A good premise is squandered by stupid teen cliché's

Rating: 5/10 (9 January 2005)

The idea of cheating death, and then having death itself 'chase' you until the only conclusion ensues is a frightening one, and a really great premise for a horror movie. Death is the ultimate unknown and the idea of it being a malicious presence should give way to a classic horror movie. However, anything that should have been good about this movie isn't, and unfortunately it ends up being another teen slasher, just with an invisible killer instead of some goon in a mask. After a relatively decent start, the movie descends into a routine, cliché ridden, teen horror movie with not an interesting character nor a frightening scenario in sight. The story follows a group of teenagers and their teacher (also a teenager) that survive a plane crash after one of them has a premonition and gets himself thrown off the plane. What then follows is a series of over the top death scenes intertwined with a boring 'investigation'.
It's a shame that this film is rubbish as the death sequences aren't that bad. We've got one kid being strangled in the bath, another is decapitated by a piece of stray metal while another is mauled by glass from a computer monitor, and later a set of kitchen knives. However, it's all spoilt by the boring characters and silly dialogue (imagine 'death' is after you; would you really 'challenge' it with harsh language?). I'm all against remakes, but this is a premise I'd love to see tackled by a talented group of people. With a good cast, interesting writing and a talented director; this idea could be taken all the way to the realms of the horror classic. Unfortunately, the chances of anyone making a film like that these days is slim because all of these sorts of things have to be done with 'teens' (a.k.a. actors in their early twenties, playing teens) for teens to ensure that the film will sell. Sigh.