The Final Destination (2009)

The Final DestinationNick 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.

 

The Final Destination The Final Destination

 

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)

 

Vanja Ghoul

 

 

 

 

 

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Final Destination 3Wendy 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.

 

Final Destination 3 Final Destination 3

 

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)

 

Vanja Ghoul

 

 

 

 

 

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Final Destination 2It’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.

 

Final Destination 2 Final Destination 2

 

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)

 

Vanja Ghoul

 

 

 

 

 

Final Destination (2000)

Final DestinationAlex 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..

 

Final Destination Final Destination

 

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)

 

Vanja Ghoul