Horror Movie Review: Europa Report (2013)

Europa Report is a 2013 American found footage science fiction film directed by Sebastián Cordero and written by Philip Gelatt.

Dr. Samantha Unger, CEO of Europa Ventures, narrates the story of the Europa One mission. Six astronauts embark on a privately funded mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa to find potential sources of life. The crew members are commander William Xu, pilot Rosa Dasque, chief science officer Daniel Luxembourg, marine biology science officer Katya Petrovna, junior engineer James Corrigan, and chief engineer Andrei Blok.

After six months of mission time, a solar storm hits the ship, knocking out communication with mission control. Blok and Corrigan try to repair the system from outside, but an accident rips Blok’s suit. While he is being guided back into the airlock, Blok notices that Corrigan’s suit has been coated with a corrosive material. He cannot enter the airlock or else he would contaminate the rest of the ship. Blok attempts to save Corrigan by taking him out of his suit, but he blacks out from a lack of oxygen. Knowing there is no hope for himself, Corrigan pushes Blok into the airlock, thus propelling himself away from the ship. Stranded, he dies in space; the crew continue with the mission, demoralized by Corrigan’s death.

After twenty months, the ship goes into orbit around Europa and its lunar lander lands safely on Europa. However, it misses its target zone. The crew drills through the ice and releases a probe into the underlying sea. Blok, who is sleep-deprived and eliciting concern in the rest of the crew, sees a light outside the ship. He is unable to record it or otherwise convince the crew. The probe is struck by an unknown lighted object and contact with it is lost.

Petrovna insists on collecting samples on Europa’s surface; the crew votes and she is allowed to go.

What will Katya discover on the surface? Is Andrei hallucinating or is there something more out there? Watch and find out.

The concept for Europa Report is right up my street. Space exploration and the realistic creep factor that comes with the unknown truly fascinates me. I’ve always kept up with information about Europa and its potential for life so the film didn’t give me any new information in that regard. At first I enjoyed the authentic nature and documentary style. I found it to be effective. However, once the crew arrives on Europa, I had to leave my brain at the door as the reality was replaced with pure science fiction. It would be impossible for humans to land and explore Europa due to the extreme level of radiation. The ships technology did not look much beyond current levels so I found it hard to believe in the length and realism of the journey. There is no explanation on how they’re bypassing these massive issues.

The characters are unfortunately severely underdeveloped. If any actors are given too little credit then it’s the ones who worked on this film. They are given absolutely nothing to work with so credit to them for doing a great job with such bare bones. There are rare moments of chemistry, but it’s not enough. It makes scenes such as James’ death scene disappointing because I just didn’t care.

Europa Report does manage to have great moments of tension, although they’re very run of the mill and what you would expect from the genre.

The cgi isn’t great, the ship exterior and Europa’s landscapes leave much to be desired.

Overall, Europa Report is an intriguing mystery set in the vast expanse of space. With a crew visiting one of the more mysterious celestial bodies in our system. If you’re a big fan of space exploration then there’s something here for you, however the suspension of disbelief does become too much to bare at times. A film that would have benefited greatly from more build up and bonding moments than an underwater bioluminescent “monster”.