Final Destination (2000 - 2011)

 

The Final Destination film series is a sort of guilty pleasure of mine.  I’ve watched all five of the films at least once, and it would be more than that but I’ve only seen part 4 once.  Because that one is a huge pile of monkey crap.  The problem with the fourth installment is it was made in 3D which in my experience usually means too much money was spent on that so they have to cut somewhere and that just opens the door for the suck fairy to make it’s appearance.  Therefore, it is with that in mind that I want to talk about the other four films.  The first film in the series starred Devon Sewa (Idle Hands and Chucky TV series) as a high school student who has a premonition about the plane he and his classmates are on exploding in midair and crashing.  His hysterics cause other people to also get off the plane for varying reasons.  His premonition comes true when the plane explodes shortly after takeoff.  All but his small group of passengers are killed. 

 

 

The other survivors include: Ali Larter (Legally Blond and Resident Evil film series) as Clear, Kerr Smith (My Bloody Valentine and Dawson’s Creek TV series) is Carter, and Seann Williams Scott (American Pie and Dude, Where’s My Car?) is Billy.  The plot revolves around the fact that all the survivors have “tricked” death and walked away when they were supposed to die in the crash.  There are many theories on exactly how the angel of death or whatever you want to call it comes to collect them.  One by one they begin to die; in the same order they would have died if they had stayed on the plane.  From there on, each survivor is killed in very elaborate ways which will become the fun part of watching the films.  How will (input character here) die?  The goal is to once again “trick” death and have it jump over you and move on to the next person in line.  A lot of the gore (and that goes for all the films) in Final Destination is heavy CGI and yeah, it is what it is.

 

 The second film features a huge accident on the highway involving a logging truck (you’ve at least seen the memes about these trucks) and the people that avoid being in it because of another premonition.  This time A.J. Cook (Virgin Suicides and Criminal Minds TV series) is Kimberly, and it is she who has the premonition this time.  Michael Landes (Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Angel Has Fallen) is Thomas, Terence Carson (Living Single TV series and is the voice of Mace Windu in several Star Wars animated films) is Eugene, and Johnathan Cherry (House of the Dead and Wolfcop) is Rory.  Also returning in the second film is Clear, once again played by Ali Larter.  I also should add that the Candy Man himself Tony Todd, appears in three of the films as Mr. Bludworth who works at the coroners office and seems to know A LOT about death and it's habits, patterns, and rules.  While not physically appearing in the third film you can hear his voice coming from an animatronic Satan statue. 

 

 

 Another theme that plays in the films is a particular song (it’s a different song for each of the films) that ominously follows the survivors around.  In the first film the song is Rocky Mountain High by John Denver.  Denver died in a plane crash.  The second film uses Rocky Mountain High again but is also accompanied by Highway to Hell by AC/DC which plays off the multi car pileup on the highway.  In part three the song is Turn Around Look at Me by The Letterman and thanks to this film, I’ve never looked at that song the same again!  Now in part three, the survivors escape death when Wendy, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Black Christmas and Death Proof), has a premonition of the roller coaster she is on derails killing her and all those that get off with her.  Once again some of the survivors, even after the accident, are pissed at her thinking she somehow caused the accident.  Others are afraid of her thinking she has some sort of psychic power that might have even caused the accident.

 

Among the other survivors this time is Ryan Merriman (Pretty Little Liars and The Ring Two) as Kevin.  This installment incorporates photos that Wendy takes with her camera at an amusement park that may or may not capture images that foretell how each survivor is to be killed.  For example: in one photo you can see a large fan blade behind a survivor.  Later that survivor is killed when the engine block is knocked out of a car behind him forcing the fan (which is still spinning) on the engine into the back of his head.  Part three has some of the more inventive kills of the entire series and features some of the best cinematography as well.  For instance, there is one scene where two bimbos lie down on tanning beds together and after a series of odd and ironic circumstances (you get used to these in the films but never tire of them) occur, the girls are both killed in beds sitting side by side.  The next scene juxtapositions those two tanning beds into two coffins sitting side by side at a cemetery.  Dark but beautiful! 

 

  

Moving on to the fifth film of the series (skip the fourth one, I promise you’re not missing anything) we have an odd set of circumstance that finds Sam, played by Nicholas D’Agosto (TV series Heroes, The Office, and Gotham) saving a bunch of co-workers from a bridge collapse.  He awakens from a premonition just minutes before the bridge he and his co-workers are traveling over by bus managing to save a small group.  While not being as enjoyable as the first three films, this installment is still pretty good.  The CGI never impresses in any of the films but hey, I’ve watched every season of The Walking Dead, so I am used to bad CGI and I never let that stop me from having a good time before.  The song for the fifth film is Dust in the Wind by Kansas which sort of fits the pattern, I mean it’s about death, and dying, and rotting, so I’m OK with it.  I would have gone with Bridge Over Troubled Water, but it probably came with too high of a price tag.  Damn you, Art Garfunkle!  

 

 

 James Wong wrote and directed the first and third films while David R. Ellis (Snakes on a Plane and Shark Night 3D) directed the second film.  He also did the fourth film but don’t hold that against him as the second film is almost as good as the original one.  Some eve say it's better.  For the most recent film, part five, Eric Heisserer (Arrival, Lights Out, and Bird Box) was tapped to write the script and Steven Quale (Aliens of the Deep and Into the Storm) handles the directing duties.  All the actors do average or better jobs with their characters but whenever Tony Todd is on the screen he steals the scene all the while taking huge bites out of the scenery and chewing hungrily as we would expect him to do.  I love the Final Destination series of films, there’s a new one coming out in ’25 so I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will be as good as the four films I’ve spoken about here and not like the fourth film.  The films are well done, all playing off of the films before it in fact all of the films happen in the same area so the events of each film are referenced by the characters in later films. 

 

 

Lots of nods are given to the horror genre as well with Billy’s last name being Hitchcock, there’s references to Tod Browning, Max Schreck, Lon Chaney, Frederic March, and George Waggner, just to name a few.  And that’s just in the first film.  Always faithful to its horror roots, the main theme running through all the chapters is that of dread.  The feeling of impending doom is always present as 90% of the films run times are happening in the shadow of death, literally.  Now, since I’ve kept this post very brief (don’t look at me like that I could have gone longer) I wanted to discuss another of the characters in the films and that is of the force itself that comes hunting for these people.  Is it the Grim Reaper, the Spirit of Death, the Angel of Death, or any other name you want to call it?  Maybe, but I have another theory and it’s kinda friggin’ deep, man.  In Greek mythology there are three goddesses called The Fates.  Clotho, the youngest of the sisters, spins the threads that will constitute a persons life.  She decides when a person is to be born and what will happen in their lifespan. 

 

 

         

The middle sister, Lachesis, is the one who decides just how long ones life will last.  The third sister and the one I think we are dealing with the most here in these films is Atropos.  Atropos is the oldest of the three sisters and she is also the least flexible one.  Once a persons life was deemed to be over by Lachesis, Atropos was responsible for not only ending the life but also deciding how it was to end.  When a persons “time” was up it is her that comes and cuts the chord of a persons life force thereby ending their lifespan.  Well, in each of these films there are small select groups that escape her, but it turns out to only be a temporary escape because in the Final Destination universe she is quite a royal bitch.    Regardless of them being goddesses or not, they are also called The Fates and what do we know about Fate?  You don’t ever tempt fate, and you certainly cannot escape it.  And as Tony Todd’s character Mr. Bludworth says: “Death … does not like to be cheated.”.  I give the first three films in the series three and a half sadistic designs by Death out of five and for the fifth film I gave it three out of five.