The Final Destination (2009)

After a young man's premonition of a deadly race-car crash helps saves the lives of his peers, Death sets out to collect those who evaded their end.

Director:

David R. Ellis

Writers:

Eric Bress, Jeffrey Reddick (characters)

Stars:

Nick Zano, Krista Allen, Andrew Fiscella

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bobby Campo	...	Nick
Shantel VanSanten	...	Lori
Nick Zano	...	Hunt
Haley Webb	...	Janet
Mykelti Williamson	...	George
Krista Allen	...	MILF / Samantha
Andrew Fiscella	...	Mechanic
Justin Welborn	...	Racist
Stephanie Honoré	...	Mechanic's Girlfriend
Lara Grice	...	Racist's Wife
Jackson Walker	...	Cowboy
Phil Austin	...	MILF's Husband
William Aguillard	...	Kid #1
Brendan Aguillard	...	Kid #2
Juan Kincaid	...	Newscaster

Storyline

While watching a car race at McKinley Speedway, Nick O'Bannon has a premonition of a car crash that will result in many casualties, including several people that are in the audience. Nick convinces his girlfriend Lori, along with his friends Hunt and Janet to leave. A security guard named George Lanter, along with a racist named Carter, a mother and her two sons, and several other people follow Nick out. Shortly after they leave, Nick's premonition comes true. When survivors start dying, Nick, his friends, and George must try to find the remaining survivors and save them from Death before it is too late.

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Plot Keywords:

premonition | car crash | collapsing scaffold | tooth knocked out | overflowing bathtub | 

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Taglines:

On August 28th, the 3D event of the Summer arrives.

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 August 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Final Destination 4

Filming Locations:

Springfield Centre Mall, McKinley Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$27,408,309, 30 August 2009

Gross USA:

$66,477,700

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$186,167,139

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Practical Pictures, Parallel Zide

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

(at around 1h 15 mins) The name of the "Brevig's" that Lori and Janet mention is named after the Visual Effects supervisor Eric Brevig who directed the New Cinema's previous 3D film Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008).

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Goofs

(at around 1h 13 mins) Right as Nick sets off the sprinklers with the long board on fire, you can see him twitch and slide around his other arm slightly, which is supposed to be nailed to the wall and therefore immobile.

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Quotes

Pit Crewmember: Go! Go! Go!
[Car 45 drives away, with a screwdriver still attached]
Pit Crewmember: No, I meant "Wait"!

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits run over a "greatest hits" of the kills in earlier installments, presented as 3D CGI X-rays.

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Alternate Versions

Available in 2D and 3D on both DVD and Blu-ray.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Mild Inconvenience (2010)

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Soundtracks

Faraway
Written by Ali Dee (as Ali Theodore) and Vincent Alfieri
Performed by Dara Shindler (as Dara Schindler)
Courtesy of DeeTown Entertainment

User Reviews

A series of fatally unfortunate events

Arriving on local theaters without the benefit of 3-D, the novelty of "The Final Destination" goes doubly kaput, as it not only lacks inspired deaths and sympathetic characters, but also because the flatness of David R. Ellis' body bag-fodder isn't mitigated by whatever shallow entertainment an additional dimension might have brought.

Eric Bress' script wastes no time in shaping its interchangeable characters as, apparently, Death has to immediately dive into placing its cardboard victims in intricate fatalities that have been the series' central gimmick. Nick (Bobby Campo) experiences a premonition of a disaster in a race track and manages to get a few people out, who would have otherwise died. As per the franchise's tradition, Death won't be cheated and it starts to do anything -- like toppling cans and letting waters drip -- to create a ripple of events that would eliminate the survivors.

Despite showing how lame entertainment can be entertainingly lame with "Snakes on a Plane," Ellis -- who also directed "Final Destination 2" -- doesn't strive for an ounce of creativity, resulting to a terribly disposable fare that fails to hit its its mark despite aiming so low. And as embodied by the narrative shortcuts this gorefest constantly employs, the Rube Goldberg set pieces start to feel less impressive than mechanical, which makes one believe that Death has worked itself too much over the last three installments.