Final Destination
Reviews
John Chard
I'll see you soon! Before taking off for Paris, Alex Browning has a vision that the plane is going to explode. Pannicking he gets off the plane and in the mêlée a teacher and a group of his class mates are forced off the flight, the plane goes on to explode in mid air, killing everyone on board. But pretty soon after the disaster strange accidents start to befall those who got off the plane, it seems that death is out to get them. With the number of hugely disappointing teens in peril movies that were made post the success of Wes Craven's hugely successful Scream, it's refreshing to find one that was, well, refreshing. Not purporting to be anything other than a wickedly entertaining piece of horror based nonsense, Final Destination is inventive, funny and above all else, shock laden. From the opening, and terrifying air crash sequence to the clever and gross way that our protagonists shake hands with the grim reaper, this film is gloriously proud of its horror intent. One peak at the surnames of the characters will tell you just how into their horror roots the makers are here, whilst not a homage movie as such, James Wong and his team clearly know what makes a modern horror picture work. If you find yourself complaining about the writing then you clearly are missing the point of Final Destination's existence, either that or you are in fact dead yourself! Four fun but vastly inferior sequels would follow, but really this is the one to watch, as good a 100 minutes of horror fun as you could wish to have. I dare you not to jump out your seat at least once! 9/10
Wuchak
***Innovative premise for a 'Dead Teenager Movie,' but the last act isn’t compelling*** This first "Final Destination" movie from 2000 was a rather innovative 'Dead Teenager Movie' in that the killer was Death itself, the Grim Reaper. A group of people escape a great tragedy due to a premonition of one of them and the rest of the movie involves the Grim Reaper systematically slaying those who cheated Death in various creative ways. The opening tragedy in this case is a plane crash; in the second film it's a horrible highway pile-up; in the third it's a roller-coaster mishap and so on. I've seen (and own) the first four of the currently five-film franchise, but they all tell the same basic story with different characters and a different location and are all of the same high quality of technical filmmaking. Whether you prefer one or another depends on whether you like the cast and the death sequences (and the locations) because, other than these factors, they're all basically the same. This first one has a quality heroine or 'final girl' in Ali Larter. Amanda Detmer is also on hand as a fellow student while Kristen Cloke plays a freaked-out teacher. They coulda done better showcasing these women IMHO. On the opposite side of the gender spectrum there’s Devon Sawa, Kerr Smith, Seann William Scott and Chad Donella. Their importance to the story is in that order. Meanwhile Tony Todd makes his first of four appearances in the series as a mortician who curiously knows more than he should. For me, what makes these movies kinda dull is the fact that it's impossible to cheat Death. Sure, you can escape it here or there, but Death's been in business for millennia and expertly knows what he's doing. As such, everyone's gonna die except maybe the 'final girl,' who will most certainly die in the sequel. The script began as an X-Files teleplay and, indeed, the movie was made by two veterans of that series. And you can tell due to the basic feel of the movie and the inclusion of two government agents. I’d give “Final Destination” a higher grade because I love the concept, but this one curiously gets dull in the final act (despite all the ‘exciting’ things going on) and they coulda done more with the women. The film runs 1 hour, 37 minutes and was shot in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area (although the events take place around New York City). GRADE: B-
Andre Gonzales
Love this movie. A person has visions of a disaster or people dieing. All his visions come true. This one is my favorite out of the series.
RalphRahal
Final Destination kicks off with an eerie premise that immediately sets the tone for what’s to come. The plot follows a group of characters who narrowly escape a disaster, only to realize that fate doesn’t like being cheated. Instead of diving deep into the mystery of why things are happening, the movie focuses more on tension and the creative ways death finds its victims. While the concept is solid, the execution sometimes feels a bit surface-level, making it more about the spectacle than the psychological depth it hints at. The directing does a good job of keeping the suspense alive, using clever foreshadowing and unsettling visual cues to build tension. Cinematography plays into this well, with zoom-ins on seemingly random objects that later become crucial, adding an extra layer of unease. The film also makes great use of lighting and framing to amplify the feeling that something ominous is always lurking around the corner. It’s not a groundbreaking approach, but it works effectively within the horror-thriller genre. Acting is decent for the type of movie it is, with a few standout performances that help sell the fear and paranoia. The script keeps things moving, though some dialogue can feel a little forced at times. Where the movie really shines is in its sound design, using an eerie score and well-placed sound effects to enhance the tension. Overall, Final Destination is a fun, suspenseful ride that delivers on its concept, even if it doesn’t explore its deeper themes as much as it could have.
r96sk
<em>'Final Destination'</em> is top entertainment! I've been meaning to watch this franchise for ages - happy to get started. The only thing I know coming in is there's some sort of scene with a car driving behind a (presumably unsafely loaded) lorry? Presumably that's in a sequel. This is the first time I've watched Devon Sawa at this age of his, I know from watching TV's <em>'Chucky'</em> that people always mention this film(s?) when talking about him. He is a well chosen lead, for sure. Ali Larter is solid too. Interesting to see Seann William Scott involved. Some of the characters behind that trio are iffy, in terms of how they are written/portrayed. Kerr Smith's Carter is mostly annoying, for example. Larter's Clear is written a bit odd around the middle part too. The bit with touching the thing (no spoilers) with Kristen Cloke's character is also silly. To be fair, it is a movie designed to be entertaining rather than being something super intricate and highly logical. It does deliver in regards to the former, the effects are great and the deaths do get nicely creative. It is well paced as well, a 90 minute run time is perfect for a film like this. I will say that the ending seemed a bit off to me (if still fun and fine), it kinda felt like the filmmakers didn't know how to end it given how the 'skipping' works and obviously they wanted to set a sequel. It's not a big issue whatsoever, it did seem a little roughly concluded though. All in all, as you can see from my rating, I did love watching it. Interested to see how the follows-up turned up, I'd imagine it's a mixed bag (at best) but time will tell.
CinemaSerf
Maybe because God had decided that the poor people of Paris didn’t need forty American students visiting them, he sent the young “Alex” (Devon Sawa) a premonition that all on that plane was not going to go smoothly. Just as it is about to take off from New York he decides to get off the thing and takes a few colleagues and one of his teachers with him! Next thing, well the river is being trawled and everyone is confused. Is he some sort of terrorist? Is he a warlock? Was it all fate or is there more to come? Is anyone safe? This is actually quite a solid story about just how people deal with trauma, grief and death whilst also introducing that mysterious question of pre-determination. Is death a thing that’s fluid, alive and scheming - or was it just bad luck that someone was aboard a busted aircraft or got hit by a bus or got their head sliced off by a rogue piece of metal…? Anyway, James Wong does well to galvanise a pretty lacklustre collection of acting talent, most of whom would entirely deserve any grizzly fate, and the stunt co-ordinators and visual effects technicians deliver something that has it’s tongue in it’s cheek (even if that’s not necessarily in a head on the right shoulders) - and just who was that mortician? Good fun, well paced, entertaining and at the better end of the teen horror genre.
Movie Recommendation
Final Destination 22003-01-31When Kimberly has a violent premonition of a highway pileup she blocks the freeway, keeping a few others meant to die, safe...Or are they? The survivors mysteriously start dying and it's up to Kimberly to stop it before she's next.More...
Final Destination 32006-02-09High school senior Wendy's premonition of a deadly rollercoaster ride saves her life and a lucky few, but not from death itself — which seeks out those who escaped their fate.More...
The Final Destination2009-08-26A horrifying premonition saves a young man and his friends from death during a racetrack accident but terrible fates await them nonetheless.More...
Final Destination 52011-08-12Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and is unleashed after one man’s premonition saves a group of coworkers from a terrifying suspension bridge collapse. But this group of unsuspecting souls was never supposed to survive, and, in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group frantically tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda.More...
Paranormal Activity2007-09-14After a young, middle-class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic but is certainly the most active in the middle of the night.More...
I Know What You Did Last Summer1997-10-17After an accident on a winding road, four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim's body into the sea. Exactly one year later, the deadly secret resurfaces as they're stalked by a hook-handed figure.More...
Scream 32000-02-04As bodies begin dropping around the Hollywood set of STAB 3, the third film based on the gruesome Woodsboro killings, Sidney and other survivors are once again terrorized by another Ghostface killer.More...
Road Trip2000-05-19After an Ithaca College student films his one-night stand with a beautiful sorority girl, he discovers one of his friends has accidentally mailed the homemade sex tape to his girlfriend in Austin. In a frenzy, he must borrow a car and hit the road in a desperate bid to intercept the tape.More...
Phone Booth2003-01-06A slick New York publicist who picks up a ringing receiver in a phone booth is told that if he hangs up, he'll be killed... and the little red light from a laser rifle sight is proof that the caller isn't kidding.More...
Urban Legend1998-09-25A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends.More...
The Ring2002-10-18Rachel Keller is a journalist investigating a videotape that may have killed four teenagers. There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. Rachel tracks down the video... and watches it. Now she has just seven days to unravel the mystery of the Ring so she can save herself and her son.More...
Saw II2005-10-28The chilling and relentless Jigsaw killer returns to terrorize the city once again. When a gruesome murder victim emerges with unmistakable traces of Jigsaw's sinister methods, Detective Eric Matthews is thrust into a high-stakes investigation. To his surprise, apprehending Jigsaw seems almost too easy, but what he doesn't realize is that being caught is merely another piece of Jigsaw's intricate puzzle.More...
Angel Heart1987-03-06A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.More...
Bride of Chucky1998-10-15Chucky is reborn when his old flame, Tiffany, rescues his battered doll parts from a police impound.More...
Idle Hands1999-04-30Anton is a cheerful but exceedingly non-ambitious 17-year-old stoner who lives to stay buzzed, watch TV, and moon over Molly, the beautiful girl who lives next door. However, it turns out that the old cliché about idle hands being the devil's playground has a kernel of truth after all.More...
God Is Brazilian2003-01-31God decides to take a vacation, but first He has to find a saint who can rule the universe while He's away. So He goes to the Northeast of Brazil, where He believes there's a very good man for the job. As soon as He comes down to Earth, a young man comes along to help on His quest.More...
Bulletproof Monk2003-03-28A mysterious and immortal Tibetan kung fu master, who has spent the last 60 years traveling around the world protecting the ancient Scroll of the Ultimate, mentors a selfish street kid in the ancient intricacies of kung fu.More...
The Rundown2003-09-26When Travis, the mouthy son of a criminal, disappears in the Amazon in search of a treasured artifact, his father sends in Beck, who becomes Travis's rival for the affections of Mariana, a mysterious Brazilian woman. With his steely disposition, Beck is a man of few words -- but it takes him all the discipline he can muster to work with Travis to nab a tyrant who's after the same treasure.More...
Scary Movie2000-07-07A familiar-looking group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a more-than-vaguely recognizable masked killer! As the victims begin to pile up and the laughs pile on, none of your favorite scary movies escape the razor-sharp satire of this outrageously funny parody!More...
Dance with Him2007-02-21Three years after simultaneously parting with a philanderer husband and experiencing a dramatic fall during a horse jumping contest, Alexandra Balzan, a Parisian architect, regains an appetite for life and love after a chance encounter with an aging misanthrope of a master horseman and his horseMore...
Similar Movies
Snakes on a Plane
2006-08-17FBI agent Neville Flynn boards a flight from Honolulu, Hawaii to Los Angeles, escorting a key witness to testify against a mob boss at an upcoming trial. An on-board assassin releases a crate full of hundreds of deadly venomous snakes in an attempt to eliminate the witness. Flynn and a host of frightened passengers and crew must band together to survive the slithery threat.A Nightmare on Elm St...
1984-11-09Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...Psycho
1960-06-22When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.Silent Hill
2006-04-21Rose, a desperate mother takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to cure her of her ailment. After a violent car crash, Sharon disappears and Rose begins a desperate search to get her back. She descends into the center of the twisted reality of a town's terrible secret. Pursued by grotesquely deformed creatures and townspeople stuck in permanent purgatory, Rose begins to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic disaster that burned the town 30 years earlier.Poltergeist
1982-06-04The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.The Ninth Gate
1999-08-25A rare book dealer finds himself at the heart of a string of paranormal events when he is hired to find the last two copies of a text, The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, capable of summoning the Devil.Un Chien Andalou
1929-06-05Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.Shaun of the Dead
2004-04-09Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threatened when the dead return to life and make strenuous attempts to snack on ordinary Londoners.The Evil Dead
1981-10-15In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.Army of Darkness
1992-10-31Ash, a handsome, shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed department store clerk, is time warped backwards into England's Dark Ages, where he romances a beauty and faces legions of the undead.From Hell
2001-02-08Frederick Abberline is an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute targets in this Hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the Ripper's true identity.Doctor Mordrid
1992-11-02Bound by hate and a mystical amulet that holds the powers of life and death, two immortal wizards meet for the last time in an ancient struggle of good versus evil.The Land That Time Fo...
2025-01-24Present-day survivors of a sunken naval vessel capture a Russian sub, only to find themselves stranded on an island filled with deadly, prehistoric creaturesDon't Look Back
2021-11-28The plot of the film takes place in a foreign company located in southern Serbia. The warehouse manager enjoys his free weekend, which is interrupted by a warehouse worker who invites him to come to the warehouse in order to have a serious conversation with a new client from London. The manager had no idea what had happened there and what is yet to happen in the warehouse.bodybags
2026-10-30A feature adaptation and expansion of the story in "bodybag" (2024).Dawn of the Dead
2004-03-19A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.Gremlins
1984-06-08After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.Don't Look Now
1973-10-11While grieving a terrible loss, a married couple meet two mysterious sisters, one of whom gives them a message sent from the afterlife.The Conjuring: Last R...
2025-09-03Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one last terrifying case involving mysterious entities they must confront.Shadow of God
2025-03-26While performing an unauthorized exorcism on his father, an elite exorcist suspects the entity he's doing battle with might be a holy being – perhaps even God.