Dir. James Wong, 2006, US, 92 mins
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche
Review by Michael Blyth
While a decent movie sequel is hard enough to come by, a decent horror sequel is an especially elusive prospect. But it is by the inevitable third instalment that one truly gives up hope. Sometimes even the bogeyman himself has better things to do than turn up for a third-rate second sequel. Rather tellingly, everyone’s favourite babysitter-butcher Michael Myers didn’t even bother making an appearance in the dreary third incarnation of the Halloween franchise. So it comes not just as a pleasant surprise, but as a minor revelation, that Final Destination 3 is a rather nifty little shocker, joining the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street Part III in that sparsely populated club of worthwhile third chapters.
On the night of their high-school graduation, Wendy (Winstead) and pals celebrate their coming of age at a local amusement park. Upon boarding the roller coaster, Wendy has a premonition of the ride crashing and everyone on board being killed. As she screams to be let off, confusion breaks out and she, along with several of her classmates, get off the ride. But as Wendy predicted, the coaster is fated to crash, and those who stayed on plummet to their foretold grizzly ends. Having managed to cheat death, one by one those who failed to ride the roller coaster meet with elaborate and nasty demises, and Wendy soon realises that Death itself is following them, intent on claiming the lives of those who survived.
Thematically we are on very familiar ground. The plot is a direct clone of the two films that went before, and there is nary a drop of fresh blood in the story, but writers James Wong and Glen Morgan manage to exploit these familiarities to wonderful effect. The simple set-up is such a gleeful pretext for some extraordinarily wicked death scenes, that to get bogged down in extraneous plot points would only serve to slow down the unremitting bloodshed on display. Each fatality sequence leads directly onto the next at such breakneck speed that the film does at times risk developing an unhealthy case of Roadrunner syndrome. And indeed, these deaths are as ridiculous and tortuous as anything created by carnage connoisseur Chuck Jones, with the same cartoonish feel of inconsequential exuberance. But mercifully the gruesome pay-offs have the requisite nastiness that manage to expertly balance laughs (a humorous shot of two sun beds that fry a pair of unfortunate Barbie-clones dissolving into a shot of their coffins is particularly inspired) with wince inducing jolts and surprises. But such frivolity does come at a price. It is hard to care much for the teens on show, who are little more than fodder for the shadowy hands of Death. Leading lady Winstead does a decent enough job, but along with her friends, she is inevitably situated in the thankless role of Wile E. Coyote, when everyone knows audiences are on the side of that crafty Roadrunner.
Ultimately though, the sadistic gratifications on offer far outweigh any quibbles regarding narrative pitfalls, and that old chestnut which likens the pleasures of watching horror films to riding a roller coaster is particularly pertinent here. Wendy relates her initial roller coaster reservations to anxieties concerning a loss of control, and Wong’s playfully extended suspense sequences place the audience in a similar state of unease. How these teens will eventually meet their end is often hard to predict, and the chain reactions that lead to the ‘money shot’ (which play out like macabre variations on the children’s board game Mouse Trap) leave the viewer feeling helpless and firmly under the power of the director. And much like a roller coaster, riders may scream and close their eyes while it is in motion, but they are most likely to emerge laughing.
Discuss this film here
Entertainment in Video have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of Final Destination 3 (Thrill Ride Edition) for 24th July 2006 priced at £19.99.
Directed by James Wong, who helmed the first film in the series, Final Destination 3 will be available in a two-disc, “Thrill Ride Edition.” The DVD allows viewers to watch the original, theatrical version of the film as presented in theatres, or exercise the “choose-their-fate” option which offers all-new, alternate sequences and dozens of possible viewing combinations. The DVD set also includes director and writer commentary, a behind-the-scenes documentary and more.
Released the same day as the R1 features appear identical and include:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, DTS 6.1 ES and Stereo Surround 2.0
- English subtitles
- “Choose-Their-Fate” Interactive feature (Disc 1)
- Feature commentary by director and co-writer James Wong, co-writer Glen Morgan and director of photography Robert Mclachlan (Disc 1)
- “It’s All Around You” animated short: a look at death statistics (Disc 2)
- “Dead Teenager Movie” featurette: a look at the teen horror genre (Disc 2)
- “Kill Shot: The Making of Final Destination 3" documentary (Disc 2)
- “Planned Accidents” featurette (Disc 2)
- “Police Station” deleted scene (Disc 2)
- Theatrical trailer (Disc 2)
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