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“A horror film’s job is to scare you, is to get your pulse going, is to make you scream and yell. It’s to make you be afraid. That’s its main purpose, and creeping you out. And that can be an enjoyable experience.” --- John Carpenter ::::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The Final Destination

November 9th 2009 23:03
The Final Destination movie poster
Nothing new here … Oh, wait, yes there is, the fourth in the cheating death series, The Final Destination (2009), also known as Final Destination 4: Death Trip, is presented in the current hi-tech 3D. So specialised that the glasses I was initially given didn’t work, they were IMAX 3D glasses, not intended for regular screenings. Thankfully that was during a 3D trailer and not the main movie, but still, a nuisance.

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!
The Final Destination Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Shantel VanSanten, Bobby Campo
Nick Zano (Hunt), Haley Webb (Janet), Shantel VanSanten (Lori) and Nick (Bobby Campo) before everything goes pearshaped
Nick (Bobby Campo), his girlfriend, Lori (Shantel VanSanten), his arrogant buddy Hunt (Nick Zano), and Janet (Haley Webb), are at the local speedway watching a race. Hunt has come in the hope of witnessing a spectacular crash (he’ll get more than he bargained for). They are seated in section 180. A series of small, seemingly innocuous, incidents occur involving people immediately around the four friends. On the track, in the pit stop, a mechanic fails to remove a screwdriver from the exhaust overflow of a racing car. This spells catastrophe, as only moments later the screwdriver is lying on the track and punctures a tyre sending it careering into a cartwheel …
The Final Destination Krista Allen
Samantha (Krista Allen) gets winded
Nick has foreseen the whole monumental disaster as a vision, all of them dying in horrific fashion, with Nick the last to die. As the events start to unfold in front of him again, this time for real, he predicts several of them just before they occur, causing his friends concern. Of course, Nick manages to get them all outside the speedway just as the real horror begins to explode around them. But a flying tyre is hurled from the racetrack over the spectator box and obliterates the girlfriend of one of the other survivors Nick managed to convince to leave. Later at their local café, Death By Caffeine, the four friends discuss the seriousness of their survival.
The Final Destination rogue tyre
Umm, watch out for rogue tyres ...
The Final Destination victim
... they tend to hurt when they hit you
Like all the Final Destination movies, the invisible Grim Reaper claims the lives of the survivors one by one, according to the order they died at the speedway. Can Nick and Lori (being the last two to die) intervene before it’s too late? Can they cheat Death at its own game? Can they break the twisted morbid hand of Fate? What do you think?? Of course bloody not. It might be called The Final Destination, but it’s no different than any of the previous three movies, except that the first Final Destination (2003) was probably the best, since the “death logic” is more consistent. The second Final Destination (2005) probably had the best creative deaths, certainly the most spectacular opening (the pile-up on the highway).
The Final Destination Haley Webb
Carwashes can be a real bitch
Unfortunately The Final Destination just doesn’t come up trumps for its supposed final installment. Considering the great box office the movie did I’m sure producers will announce a fifth in the series soon enough. Final Destination: A New Beginning, perhaps? The movie does possess a couple of big plus factors: many of the deaths are stunningly violent and gruesome (although Hunt’s demise rates as the series’ most absurd), and the movie is in 3D. However the 3D filming is uninspired and the violence appears strangely pedestrian (is this because the audience is expecting the graphic depiction, in the same way the Saw movies don’t hold much shock factor …?)
The Final Destination Bobby Campo and Shantel VanSanten
Nick tries to save Lori from the grind of the mall
The biggest question is still unanswered: why is Nick chosen to experience the premonition? Why does Death allow certain people to have the insight from a certain point in time? Its title suggests The Final Destination is the penultimate movie, so I was expecting more explanation behind, or at least more musing on, the ruminations of Death and its rationale. I was hoping for too much; this is a popcorn supertrash horror, there’s no rhyme or reason.
The Final Destination Bobby Campo
Nick hits a tough setback whilst trying to cheat Death
The cast are all very photogenic, the acting is fine, the production values solid, but the overall feel is hollow, and the ending is rushed. It’s high concept gore-candy; as a 3D horror flick The Final Destination is better than the remake of My Bloody Valentine (2009), but as a 3D movie it’s not nearly as clever or as fun as Coraline (2009) (which isn’t gore-candy, but is a much more entertaining horror movie). For twenty smackeroos, I want more bang for my buck … and I want the right 3D specs too!

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
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6 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

November 9th 2009 23:17


Film & TV on DVD
Hi Bryn,

I just find all teh final destinations cheesily preposterous and so often jsut fasty forward to the deaths and thats it...
wont be rushing to catch this

Comment by Bryn

November 9th 2009 23:32


Horrorphile
JD ... yupyup

Comment by Mountain Fog

November 10th 2009 06:44
I am glad you put 'spoiler alert' up top. I want to see it in virginal state and, as I used 3D in my opera, (staged in Melbourne 1998, first time in the world too) I am a lover of good 3D.

Sooo, I'll just have to wait reading your review till I see it! I actually loved the last one of the series, as the SFX was good and it wasn't trying too hard to be more than it was; slash, bash and crash fodder. I find it rather cathartic!

cheers

fog


Comment by Bryn

November 10th 2009 08:18


Horrorphile
Well Fog, if you liked the third installment you'll no doubt enjoy this one, especially with the 3D specs on! That's cool that you were the first to use 3D on stage, how curious!

Comment by Anonymous

November 10th 2009 19:13
Personally I hate the Final Destination Movies,I find them to be boring,Chessy,Typical Teenage Slasher Flicks that are dead and over done like those Stupid "Scream" movies.I think it had potential,I mean the Final Destination plot about Death itself being a real Entity that is scared shitless when someone cheats it,was pretty Fucking cool.In fact in Folklore Death is Embodied by both Samael (Satan's name in Hebrew lore) who was a towering Angel of Death often Dipicted as Fallen Angel with a skull for a head (possibly the origin of the Grim Reaper's Appearence) and the Arc Angel Azrael, who is also said to Embody Death.Azrael is a very Important Angel because he is one of the few themes that appears in Jewish,Christian,and Muslim lore (something that rarely happens).In Islam it is said that when the end comes and Paradise on Earth is restored, Azrael will be the last one to die so that death itself will die with him and all Humans will be given Immortality and Eternal Youth as it was in the Garden of Eden.Though some think that the Immortality would be Spiritual Immortality in Heaven rather than Earth (but then Azrael wouldnt have to die because the Spirits of the Dead are already physically dead so the first idea seems more plausible).Point in tact,Final Destination had the potential to expand on the legends of Death and truly make it into a Horror thriller but instead they went the way of the Chessy Teen Slasher Flicks.Oh well, still better than the Cheesy Teen Romances..................... ....

Comment by Bryn

November 10th 2009 23:02


Horrorphile
Anon, cheers for the historic vitriol!

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