FINAL DESTINATION (2000) d: James Wong. c: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kristin Cloke, Seann William Scott, Chad Donella, Tony Todd. A first-rate thrill ride from beginning to end, this giddy, grim chiller pits a group of survivors of a devastating plane crash (which came to one of them as a premonition moments before take-off) against the invisible force of Death as it comes to claim their lives. Will they succumb to their inevitable fate, or can they figure out Death’s design and escape its grasp once again? Originally created as an idea for The X-Files, Final Destination is a clever mash-up of classic Twilight Zone and a gory slasher, coming at the right moment, when horror was becoming nothing more than an endless series of glib Scream wannabes. The story flows at a wonderful pace, balancing humor and horror perfectly. The characters are likable and their interactions together feel organic and unforced. The strongest aspect about the film is the screenplay’s understanding that it’s not about the impending doom of the survivors, but about the suspense that death will happen. A–
FINAL DESTINATION 2 (2003) d: David R. Ellis. c: Ali Larter, A.J. Cook, Michael Landes, Keegan Connor Tracy, Jonathan Cherry, Terrence T.C. Carson, Tony Todd. Another premonition of disaster saves a group of strangers from death; this time it’s a massive, fiery pile-up on the freeway visualized by Kimberly (Cook), a young woman on her way to Florida. When the survivors start dying in bizarre ways, Kimberly seeks the help of Clear (Larter), the sole survivor of the first film’s plane crash. Lacking the excitement of the original, this plays down the suspense in favor of gory action. Many of the new characters are colorless nitwits who you can’t wait to see get their heads caved in. That’s not to say when it happens it’s not a lot of fun, because it is, with several of the death sequences cleverly designed to be misleading and, ultimately, spectacular. A solid sequel with a bang of a twist ending. B
FINAL DESTINATION 3 (2006) d: James Wong. c: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche, Texas Battle, Sam Easton, Amanda Crew, Alexz Johnson. Director Wong and co-writer Glen Morgan returned for the third outing in the series (after co-creating the original with Jeffrey Reddick). This one features a new batch of teens who are inadvertently saved from a roller coaster disaster after high school senior, Wendy (Winstead), warns them of their impending doom. Naturally, the survivors begin dying in gruesome fashion as Wendy and chum, Kevin (Merriman), try to solve Death’s latest design. Returning to the suspenseful form of first movie, FD3 heightens the tension by slowly turning the screws, especially during the opening sequence, and keeps its audience on its toes by prolonging the build-up. It also has one of the best kill sequences in the series involving tanning beds. Energetic and darkly humorous, this is almost as good as the first movie. B+
THE FINAL DESTINATION (2009) d: David R Ellis. c: Bobby Campo, Stephanie Honoré, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson, Nick Zano. The fourth entry in the series is dumb, cartoonish, rude, and a lot of fun! After escaping a series of deadly explosions at a haggard race track, a group of survivors are picked off one-by-one by ever-greedy Death. The juicy kills this time around include a decapitation by flying tire, and a poor schmuck who gets his guts sucked out of his butthole by a pool pump. All the characters are basically personality-free meat-bags, while the screenplay is devoid of any sense of logic. But none of that matters because director Ellis steps up the action and delivers a fast-paced frenzy of splatter and mayhem, with a character seemingly dying every five minutes or so. The movie also wisely skates around the whole “death’s design” idea, which bogged down the last few films in the series. If there’s anything I’ve learned from the FD movies is that there is never any rationale, and why should there be? B
FINAL DESTINATION 5 (2011) d: Steven Quale. c: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Arlen Escarpeta, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, David Koechner, Courtney B. Vance, Tony Todd. Death stalks a new group of people, this time the employees of a company that narrowly escaped a deadly bridge collapse while on their way to a retreat. Much like FD4 the characters here aren’t going to win any personality awards and the death scenes have become almost cartoonish in their execution, with someone shouting, “Call 911!” after a woman’s fall results in her spine sticking out of her back. On a technical level, FD5 is probably the best in the series, with the bridge sequence rivaling anything seen in bigger budgeted Hollywood flicks. But by this fifth film the whole “Death’s Design” gimmick has worn thin, eliminating a lot of potential suspense and clever situations that earlier movies in the series were more successful at. That said, this one looks great, there’s no denying it’s never dull, and at times it goes down like candy. Slight but enjoyable, and with the best twist ending in the entire series. B–