american horror movies – Horror Ghouls

M3GAN (2022)

Posted on June 27, 2025June 28, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Cady is an 8-year old girl whose parents are killed in a car accident, where she is the only survivor. The girl is sent to live with her aunt Gemma, an eccentric woman who is a roboticist at a high-tech Seattle toy company called Funki. Without the company’s consent, she’s been using their resources in order to develop a highly advanced humanoid robot doll, simply named M3GAN (model 3 generative android). Things go horribly wrong during the first presentation test in the lab, where the boss orders her to discontinue any work on M3GAN. So on top of that failure, Gemma is also struggling with connecting to her niece Cady, until the girl discovers Gemma’s old motion capture robot Bruce. An old project Gemma created back at college. When she watches how Cady plays with Bruce, she becomes motivated to get rid of M3GAN’s bugs and complete her anyway. And so she does.

The finished M3GAN then ends up getting paired with Cady, and this time the presentation goes way better than the first one. M3GAN totally exceeds expectations, and even though a mass-production of her would result in a rather steep price, most children would never want another “toy“ again anyway. M3GAN proves to offer everything to a child: she can be a friend, a playmate, a therapist, a teacher…and a parent. Which, all in all, isn’t necessarily a good thing. Cady’s therapist, Lydia, mentions that she finds it worrisome that Cady appears to be developing an unhealthy attachment to M3GAN, but that’s not even the biggest problem. The problem is M3GAN herself, who appears to become more and more protective over Cady, to the point where everything that can be considered a threat to Cady’s well-being is considered something that must be eliminated…

M3GAN (or simply Megan) is a sci-fi horror film from 2022, directed by Gerard Johnstone (who also directed Housebound from 2014) with screenplay from Akela Cooper, and based on a story by Cooper and James Wan, Allison Williams and Violet McGraw. The film grossed over $181 million against a budget of $12 million, so a big success without a doubt. The sequel M3GAN 2.0. is hitting the theaters soon, and a spin-off called SOULM8TE (yes, playing around with numbers in the titles seems to be a thing here) is set to be released in 2026.

The idea for this film came when James Wan’s production company Atomic Monster was brainstorming ideas and chose to go for one with a killer doll, and going for a concept about embracing technology too much and letting it run amok. Wan said “it’s a commentary on the world we live in and it feels relevant“. It sure does, and now more than ever. An animatronic puppet version of M3GAN was used for dialogue and close-up scenes, plus stunt versions that were not puppeteered (yes, that famous dance scene would have been hard to pull off otherwise). And overall, the killer robot actually looks pretty good. They managed to give her just the right amount of realistic movements mixed with obvious robotic motions, which gives her a perfectly uncanny expression.

The movie is generally fast-paced, and mixes humour and horror in a lighthearted way which gives it a fun and campy feel. As expected it never goes very far with the kill scenes, despite there being several opportunities for it to have done so. They had to make some changes and cut down certain scenes in order to get the desired PG-13 rating for the theatrical release. Thus, the unrated release teased “more blood, more violence and more M3GAN“, so naturally we wanted to see that version! We expected to get some additional nasty and gory scenes, and what we got, was…well…barely anything at all. To be honest, it was surprisingly lackluster with very little additional meat to the bone, and I guess the most major difference was a few extra f-bombs. I guess it’s fun for the most eager fans to see the small differences, but this was so far from what we’re used to seeing in an uncut version of a movie that it felt a bit pointless. Oh well.

Overall though, M3GAN is a fun A.I. robot slasher film which works as a fine entry into the robot-killers genre. Never taking itself too seriously, never being too bloody (and yes, that goes for the unrated version as well), it’s a fine campy popcorn-flick for a lazy evening.

Additional note: the sequel M3GAN 2.0 (which we recently watched at the theaters) unfortunately ended up being quite the disappointment. While I can see how they tried to go for a “M3GAN Impossible“ version here, all horror elements are completely gone. The theme in this movie is also largely focused on what can be best described as pure pro-AI propaganda trash, which comes off as rather bad-tasting after Blumhouse’s “I H8 AI” blunder from last year. Blergh.

Director: Gerard Johnstone
Writers: Akela Cooper, James Wan
Country & year: USA/ New Zealand, 2022
Actors: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Stephane Garneau-Monten, Lori Dungey, Amy Usherwood, Jack Cassidy
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8760708/

Arcadian (2024)

Posted on June 13, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

A man named Paul (Nicolas Cage) is scavenging a storehouse for supplies while fleeing from something. We then see what appears to be an apocalyptic event with explosions and sirens and full pandemonium. Paul seeks refuge, and we see he’s cradling two infants, telling them that “everything will be okay“. Yeah, sure it will…

Fifteen years later, most of the population has been wiped out and civilization is just a faraway memory. For Paul’s twin sons, Joseph and Thomas, the world from before is nothing but a story from a time they have no memory of whatsoever. Maybe that’s for the best, though. They now live in a derelict farmhouse, but trying to get by in this apocalyptic world would’ve been a lot easier if it wasn’t for the monsters roaming the night. As soon as the sun sets, they must take shelter inside their home to avoid them. Thomas is often late as he’s spending a lot of time in the nearby farm of the Rose family, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as it’s the only place where there’s a girl around his age. One day, Joseph reveals that he’s been working on restoring an off-road utility buggy, and Paul teaches him how to drive it. Paul then sends both sons out to salvage some stuff, but on their way Thomas leaves his brother to head over to the Rose farm. As expected, things then don’t go well and both Paul and his sons end up getting a too close encounter to the creatures that come at night.

Arcadian is a post apocalyptic horror film from 2024, directed by Benjamin Brewer and written by Michael Nilon. Is stars Nicolas Cage as Paul, the father, but just a heads up: this is not one of those “cage-rage“ movies, and he’s not the lead either despite that most movie posters make it seem like he’s got a far more significant role than the actually has. This is a movie where the two sons have the major roles, as we follow their struggles in a world where there’s hardly any survivors, and the nights have been seized by monsters who seem hell-bent on destroying the few remaining pieces of humanity. Good thing those monsters fear the light, and can only walk around in the dark.

The highlight in the movie is actually the monsters. While this is by no means any scary movie, the first introduction to these creatures includes a scene that is actually creepy as hell. I’ve never seen a scene with an arm offer such a solid dose of nightmare fuel! The rest of their designs are almost disorienting at first, making you wonder what the fuck you’re actually looking at. They also have some pretty weird mannerism, like excessive teeth chattering. They’re chaotic, nonsensical, and slightly goofy, and all of that combined gives the movie the necessary personal flair. This is exactly what this movie needed, because otherwise there isn’t really much to offer. The story is very minimal, and there’s not much character depth either. The monsters are by far the most entertaining thing here, and their freakish depiction is what makes it work.

Overall, Arcadian is a nice little post apocalyptic movie with some really cool monsters. Nothing spectacular, but fine popcorn-entertainment.

Director: Benjamin Brewer
Writer: Mike Nilon
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, Maxwell Jenkins, Sadie Soverall, Samantha Coughlan, Joe Dixon, Joel Gillman
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22939186/

Jug Face (2013)

Posted on June 10, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Ada is a young woman who lives in an isolated backwoods community. Aside from selling their homemade moonshine in the nearest town, this community worships a pit that is said to have healing powers. The catch? The pit demands a sacrifice every now and then, because all good things requires a certain price to pay. One of the community members, a man named Dwight, gets visions of the next sacrifice and creates “jug faces“ from clay. The face on the latest jug must then be sacrificed to the entity that lives in the pit. Ada, visiting Dwight one day, notices his latest creation. Guess whose face is portrayed on it? Yup, it’s hers, of course. Terrified, she decides to hide the jug away. What then happens is a chain reaction of horrible events: she is arranged to marry a boy named Bodey, but Ada is already pregnant with her beloved brother’s child (yes, really). This is something she must try to keep a secret, but the worries don’t stop there. Ada is having a vision where she witnesses the death of Bodey’s sister, killed by the angered entity who didn’t get the sacrifice it wanted. Ada tries everything she can to escape both the community and the entity’s wrath, only to cause even more death.

Jug Face is a supernatural folk horror film from 2013, written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle. The jug faces in the movie was made by potter and sculptor Jason Mahlke, who designed them specifically for the film. And they certainly work in the movie’s favor, as they look like something that could be sold at an estate sale and later winding up in The Warren Occult Museum.

Many folk horror movies often deal with protagonists coming to visit certain isolated villages or communities, while this one tells a story solely from inside the community itself. They have lived for a long time with certain traditions, with the pit giving them protection from disease and also offering healing properties. What’s an occasional human sacrifice every now and then, right? And in order to make everything feel more justified, they let the entity pick the chosen one. And of course, like in the majority of all communities: you can’t really escape it.

Jug Face is definitely not a movie for the more casual horror audience. This backwoods folk horror movie delves into themes like incest, graphic depictions of having the period, and a miscarriage just to put the nasty cherry on top. There’s some gore during the killings, but not anything over the top, and most of it looks like leftovers from the local butchery (perhaps it even was, who knows). There’s still an unsettling atmosphere throughout, mixed with Ada’s isolation and lack of any easy escape route.

Jug Face is a pretty solid entry into the more bizarre hillbilly folk horror genre. A small-scale hicksploitation film that offers an interesting premise, and plays it along surprisingly straight-forward. Well worth a watch if you want something a little folkish, strange, and a little bit disgusting.

Writer and director: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Country & year: USA, 2013
Actors: Sean Bridgers, Lauren Ashley Carter, Kaitlin Cullum, Larry Fessenden, Katie Groshong, Scott Hodges, Daniel Manche, Alex Maizus, Chip Ramsey, Jennifer Spriggs
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2620736/

Companion (2025)

Posted on May 30, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Iris is a young woman who is going to an isolated lakehouse together with the love of her life: her boyfriend Josh. She fondly recalls how they met for the first time at a grocery store, where eyes met and hearts locked in an instant connection. Sounds a little overly romantically idealized? Well…it is. Despite Iris being head over heels for Josh, we quickly notice that something in their relationship is kinda off. When they meet up with Josh’s friends Kat, the couple Eli and Patrick, and Kat’s boyfriend Sergey who owns the lakehouse, things quickly go wrong, with Iris being the center of it all. And it’s at this point we find out that Iris is, in fact, not a human: she’s a companion robot, made exclusively to fulfill the needs of lonely people (and, probably most often, scumbags who wants to treat someone badly while easily getting away with it). And the best part? These robots aren’t even aware that they are robots, programmed to be fully loyal and committed to the person they “love“ without question, no matter how badly they are treated. Every narcissist’s dream, for sure. Josh had plans for Iris, of course, but those plans are botched once she becomes aware of her situation.

Companion is a science fiction thriller written and directed by Drew Hancock. It grossed $36.7 million against a budget of $10 million, and has received fairly positive reviews. The core themes of the movie is control, autonomy, and of course the dangers of technology if it gets in the wrong hands. Underneath is also a very obvious metaphor for a toxic relationship consisting of manipulation and control. Iris, being a robot, is quite physically controlled by an app in Josh’s possession, but once she becomes aware of this she manages to gain a certain control over her own self.

It’s no secret that technology can be both good and bad, depending on how people use it. Unfortunately, when new technology is created, we often see how many people are at the forefront to use it mainly by the means of exploiting others (just look at generative AI as a prime example of this). The concept of “companion robots“ in this film opens up for so many ways for bad people to use them for various purposes. All of this comes in stark contrast to how Iris is, ironically, the most “human“ character in the movie. The majority of the other people are complete assholes with little or no qualms regarding other people’s lives and well-being as long as they can gain something from it. Once Iris finds out that she is, in fact, not a human, she is also thrown into a full existential horror where free will at first seems to be completely out of her grasp, but she still tries to fight for it. Metaphorically, one could easily consider this scenario as someone realizing how toxic their relationship is, and tries to break out from it.

Companion is a fun movie about how human aggression and violence can easily become an ethical issue when given control over something that emulates human emotions, yet have no control over their lives and have no rights like that of real humans. While this is far from the first time similar concepts have been explored in movies or other media, it still felt like a fresh take, especially in these days when a situation like this seems considerably less far-fetched than it was just a few years ago.

Writer and director: Drew Hancock
Country & year: USA, 2025
Actors: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend, Jaboukie Young-White, Matt McCarthy, Marc Menchaca, Woody Fu, Ashley Lambert
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26584495/

Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

Posted on May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

The year is 1968, where Iris Campbell is going to attend the opening ceremony of a high-rise restaurant tower called Skyview. The one to bring her there is her fiancé Paul, who wants this event to be as perfect as possible. Oh, if he only knew. Well, since this is a Final Destination movie, we know the drill: Iris has her premonition, and oh boy, is this one a total disaster! The grand opening of the Skyview ends just as well as Titanic’s first voyage. The entire tower collapses, causing a huge death toll. After Iris watches her final moments before dying, however, this is where the movie takes a turn from the previous films: instead of seeing Iris “waking up“, we see college student Stefani Reyes waking up in bed with a scream. Apparently, she’s been having recurring nightmares about this event for months, driving her equally sleep-deprived roommate to the brink of murder. Stefani travels back to her family for some answers, and finds that her nightmares are linked to her maternal grandmother, Iris.

The grandmother is no longer in contact with anyone in the family, and she lives waaaay out in bumfuck nowhere. Stefani decides to pay her grandmother a visit to get some answers, and ends up at Iris’s fortified cabin. There, Iris tells Stefani all about how she was able to disrupt Death’s plans when she prevented the tower’s collapse, literally saving the lives of everyone there. She gives Iris a book where she has documented Death’s omens and giving instructions on how to spot them. Stefani, of course, thinks her grandmother’s just totally kooky and regrets going there in the first place…until Death makes his move. Soon, Stefani realizes that Iris was right, and Death is now trying to kill off the survivors in the order they would have died at the Skyview…and of course, all their descendants who were never meant to exist if they had died as intended. This, of course, includes Stefani and her younger brother, plus several of their other family members.

Final Destination: Bloodlines (aka Final Destination 6) is the latest film in the Final Destination franchise. It was directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, and written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor. It’s based on a story that was developed by them and Jon Watts. After the commercial success of Final Destination 5, the next film was described as some kind of “re-imagining“ of the franchise. That’s…not really the case, though. They’ve changed the basic setup a little bit, but it’s still a classic Final Destination film, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It premiered on May 16, and has so far received generally favorable reviews. It has currently grossed $105 million worldwide. The highest grossing film in the franchise, The Final Destination (the 4th film) made $187 million worldwide. It’s still early, so it remains to be seen if their sixth installment breaks that record.

So, how does this movie hold up to the rest of the franchise? Well, we watched it at the big screen and had a total blast with it! Six films in and it’s still feeling as playful and fun as ever, perfectly balancing humour with grisly deaths. Already from the opening scene with the Skyview you know it’s going to be good, keeping you eagerly anticipating how all hell will break loose. And it sure does! During this premonition scene there is a 71 year old stuntwoman, Yvette Ferguson, who came out of retirement in order to play a fire stunt. Now, how cool is that! Aside from the bonkers opening scene, there are many other kills that turns both bloody and gory, so the fun lasts throughout.

Final Destination: Bloodlines proves that the franchise is still going strong, and still feeling surprisingly fresh. That being said, it’s been approximately 14 years since the previous film, so it’s not like we’ve gotten these movies thrown at us every single year or so. We’ve had some time to build up an appetite for a new one, and it certainly was a great time! Now, we all know that a 7th film will be inevitable. Just how long that will take, however, remains to be seen. They still have so many ideas to take from, bad things can happen to a lot of people everywhere: on a cruise ship, in a tunnel, at a concert, on tourist attractions around the world (like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, etc.), at Las Vegas, at a circus, etc. etc. The possibilities are endless! Will be fun to see what idea they go for next.

Also, R.I.P. Tony Todd (Bludworth). It was nice to see his story arc ending here, with a reveal of his character and backstory.

Directors: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Writers: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2025
Actors: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, Courtney B. Vance, Tony Todd
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9619824/

Prequels:
– Final Destination (2000)
– Final Destination 2 (2003)
– Final Destination 3 (2006)
– The Final Destination (2009)
– Final Destination 5 (2011)

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Posted on May 16, 2025May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Sam Lawton is an office worker who is going together with his colleagues to a company retreat. On the bus, he has a premonition where the North Bay Bridge starts collapsing due to high winds, and he witnesses a lot of people getting killed. This also includes himself, after getting his ex-girlfriend Molly Harper in safety. When the premonition is over, and he starts realizing that this is really going to happen as all the small details prior to the incident becomes familiar, he panics and urges everyone to get out of the bus. Several people follow him outside, and they manage to leave before the bridge collapses. Naturally, Sam is questioned by the FBI afterwards, but everything was ruled to have happened due to natural causes. Shit happens, sometimes. After the survivors attend a memorial for all their deceased colleagues, they start dying one by one. A woman named Candice dies in a freak accident at the gym, and a man named Isaac has a not-so-pleasant experience at a Thai massage. No happy ending there. Bludworth, the coroner who has appeared in some of the movies since the start and has always seemed to know about Death’s mischievous plans, tells the remaining survivors that they are now dying in the order they were supposed to die in if they had not survived the bridge collapse. So now Sam and the remaining survivors must try to figure out a way to beat Death.

Final Destination 5 is the fifth movie in the franchise. It was released in 2011, and is directed by Steven Quale and written by Eric Heisserer. Just like the previous film, called The Final Destination (which was actually yet another movie that was supposed to be “the final film“ but which changed due to the financial success) it was shot in 3D. And just like the previous film.. the 3D effects haven’t really aged that well. Still, that doesn’t ruin the experience at all, it just adds an additional goofy flavour to it. It grossed $157 million worldwide, making it the second-highest grossing film in the franchise. The sixth film has its premiere (at least in most places) today on May 16th, so let’s see if the new one breaks any of the old records!

This film follows the same formula as previously: the protagonist has a premonition, saves some people, and then Death is coming for them. Many franchises have lost all their steam long before coming to their fifth installment, but the Final Destination movies keeps it going surprisingly strong. This might have a bit to do with how these movies are always being very simple popcorn-horror entertainment that were never meant to be groundbreaking masterpieces. Plus, the concept behind the movies opens up for so many possibilities, it’s nearly impossible to not keep it at least entertaining with its main forte: the death scenes! Or most importantly: how everything leads up to the death scenes. As always, there’s several scenes here that gives that “ick“ feeling, and the kills are just as fun as ever.

Final Destination 5 is yet another fun entry into the franchise and proves that it’s still going strong. This movie is also providing some twists and turns and even ties everything back to the first movie.

Director: Steven Quale
Writer: Eric Heisserer
Country & year: USA, 2009
Actors: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, Courtney B. Vance, Tony Todd
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1622979/

Prequels:
– Final Destination (2000)
– Final Destination 2 (2003)
– Final Destination 3 (2006)
– The Final Destination (2009)

Sequel:
– Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

The Final Destination (2009)

Posted on May 13, 2025May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Nick O’Bannon and his girlfriend is watching an auto race, together with some of their friends. Then (of course) Nick is having a premonition: a terrible accident that happens on the racetrack. After the premonition is over, and he starts noticing certain details that proves to him that this will actually happen, he starts to panic and brings along several other people with him outside of the stadium: his girlfriend Lori plus their friends Hunt and Janet, and also a racist truck driver named Carter, a woman named Samantha, a security guard named George, and mechanic Andy and his girlfriend Nadia. Once they’re outside, the accident happens and while you could’ve thought they were all safely out of reach, a stray wheel comes out of the stadium which decapitates Nadia. Carter also wants to run back inside the stadium because his wife is still there, but George manages to stop him from running into his certain death. Later, Carter has decided to give George a proper thanks for saving his life by driving to his house at night with plans of burning a cross on his lawn. In his distorted, racist mind it was George’s fault that his wife died (or the jackass probably just needed someone to blame, even if it was the man who saved his life). Death has other plans, though. The wind knocks off a horse hoof that was hanging from a rope on to the radio of Carter’s tow truck, where the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends“ starts playing (obviously, Death’s got a sense of humour). The truck starts driving by itself, letting loose a towing chain onto the road. It all ends with Carter getting wound up on the chain, dragging him down the street while sparks cause the chain to catch fire. That’s one of the survivors down. It doesn’t stop there, of course, as more of the survivors keeps dying in strange ways. Nick eventually becomes convinced that Death is coming for them all.

The Final Destination (aka Final Destination 4) is the 4th movie in the Final Destination franchise. It was released in 2009, as one of those 3D movies. The previous film, Final Destination 3, was originally supposed to be the final film, making the series a trilogy. But as already mentioned in that review, there would be no premonition needed in order to foresee that there would be a 4th film sooner or later. James Wong was originally on board to direct this one, but he had to drop it due to scheduling conflicts. Then, David R. Ellis returned (director of Final Destination 2). This movie ended up being the highest grossing of all the Final Destination films so far with $28 million on its first weekend (thus beating Rob Zombie’s Halloween II the same year) and with $187 million worldwide. There’s a sixth movie coming soon, so let’s see if that record gets broken then.

As mentioned, this movie was made with 3D effects. And, uhm… like in most 3D films… the effects haven’t really aged that well. They are not outright horrible per se, but they’re more likely to bring out a few chuckles here and there. As always, though, it’s the lead-up to the kills that brings the entertainment value. There’s some pretty decent gore, and Death is as playful as ever, having as much fun as possible while killing the characters off in all kinds of ways.

The Final Destination brings more of what you’ve already seen in the previous movies. It’s like that ordinary yet fulfilling meal you decide to eat on a lazy day: it’s nothing great, but keeps you content and does what it’s supposed to do. With a Final Destination movie you know pretty much what to expect.

Director: David R. Ellis
Writers: Eric Bress, Jeffrey Reddick
Country & year: USA, 2009
Actors: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson, Krista Allen, Andrew Fiscella, Justin Welborn, Stephanie Honoré, Lara Grice, Jackson Walker, Phil Austin
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1144884/

Prequels:
– Final Destination (2000)
– Final Destination 2 (2003)
– Final Destination 3 (2006)

Sequels:
– Final Destination 5 (2009)
– Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Posted on May 9, 2025May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Wendy Christensen is a high school student who goes together with her boyfriends and some friends to have a good time at an amusement park in Pennsylvania. They’re going to board the Devil’s Flight roller coaster (nothing bad can happen on a ride with such a name, right?), but of course Wendy has a premonition that promises total mayhem as lots of people die during the ride due to a dropped camcorder that lands on the roller coaster’s eroded tracks. Following the same formula as the previous films, Wendy sees everyone (including herself) die horrible deaths, and afterwards she freaks out and tries to warn everyone. A total of nine passengers decide to get off due to her hysteria, but several others still remain on the ride, including her boyfriend Jason. And those people all die of course. So, what happens next? Well, you guessed it: the survivors are dying one by one under mysterious circumstances. Kevin, one of the survivors, tells Wendy about the Flight 180 incident (from the first film), and they realize they are in the same situation.

Final Destination 3 is the third film in the Final Destination franchise, and it was directed by James Wong and released in 2006. While Final Destination 2 was very much a direct sequel to the first film, this one was envisioned as a stand-alone film. And just like with the earlier films, few critics gave very favorable reviews but it still became yet another financial success, with a box office of nearly $118 million which made it the highest grossing of the three current films at the time. It was originally intended to be the final part of the series, with the original title actually being Cheating Death: Final Destination 3, where they intended to make it a trilogy. Hah! As if. O f course you don’t just drop something that keeps making bank with every movie that’s being made.

The idea for this film actually came from an incident in Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth (obviously not always, though). Wong said he was inspired by a 2003 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad incident, where a derailment occurred where one man died and 10 others were hurt. So while the first film stirred the fear of traveling by plane, and the second film reminded us how dangerous the highways can be, this third film evokes the fear of roller coasters and how utterly helpless you are if something bad happens. The cast members couldn’t have had much fear of rides like this, though, as they had to ride the roller coaster a total of 26 times on the same night (!) in order to shoot all the scenes for Wendy’s premonition. Must’ve been a blast!

By watching this third film, you can’t blame anyone except yourself if you expected something very different from the first two. Once again the main focus is centered around the deaths and all the details that leads up to them, where you keep wondering how everything will unfold. Sometimes it feels like watching Death playing a point ‘n click game where all kinds of small things eventually lead up to the death of the current victim. As always, the deaths are often over-the-top and cheesy, but that’s just part of the entertainment value in these movies.

Final Destination 3 is more of the same, but still just as much fun.

Director: James Wong
Writers: Glen Morgan, James Wong, Jeffrey Reddick
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2006
Actors: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche, Alexz Johnson, Sam Easton, Jesse Moss, Gina Holden, Texas Battle, Chelan Simmons, Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, Amanda Crew
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414982/

Prequels:
– Final Destination (2000)
– Final Destination 2 (2003)

Sequels:
– The Final Destination (2006)
– Final Destination 5 (2009)
– Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Posted on May 6, 2025May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

It’s been one year since the fatal Flight 180 explosion, and shit’s about to happen all over again. Just on the ground this time, not in the air. College student Kimberly Corman is going on a spring break with her friends, and they’re heading for Daytona Beach, Florida. Just like in the previous film, our protagonist has a premonition: on the highway, a deadly pile-up is caused by a logging truck. Realizing that this is actually going to happen, she panics and stalls her car on the entrance ramp, which prevents a lot of other people from entering the deadly highway. Everyone’s pissed off, and when a state trooper begins questioning her, the pile-up occurs right in front of their faces. Despite Kimberly’s attempt to save her friends, however, fate (or Death himself) instantly made other plans: instead of her friends being killed off in the way she saw in her premonition, they are all killed when getting hit by a car carrier while the state trooper manages to push her aside at the last second. Still, there’s a lot of other survivors that would otherwise have died in the pile-up since Kimberly blocked the road prior to the accident. How will Death pick them off one by one this time?

Final Destination 2 is a supernatural horror film from 2003, and it is the sequel of Final Destination from 2000. It’s directed by David R. Ellis, with screenplay written by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress. The first movie became a financial success despite rather low ratings from the critics, so of course a sequel had to be made. This movie received mixed reviews, and grossed $90 million internationally. So, yup, another commercial success without a doubt. At this point you didn’t need to get any premonitions in order to foresee that this would be a horror franchise with many sequels to follow.

So, how does the second film differ from the first? Just as much as two Tom & Jerry cartoons differ from one another, more or less. It’s the same premise over again: person gets a premonition of impending death, manages to save themselves and some other people’s asses, and then Death kills them off one by one in the most “random“ ways possible. This one is a bit more bloodier and gorier than the first, and the kills are always a load of fun. Granted, the CGI effects aren’t really that much to write home about, but it’s all about the build-up before the actual killings happen.

Final Destination 2 is, just like the first, a fun popcorn-entertainment horror movie that follows the same formula as the first, but still manages to be entertaining and a lot of fun.

Director: David R. Ellis
Writers: J. Mackye Gruber, Eric Bress, Jeffrey Reddick
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2003
Actors: Ali Larter, A.J. Cook, Michael Landes, David Paetkau, James Kirk, Lynda Boyd, Keegan Connor Tracy, Jonathan Cherry, Terrence ‘T.C.’ Carson, Justina Machado, Tony Todd
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309593/

Prequel:
– Final Destination (2000)

Sequels:
– Final Destination 3 (2003)
– The Final Destination (2006)
– Final Destination 5 (2009)
– Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

Final Destination (2000)

Posted on May 2, 2025May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Alex Browning is a high school student who is going on a trip to Paris with his other classmates. He boards Volée Airlines Flight 180, but before the takeoff he has a premonition where he sees how the plane explodes in the air, killing everyone on board. He starts panicking, screaming that there will be an accident, and he is removed from the plane. Several of his friends and some other classmates follow him, including one of the teachers. They don’t believe him, of course,with the exception of one: Clear Rivers, who found his reaction so believable that she also decided to leave the plane before takeoff. Afterwards, they can see that the plane explodes shortly after takeoff. Huh! So Alex wasn’t just a crazy loon after all. Naturally, him predicting this beforehand makes him suspicious, and he is interrogated by the FBI. Suspicious or not, it’s pretty clear he doesn’t have anything to do with the accident, and he is just one of the lucky people to be alive. Or…that is, until the survivors keep getting killed in freak accidents. It seems Alex has disrupted Death’s plan, and the lives are now being claimed in the order they would have died if they hadn’t left the plane.

Final Destination is a supernatural horror film from 2000, directed by James Wong. The screenplay was written by Wong, Glenn Morgan, and Jeffrey Reddick, and it was based on a story by Reddick that was originally written as a spec script for an episode for The X-Files. The movie became a financial success despite receiving mostly negative reviews from the critics, making $10 million on its opening weekend. There has since been 5 other films made, with the 6th is heading to the theaters later this month.

What makes Final Destination, and all its sequels for that matter, so entertaining is it’s rather simple premise that still opens up for so many ideas. How many ways are there to die? More than we could possibly fathom. Everyday situations, household items, everything can literally turn into a death trap if the circumstances are right. And while the film series could have become too repetitive, it still manages to serve up so many inventive ways of how people could die in the most unexpected ways possible. In this first movie, the first death provides the classic formula for many of the deaths: several things happen which makes you constantly wonder how the person will get killed off, often with a few red herrings thrown at us as well. Many of the deaths are shown in a slightly cartoony way, sometimes with a bit of gore (although no excessive amounts). Storywise, the suspense mainly lies in how our protagonist, Alex, tries to figure out a way to beat Death while getting help from Clear, the only one who truly believed him right from the start.

Final Destination is a fun popcorn horror movie, where the many ways to die in otherwise normal, everyday situations is the fun part. And while this movie probably didn’t have the same effect as Jaws had on its beach-lovers, I can guess it at least gave a few people the jitters if they were traveling by plane shortly afterwards..

Director: James Wong
Writers: Glen Morgan, James Wong, Jeffrey Reddick
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2000
Actors: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kristen Cloke, Daniel Roebuck, Roger Guenveur Smith, Chad Donella, Seann William Scott, Tony Todd, Amanda Detmer, Brendan Fehr
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195714/

Sequels:
– Final Destination 2 (2000)
– Final Destination 3 (2003)
– The Final Destination (2006)
– Final Destination 5 (2009)
– Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)