FINAL DESTINATION 5 – The Review

In the Final Destination films, as in real life, everybody is heading toward the same basic end – it’s just a question of whether they’ll get there by being blown up, impaled or smashed to bits. The difference is that in this modestly budgeted horror franchise, Death’s goal is apparently not only to end lives, but to satisfy the gorehounds in the audience. Carefully replicating the formula of its four predecessors, FINAL DESTINATION 5 follows another young person (Nicholas Dagosto) whose timely premonition of impending doom prevents a group of people from dying in a disastrous accident–in this case, a horrific suspension bridge collapse.

The death, dismemberment and destruction in FINAL DESTINATION 5 is so grievous, so bloody, so seat-squirmingly ghastly, sometimes you’ve simply got to laugh (in addition to screaming and gasping). As horrible as they are, the fantastical death scenes are this movie’s ace up its sleeve. What happens when you put someone in a massage parlor with some acupuncture needles, lit candles, an open container of rubbing alcohol, and a heavy Buddha statue? Don’t even hazard a guess, but its good fun to watch–albeit from in between your fingers as your hands cover your eyes. We already know the premise, it’s just a matter of watching it be carried out; the characters are so bland, and knocked off so quickly, you hardly get to know them–or care. Many of them are such unsavory types you get the idea Death is doing the world a favor anyway. Ones enjoyment of FINAL DESTINATION 5 depends on their feelings about the first four films. It has the exact same plot and this new one certainly isn’t any worse than the rest and that opening disaster is probably the most astounding in the series in terms of big-scale effects; a bridge disaster that is quite spectacular, with cars and busses tumbling into the water and individual characters getting killed in epically gruesome ways. Director Steven Quayle, the second unit director on AVATAR making his big-screen debut here, is well aware he needs to give moviegoers a few good chills and jolts, and he does so in spades. There are a couple of new twists. A rule that murdering someone else may buy you a new life is introduced, but not much is done with it and Kansas’ Dust in the Wind� replaces John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High as the music foreshadowing imminent death. Without winking at the audience too much, the filmmakers take things to the edge of camp without crossing the line. Quite simply, FINAL DESTINATION 5 is a horror movie hoot.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars