FINAL DESTINATION (REVIEW)

Dir. James Wong

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

For teens in the 80s, the franchise was FRIDAY THE 13TH, in the 90s there was SCREAM, and those in the 00s, there was FINAL DESTINATION.

The 2000 original has a few teething problems but there is no denying the fun and foundations this set for evolving the slasher genre. This time, a premonition leads to the ejection of a few travellers set on an exploding plane. The impending doom is that in order they should have died, they all begin to fall foul of death in some of the most imaginable ways on film.

James Wong, who had a promising career until that DRAGONBALL Z movie, gave us an instant classic that has spawned 4 sequels and rumour of a respawn has been on the horizon for some time since. There's good reason the franchise has remained imprinted in fans minds ever since the turn of the millennium. The simple idea of a huge scale accident is big screen heaven and giving ample opportunity for the victims to essentially die twice is exactly the kind of popcorn fodder horror audiences crave. The plot is simple but it allows each entry to get bigger and more inventive in the "accidents" that follow.

From the outset, FINAL DESTINATION knows what it is and commits and the best part of rewatching this over 20 years later is that the budget and studio commitment to fund such a crazy and unique idea showed that the 2000s were truly a gift to horror fans.

Shower chords, knives and buses, no medium is safe and from this point forward air travel became a fear for everyone. The series now famed for drawing out it's death scenes, really cherished us with a new way to view horror, something that had been taken seriously, spoofed but here indulged and savoured for as long as possible without ever boring.