A terrific scare show.

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2007)

My Take: One of the spookier and more creative horror movies today.
In watching a horror flick, there are two things that I would expect. Either it's a true scare ride that makes me want to run for cover or shows true moments of uniqueness for its genre that it is scary. Both pleasure are in the slasher flick FINAL DESTINATION, which is surprisingly more creative and stylishly spooky than other "hack-and-slash" horror/slasher yarns. Although the characters are the usual teenagers served up for slaughter, they do a very terrific job in setting us up for a scare, and doesn't disappoint when it comes to their delivery.
Devon Sawa's character is named Alex, who has some strange premonitions of doom when boarding a plane to France. When on board, Alex had a realistic daydream of doom and began yelling out "This plane will explode at take-off." This part gets a little wild. Hold on! It gets real serious when the plane DOES explode. His fellow French class members and school teacher manages to get out before the plane exploded, but are now, death has a new "design" for them. Obviously, death doesn't take no for an answer.
Perhaps the best things and most likely the biggest reason viewers (especially horror buffs and teenagers) to watch FINAL DESTINATION are the really good quality kills. I mean, if you want to get rid of that teenager, who knows that their doom is at hand, why not do it with some style? This film has some very creative death sequences which might be one of the best I've seen in a horror film since the ones in THE OMEN series. Sure the possibility of that happening to you can only happen in a move, but this is a movie, right? Cinematic, indeed, but very, very creative.
Sure it features teenage characters that are not given any personality, but in this kind of film, which is just made to kill off the teenagers quick (and good), I don't think it needs time to develop its characters. The film isn't good on the cerebral basis (in other words, it's sometimes isn't smart), but the storyline has some very neat ideas (like the death sequences) and director James Wong does a great job making it to a wild ride. I was so surprised how I liked this film (both as a stylish or a "run for cover" horror flick). FINAL DESTINATION is a terrific scare show.
Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.