One of the most effective horror movies I've ever seen

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2000)

We've all seen a million deaths in movies, and for the most part we are desensitized to it, and we are able to predict the deaths we see on the screen. But occasionally, a movie comes along that surprises us with its scenes of death and violence. Part of the joy of Pulp Fiction was its unpredictability. Anyone who's seen Deep Blue Sea remembers the effect of the scene where a character dies completely unexpectedly. Final Destination succeeds where other horror movies have failed because it takes time to make characters interesting, makes their discussions about death and control over one's destiny intriguing, and their deaths are more than just predictable cliches. Of course, this is still a horror flick, but it's scary because monsters and serial killers can be beaten with sheer physical force, but what do you do when your enemy is death itself, that unseen, unstoppable force that has all of us on his list? This is at the core of what makes the horror genre so entertaining- it allows us to examine the subject of our own death, something we're all curious about, without having to stare it right in the face. If we see it in exaggerated style, on a movie screen, we're just voyeurs. "Destination" shows us death the way it really is- unpredictable, inevitable, sudden, meaningless. And that is truly scary.
Note: this would not make a very good in-flight movie.