The Final Destination – Review

Reviews

the_final_destination

Director: David R. Ellis
Notable Cast: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson

Horror doesn’t have a whole lot of variety at the multiplex, nowadays. You have your slashers, supernatural creepers, torture porn (or “gorn”) and the DTMs. DTMs are “dead teenager movies.” Those are the ones without any reliance on parental figures or guidance, because let’s face it, a parent wouldn’t be able to solve the problem with a simple, “Well, back in my day…” DTMs and slashers overlap more times than not almost to the point that DTMs are a sub-category of the slasher genre. The Final Destination franchise is slasher free, however. There are no killers with an affinity for hockey masks or cutlery. Here the killer is Death. Try to cheat him and he’ll get you in the end.

The fourth in the FD series comes three years after the third chapter. It’s like clockwork: every three years a new FD arrives to satisfy those who just like to see teenagers die any number of ways. But don’t let the three-year gap mislead you. The filmmakers aren’t sweating over the narrative or worrying about costumes. The same goes for the title. Hopefully a think-tank didn’t spend months deciding if the title should include the number four or not. Seeing what Universal did with The Fast and Furious franchise – dropping the “The” and making the “and” an ampersand – they probably thought why not just put a “The” before Final Destination. It can’t be any weirder than Rambo being the fourth installment after Rambo III, can it?

Watching stockcars burn up the racetrack as they zip across at over a hundred miles an hour, this is how Nick O’Bannon and his friends are spending a lazy afternoon. The venue is certainly questionable: a bleacher breaking because of too much use, the foundation is in disrepair – cracking is clearly evident – and screws are coming loose all on their own. When a screwdriver dislodges from a car and lands on the track, a cataclysmic chain of events ensues. The end result is death to everyone in attendance. Ah, but it’s a swerve. Using the same technique from the first three entries it was only a premonition. When Nick starts to see things play out just as he envisioned, though, he knows it’s time to get the hell out of there. Nick and his friends flee the stadium along with a few others who get dragged out with them. They become survivors to the vehicular carnage. Or so they think.

The survivors are picked off one by one as if they were characters in Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (aka Ten Little Indians). The deaths don’t happen by coincidence. When Death wants you dead, the laws of Physics go out the window.

The movie continues with tradition: extravagant Mouse Death Traps, uninteresting characters, plenty of tongue-in-cheek moments, and, of course, the splatter. You’ve heard of There Will Be Blood? Well, here you get to see it in excess, all in glorious 3D.

Death in three dimensions is the only innovation in a series that continues to get moldy with each new installment. The storyline borrows ideas seen in the three previous movies – including reenacting a death from the first film – with the same twists we’ve come to expect. This isn’t a franchise that has succeeded because of the story. At a slim 82 minutes, The Final Destination doesn’t dillydally with character development. David R. Ellis, who returns to the franchise after having helmed the second entry, tries to top the carnage of that film. The opening disaster conceived doesn’t make you very fearful. At least the first and second films make you wary of flying or driving behind logging trucks. Personally I have no desire to attend a stockcar race, but watching it on TV that “what if” question of a car careening into the stands has crossed my mind.

Still, Ellis makes one hell of an opening, with victims dying every which way. The overuse of CGI is a bit of a distraction, making the deaths more like a live-action Itchy & Scratchy cartoon. Ellis does string together one suspenseful sequence at a hairdresser’s that’ll keep you guessing at just how a mother of two will die. True horror fans won’t be shocked by the decapitations, disembowelments, or seeing people stabbed or set on fire.

On entertainment value alone, The Final Destination is a thrill ride that implores audience participation, much like Snakes on a Plane (also directed by Ellis). The mousetrap deaths are a gimmick, just like the Saw franchise. I liked the original and how it played on the concept of Death making a point of killing those who should have perished. As the series evolved, though, it became about seeing the methods of how the teenagers would die and if I could go “yeesh.”

Without the 3D effect, the movie probably wouldn’t be as enticing. But who wants to pay fifteen bucks for an 82-minute movie? Fans of the franchise do yourself a favor: keep a tongue in your cheek and just wait for the DVD. Death will come home soon enough.

FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):




Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!