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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - August 28th

"THE FINAL DESTINATION" released today in 2009

Death again stalks a fresh group of survivors who have escaped his design with the timely premonition of college student Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo). But Death doesn't like to be cheated, and one-by-one the survivors die in various gruesome "accidents" in David R. Ellis' second film (and the first in 3D!) in the franchise, The Final Destination!

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While attending a race at the McKinley Speedway with his girlfriend Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten) and their friends - Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano) and Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb) - Nick O'Bannon (Campo) has a shocking premonition that there will be a horrific accident on the track that will send debris into the stadium, killing several people and causing the stadium itself to collapse. In his panic, Nick inadvertently starts an argument with Carter Daniels (Justin Welborn), who demands his wife stay as he chases them out of the stadium. Mechanic Andy Kewzer (Andrew Fiscella) and his girlfriend Nadia Monroy (Stephanie Honoré) along with mother Samantha Lane (Krista Allen) also exit the stadium followed by security guard George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson).  When the accident occurs, George prevents Carter from going in after his wife and Nadia is suddenly decapitated by a tire flying out of the stadium! Several days after the disaster, a drunken Carter tries to set a cross ablaze on George's front lawn blaming him for preventing him from saving his wife, but a chain of events causes his tow truck to start driving on its own and as Carter tries to regain control, he is grabbed by the towing chain and is blown up by his truck catching fire with the very gas he was using. The following day, Samantha is finishing up at a beauty parlor when a rock propelled by a lawn mower suddenly impales her eye and kills her. Nick becomes convinced that death is coming after them for evading their fates at the stadium, and convinces Lori and George to what is happening, although Hunt and Janet remain skeptical. After receiving another premonition involving water, Nick tries to warn Hunt, who has gone for one last conquest at the pool, while George and Lori try to find Janet, who becomes immobilized in a malfunctioning car wash - it is Hunt however who the premonition warns of when he has insides ripped out by the pools malfunctioning draining system, while Janet is saved by Lori and George at the last moment. The remaining survivors believe they are now safe from Death's design after saving Janet, until Nick has one more premonition warning that Lori and Janet will be killed in an explosion at a local cinema. Nick this time is determined to use this premonition to cheat Death again to save them!

[yelling at Nick and the other survivors]
Nadia: Have you all lost your fucking mind?
[gets head knocked off by a flying tire]

Top:   Hunt (Nick Zano) , Janet (Haley Webb), and Lori ((Shantel VanSanten) look on as Nick (Bobby Campo) has his first premonition:

Above:   Nadia (Stephanie Honoré) is the first to be claimed by Death!

After the success of Final Destination 3, which was initially planned to be in 3D, Eric Bress wrote a script which impressed producer Craig Perry and Warner Bros. enough to green-light a fourth installment. James Wong was on board to once again direct, but because of scheduling conflicts with Dragonball Evolution, he decided to drop out. Producers then turned to Final Destination 2 director David R. Ellis, who accepted because of the prospect of filming in 3D. Intended to be the last film in franchise, the title was changed to The Final Destination, but this would be the first Final Destination film not to feature Tony Todd as Coroner William Bludworth, due to his scheduling conflicts with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Although shooting was to be done in Vancouver, which was where the previous three films were shot, David R. Ellis convinced the producers to shoot in New Orleans instead to bring business to the city after Hurrican Katrina, and because the budget was already so large, they agreed. Before production moved to New Orleans, the opening crash sequence at "McKinley Speedway" was filmed at Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Alabama. Among the film's many and varied death scenes, the dual intercut scenes involving Hunt and Janet (played by Nick Zano and Haley Webb respectively) are the most noteworthy; Hunt's death is reminiscent of the Chuck Palahniuk short story "Guts," which is about a boy whose intestines are sucked out by a pool filter's inlet pump when he sits on it. It is also similar to at least one real-life incident in 2007 when a young girl met the same fate and died in 2008 suffering complications after having had small bowel, liver and pancreas transplants. During the car wash scene, Haley Webb actually broke the car window she was pounding on, the actress was that scared! The editors decided to leave the shot in the final film.

TRIVIA:   The film within the film, 'Love Lies Dying', is actually Renny Harlin's The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).

Top:   Janet is trapped inside her flooded car in the car wash, while (above) Hunt is trapped at the bottom of the pool!

On it's release in 2009, The Final Destination became the highest grossing film in the Destination franchise, and, conversely, received the worst reviews of the series to date. Scott Foundas from LA Weekly reviewed the film as, "[The] set pieces never quite muster the giddy brio of Final Destination 1 and 3 auteur James Wong at his best." and New York Daily News critic Elizabeth Weitzman writing, "With the exception of Williamson, the actors are as disposable as their characters, and there is no story to speak of". Simon Miraudo of Quickflix would go on to write, "Imagine a film that features an endless cavalcade of people being eviscerated in the bloodiest and bone-snappiest of ways, yet which somehow manages to inspire the audience to envy the victims". Australian critics, Jake Wilson (of The Age (Australia)) and Leigh Paatsch (of The Herald Sun (Australia)) were a little kinder in their reviews, respectively writing, "The characters are crash-test dummies, with dialogue to match. Yet Eric Bress' script is mockingly self-aware, framing the film as the ultimate example of violence as entertainment" and "The new film has been expertly shot in 3-D, and the extra dimension does punch-up the impact of the franchise's famously intricate set- piece snuffings". Despite claims by the producers and promotional materials, as well as the film's title, that this would be the final film in the Final Destination series, a sequel, Final Destination 5 would be released two years later in 2011.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   29%