D: James Wong. Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kristen Cloke, Daniel Roebuck, Roger Guenvuer Smith, Chad Donella, Sean William Scott, Tony Todd.
When Scream was released in 1995, it featured a welcome change from the standard horror film—self-awareness and a healthy sense of humor that didn’t stretch into broad parody. Unfortunately, Hollywood mistranslated the film’s success as a call for similar horror films featuring indistinguishable cast members from various WB shows. It’s taken them a couple years, but now they’re finally starting to catch on that, yes, real horror movies sell too.
Final Destination is the sort of film that should have emerged in the wake of Scream’s hefty gross. Devon Sawa plays Alex, a high school student who freaks out shortly after boarding a plane for a class trip to France after seeing a vision of the plane exploding during take-off. He’s restrained by several other students and a teacher, all of whom get off the plane but aren’t allowed to reboard. Their disappointment leads to suspicion when, seconds later, the plane with the rest of the class indeed meets a firey fate. Alex is viewed by his classmates (and the FBI) with suspicion at first, then seen as a pariah, and finally a suspect, as those that escaped from the crash begin to die one by one.While a good percentage have plot twists and coincidences that make the audience sneer with disbelief, Final Destination takes a clever step forward by making them part of the movie. Alex’s feelings are based entirely on unbelievable coincidence, and the death sequences are staged with such a degree of playful orchestration that you can’t help but admire their choreography. Never once will you go “Oh, come ON” while watching the film simply because it embraces coincidence with a cheery, morbid embrace.
Despite loads of healthy smirking at the audience by the filmmakers (the highlight being a deep close-up of the word “TERMINAL” just before the plane departs), the actors, wisely, play their parts perfectly straight. There’s no direct winking to the camera, and no character mentions how “this is like some stupid horror movie.” What humor is offered comes naturally from the characters—when someone says something funny, it feels right, not like some screenwriter trying to be cute. (Yes, Kevin Williamson, I’m talking to you.)
And get this—Final Destination is scary. There’s genuine tension during the moments just before a character bites the big one, and director James Wong has stretched out each scene for maximum effect, employing some downright brilliant camera and editing techniques. Best of all, there’s no masked killer in sight; all the murders are simple “accidents,” elaborately staged with only an odd liquid shown for foreshadowing. It’s a welcome change of pace from the usual “let’s-come-up-with-a-gimmick-for-our-franchise” thought.
However, it all collapses under the weight of its’ own cleverness by the end, which takes place “6 months later” and was obviously filmed apart from the movie. Given that much time, you’d think they could have come up with something better. Still, the preceding hour-and-a-half is such a satisfying roller coaster ride that ending on a slightly sour note is excusable.
The DVD includes the “original” ending, which is dumb in a completely different way, along with several commentary tracks, a game that tells you when you will die (I’m going in 2017, apparently) and two documentaries, one on the process of test screenings. If DVD is an option, definitely take the plunge with Final Destination.