As the release of the latest in the Final Destination series is upon us, and as it coincides with the 25th anniversary of the originals release, I thought it would be worth taking a look back at where it all started.
Alex (Devon Sawa) a young man who already has a fear of flying, boards a flight to France with his class mates and some teachers, a school trip to Paris, what could possibly go wrong? Well quite a lot actually, as moments after take off the plane is ripped apart by explosions. But, suddenly Alex is safe and sound back in his seat, the carnage just witnessed was a premonition.
He naturally freaks out, shouting about how the plane is going to explode and scaring the crap out of everyone else. Alex is removed from the flight along with a handful of class mates, and as the flight takes off without them, and Alex faces recrimination for ruining the trip, in the background the plane actually explodes killing all on board.
Now Alex’s problems really begin, the FBI take an interest in him believing at first that he is responsible for the explosion, and their suspicions are only made worse by the fact that Alex’s fellow survivors start to get bumped off in elaborate ways, starting with best friend Todd, and Alex always seems know it’s about to happen and is always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A trip to the mortuary with fellow survivor Clear (Ali Larter) results in a conversation with the creepy William Bludworth, played by the late, great Tony Todd, who gives them the information they need to survive. And, that information is what lies at the heart of the Final Destination franchise. The concept is a simple but interesting one, Death has a plan. Alex’s class mates are dying in the order they should have died on the plane. If they can find a way to skip their turn so it moves to the next in line they get to live, Right? Class mates drop like flies, Alex goes on the lamb with the feds on his tail, all leading to the big finale and an open ending ripe for a sequel.
The overall message of the now six film series appears to be, you can’t escape Death, he has a design and is prepared for any eventuality. If you cheat him you’ll just make him mad and he will find another way to get you, Death is inevitable.
Director James Wong does a fair job on his first feature, having previously worked on The X-Files with co-writer Glen Morgan, with whom he formed Hard Eight Pictures and created the short lived Space: Above and Beyond, a much underrated show in my opinion. The third co-writer credit goes to Jeffrey Reddick who is also responsible for the story and has spent the last 25 years working as writer and producer on a number horror movies, but I would say Final Destination is his finest moment.
The film delivers what you expect from a mid-budget teen horror, although it stumbles along the way, especially in the performance department, with the exception of the two and a half minutes that Tony Todd is on screen, that man always delivered. There are some fun set pieces as far as the death scenes are concerned, but I never really cared about any of the characters that much, their demise didn’t leave me bereft, they are just there as delivery devices for some fun and gory effects.
I think this first instalment is so far the best of the bunch, but they must be doing something right having lasted 25 years, although, that being said, there is a gap of 14 years between Final Destination 5 and the latest offering, Final Destination Bloodlines. Which I’ll be getting to next.
