supposedly excised for being too extreme, but prequels, sequels, and most recently a TV series have been floated as potential projects. As for Sunshine, Boyle's recent mention of a trilogy came as a surprise. He didn't give any details beyond noting that screenwriter Alex Garland's ideas were 'interplanetary' and 'extraordinary,' which intriguingly suggests they went way beyond the most obvious add-ons: a prequel following Pinbacker and his crew, or a sequel that sees the Earth bounce back from solar winter. (We'd still eagerly watch either of those, however.) We may never get more Event Horizon or Sunshine. But both films as they are make for extremely entertaining sci-fi viewing—and you can rest assured, there'll always be new stories about interstellar travelers picking up distress calls and flying straight into more deep-space mayhem.
The South African
22-05-2025
- Health
- The South African
Eastern Cape healthcare couple gunned down in their home
Eastern Cape police have launched a manhunt for suspects who shot and killed a healthcare couple at their home in the Dick Locality, Lusikisiki, on Wednesday night, 21 May 2025. According to SAPS, the victims, a 39-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man, were ambushed in a brutal attack at around 19:50. The man had just arrived home and was still in his vehicle when two armed men in balaclavas held him at gunpoint. The suspects allegedly demanded to see his wife and forced him into the house. Once inside, the gunmen called out for the woman. When she came out of the bedroom, they opened fire, killing her on the spot. They then shot and killed her husband. The gunmen spared the domestic worker inside the house. Police have opened a double murder case and are appealing to the public for information. The victims were employees at St Elizabeth Hospital, the woman a professional nurse, and the man a deputy director in the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa expressed deep shock and sadness at the killings. 'Losing a life is one too many. It is even more difficult when a health professional is involved. They play a crucial role in serving our communities,' Capa said. 'These colleagues have departed at a time when the country relied heavily on their expertise as professionals who were serving their citizens with commitment and integrity,' she said. What steps must authorities take to protect frontline healthcare workers, especially in communities plagued by violent crime with no clear motive? Let us know by leaving a comment below or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Guardian
13-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Australian academics refuse to attend US conferences for fear of being detained
When Gemma Lucy Smart received an invitation to attend an academic conference in the US, she was excited. But that was before Donald Trump was returned to office. Now Smart, who has a disability and is queer, has decided it's too risky to travel to Seattle for the social sciences conference in September. The disabilities officer at the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (Capa) and PhD candidate at the University of Sydney will instead attend remotely. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Shortly after Trump was inaugurated, the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) made its conference 'hybrid' in response to what it said were 'unpredictable' developments at the US border. 'They were concerned about people entering,' Smart said. 'I work on the history of psychiatry, so my field has a lot to do with diversity, equity and inclusion. They [the conference organisers] very explicitly said 'We don't believe it is safe for everyone to travel to the US, particularly our trans and diverse colleagues.' 'The focus on that is really troubling. That, if you legitimately have a different passport than you were given at a young age, you could be detained.' The conference's co-chairs announced the hybrid move on 21 January – a day after Trump began his second term. They said in a statement that the decision reflected 'conversations with disability justice and environmental justice scholars and activists'. 'It also comes on the heels of political shifts that have made travel to the US more tenuous for many STS contributors,' they added. Australian academics are not only cancelling trips to the US for key conferences. Scholarships are being rescinded and grant funding pulled as the fallout from the Trump administration's interference continues. It follows media reports of travellers having their devices searched at the US border and being denied entry, including a French scientist who had messages on his phone critical of Donald Trump. Prior to this Trump administration, US visa applicants were required to declare if they had a disability. But Smart said she began to hear accounts of people being stopped and 'detained or denied' on the basis of their condition. 'They are doing things like checking if your medication matches your declared disability. If it doesn't, they can deny you entry,' she said. 'As an openly disabled person, I would be very hesitant to be entering right now. If the conference hadn't switched online, I wouldn't have taken the risk [to attend in person].' In a statement uploaded to its website in late January, 4S said it was 'aware' that the situation with US border control was 'currently unpredictable'. 'We … will be watching events closely in the coming months to make sure that we are supporting international attendees to the greatest possible extent,' organisers stated. 'Attendees are also encouraged to consult their own countries' travel advice.' Australia's National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said it had received multiple reports from members that US policy shifts have caused academics to cancel travel, while others have had planned research partnerships terminated with little explanation. The union's national president, Dr Alison Barnes, said members had expressed 'deeply concerning impacts on their work and careers'. 'Academics are cancelling travel to the US, abandoning valuable research partnerships, and dealing with suddenly terminated grants and contracts,' she said. 'One researcher had their five-year USAID-funded conservation program terminated literally within days of the policy changes … another had a 10-year collaboration with the CDC abruptly ended when their US counterpart was sacked by email. 'Many academics tell us they're avoiding US travel entirely due to genuine fears about border detention and visa issues.' Barnes said many LGBTQ+ researchers, in particular, no longer felt safe travelling to the US for conferences, 'directly impacting their career progression'. 'We're seeing grant applications go unanswered, contracts for 2025 jeopardised, and researchers facing significant career uncertainty,' she said. 'When our academics fear travelling to major conferences or partnering with US institutions, the impacts ripple through the entire global knowledge ecosystem. 'These changes threaten to isolate US research from vital international exchange at precisely the time when global collaboration is most needed.' Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Smart has a colleague who was shortlisted for a scholarship at an Ivy League university. The academic, who is openly trans, works on gender issues in her research. 'They have been told that the number of scholarships is dwindling, if there are any at all, and that it wouldn't be safe to enter the country,' Smart said. Her colleague declined to comment further but confirmed they'd been warned by the university that travel would be risky. PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne and the national president of Capa, Jesse Gardner-Russell, said academic conferences are crucial for developing connections and partnerships with international collaboration, particularly for early and mid career-researchers. 'In Stem, the majority of the large research labs with the top equipment will generally be found in the United States,' he said. 'If there are cuts to NIH [National Institutes of Health] funding and how those grants are rolled out, there will be large implications on our researchers even if they don't directly receive that money, because it's impacting their collaborators.' Last year, Gardner-Russell went to the US for an international research conference in his field of ophthalmology. 'I would never have learned of these individuals or their research if I hadn't had the opportunity to go there and be ingrained in that unique research culture,' he said. 'Losing students that might have to make a judgment call as to whether they can attend a conference based on the possibility of getting detained at the US is really troubling.' He said there were also concerns over intellectual property, citing reports of phones and devices being taken and examined at the border. Separately, on Friday, the host of cybersecurity podcast Risky Business, Patrick Gray, posted to Bluesky that he had cancelled a planned trip from Australia to the IT security conference RSA due to take place in San Francisco in April. 'Unfortunately, I have received advice that crossing the border into the United States right now would be a bad idea,' he wrote. According to Smartraveller, which provides advice on behalf of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, customs and border protection have strict requirements and 'broad powers' for temporary detainment or deportation when assessing eligibility. 'Officials may ask to inspect your electronic devices, emails, text messages or social media accounts. If you refuse, they can deny your entry,' it states. 'You may be held at the port of entry or a nearby detention facility. The Australian government cannot intervene on your behalf, and our ability to provide consular assistance in these circumstances may be limited.'
