the worst possible villain...death himself !

Rating: 6/10 (26 June 2003)

Movies that scare you are rare these days. Some of the old classics like The Exorcist, Repulsion or Rosemary's Baby managed to make you shiver but when a nowadays horror film can frighten you, it's actually quite an achievement to itself. In fact, it's not the movie itself that is creepy but the whole idea behind it really gives you goosebumps. Alex and his class are going to France for a workweek. Many little signs make Alex afraid and a vision right before take-off makes him cause a scene. He and 5 others are thrown off the plane. While they're fighting in the lobby the plane explodes and all 287 passengers die. At that point you might think they're the luckiest people alive but...think again. They all start to die in the order they were supposed to die on the exploding plane. Why ?? Because Death had planned it that way. And there's no way you can escape your destiny. Alex starts to realize tries and tries to beat death again for himself and all the other survivors. Because he gets these little clues about what's gonna happen, he's always one step ahead... The first hour of this film is really good. The tension is built up efficiently and you just stare at it with your mouth wide open. You really awaits what will gonna happen next. The big advantage of this film is that it actually has no heroes. You have the feeling all the characters can die any minute. After this first astonishing hour, it all gets wasted a little. There are a little too many "miraculous escapes" to keep you alert. That's a damn shame cause you really get the feeling the makers could have provided this film with a better ending. Yet, no worries because by then the film proved itself already as highlight of the new generation of horror. For the rest: there's a good amount of violence, blood and gore so even the fans of that are satisfied. The cast does well actually. Most of them made some fame by now but when this film came out they were all rather new in the field. Except for Tony Todd of course. Mr Candyman is a great casting choice!!! His eerie appearance and his spooky voice make the hairs on the back of your neck rise