With the recent release of Final Destination 5 (2011) I thought it was about time I got around to watching this successful teen horror series. I am a big fan of the Scream films and horror films in general but something had prevented me from investing in this franchise and I was slightly apprehensive to watch it. However, there are some surprisingly good teen horror films, The Craft (1996) and The Faculty (1998) are two of my favourites, and whereas Final Destination is not quite as memorable it was an enjoyable film with a surprising amount of originality.
A group of teenagers are going on a school trip to Paris, they board the plane and one of them, Alex (Devon Sawa), falls asleep and has a sort of premonition about the plane blowing up. He wakes up and panics, shouting what he saw and wanting to get off the plane. The ruckus he causes leads to him and some other students being thrown off the plane along with one of their teachers. A few minutes later as the plane is taking off it blows up exactly as Alex had envisioned it. Soon Alex realises he has interfered with fate and that one by one him and the other survivors are going to be hunted down by Death who must complete what was destined to happen.
With a lack of a physical monster/psychopath the scares come from everyday objects and scenarios which are inventive and original. It may not be a terrifying film but this notion of fate and how day to day activities can kill you is a subtle fear that will bury itself in your subconscious and resurface when you least expect it. The film felt original, with few of the normal horror clichés, and the characters, particularly Alex, are not stupid and frustrating like a lot of horror characters tend to be. The creation of tension is perhaps not used as much as it could have been but at least there is no risk of repetition and predictability. The deaths are unexpected and surprising and I was pleasantly engaged throughout. It is not a really scary or outstanding film but is satisfying enough and I look forward to watching Final Destination 2 (2003).
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