ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - March 17th
"FINAL DESTINATION" released in 2000
When a teenager has a terrifying vision of he and his friends dying in a plane crash, he manages to prevent the accident - only to have Death hunt them down, one by one, in James Wong's Final Destination!
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High school student Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) boards Volée Airlines Flight 180 with his classmates for their senior trip to Paris, France. But just before take-off, Alex has a premonition that the plane will suffer a catastrophic engine failure, causing the plane to explode in mid-air, and killing everyone on board. When the events from his vision begin to repeat themselves in reality, he panics and a fight breaks out between Alex and his rival, Carter Horton (Kerr Smith). This leads to several passengers being removed from the plane, including Alex; Carter; Alex's best friend, Tod Waggner (Chad E. Donella); Carter's girlfriend, Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer); teacher Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke); and students Billy Hitchcock and Clear Rivers (Seann William Scott and Ali Larter). None of the passengers, except for Clear, believe Alex about his vision until the plane explodes on take-off, killing the remaining passengers on board!
Afterwards, the survivors are interrogated by two FBI agents, who believe that Alex had something to do with the explosion. Thirty-nine days later, the survivors attend a memorial service for the victims. That night, Tod is killed when a chain reaction causes him to be strangled in his bathtub. His death is deemed a suicide; however, Alex does not believe that Tod killed himself. He and Clear sneak into the funeral home to see Tod's body, where they meet mortician William Bludworth (Tony Todd), who tells them that they have ruined Death's plan, and Death is now claiming the lives of those who were meant to die on the plane. Later, while watching a news report on the cause of the plane explosion, Alex realizes that the survivors are dying in the order they were meant to die on the plane, which is confirmed when Ms. Lewton is killed when her house explodes after being impaled with a kitchen knife. With the number of survivors dwindling, Alex begins to see omens everywhere that predicts their impending deaths - and perhaps find a way to keep cheating Death's design!
Afterwards, the survivors are interrogated by two FBI agents, who believe that Alex had something to do with the explosion. Thirty-nine days later, the survivors attend a memorial service for the victims. That night, Tod is killed when a chain reaction causes him to be strangled in his bathtub. His death is deemed a suicide; however, Alex does not believe that Tod killed himself. He and Clear sneak into the funeral home to see Tod's body, where they meet mortician William Bludworth (Tony Todd), who tells them that they have ruined Death's plan, and Death is now claiming the lives of those who were meant to die on the plane. Later, while watching a news report on the cause of the plane explosion, Alex realizes that the survivors are dying in the order they were meant to die on the plane, which is confirmed when Ms. Lewton is killed when her house explodes after being impaled with a kitchen knife. With the number of survivors dwindling, Alex begins to see omens everywhere that predicts their impending deaths - and perhaps find a way to keep cheating Death's design!
Bludworth: By walking off the plane you cheated death. You have to figure out when it's coming back at you. [to Alex] Play your hunch, Alex. If you think you can get away from it. But beware the risk of cheating the plan, disrespecting the design... it could initiate a horrifying fury that would terrorize even the Grim Reaper - and you don't even want to fuck with that MacDaddy!
Top and Above: Alex (Devon Sawa), Clear (Ali Larter) and Carter (Kerr Smith) finally realize that Death is coming for them, as explained by the mortician, William Bludworth (Tony Todd).
The original idea for Final Destination was written by Jeffrey Reddick as a spec script for an The X-Files episode in order to get a TV agent. New Line Cinema then bought Reddick's treatment and hired him to write the original draft of the script, which featured Death as an unseen force. After the script was finished, New Line submitted the script to directors, including writing partners James Wong and Glen Morgan; both later signed on to make it into a film, although they would rewrite the script to comply with their standards. Similarly fascinated about the idea of an invisible force executing its victims, producers Craig Perry and Warren Zide from Zide/Perry Productions signed on and helped with the film's budget.
Alex Browning, the last role cast, went to Canadian actor Devon Sawa, who previously starred in the 1999 film Idle Hands. Sawa said that when "[he] read the script on a plane, [he] found [himself] peeking out the window at the engine every couple of minutes" and "[he] went down and met Glen and Jim and [he] thought they were amazing and already had some great ideas". Ali Larter, who starred in the 1999 film Varsity Blues, was cast as female lead Clear Rivers, with Seann William Scott, famous for portraying Steve Stifler in the 1999 film American Pie, was hired as class clown Billy Hitchcock. Dawson's Creek star Kerr Smith was soon added to the cast as jock Carter Horton, with newcomers Amanda Detmer and Chad E. Donella being cast as students Terry Chaney and Tod Waggner, respectively. Morgan's wife Kristen Cloke was later added to play teacher Valerie Lewton, and legendary horror icon Tony Todd signed to cameo in the film as the mortician William Bludworth (Morgan initially wanted Todd for the role because he felt his deep voice would give the film an eerie tone).
Alex Browning, the last role cast, went to Canadian actor Devon Sawa, who previously starred in the 1999 film Idle Hands. Sawa said that when "[he] read the script on a plane, [he] found [himself] peeking out the window at the engine every couple of minutes" and "[he] went down and met Glen and Jim and [he] thought they were amazing and already had some great ideas". Ali Larter, who starred in the 1999 film Varsity Blues, was cast as female lead Clear Rivers, with Seann William Scott, famous for portraying Steve Stifler in the 1999 film American Pie, was hired as class clown Billy Hitchcock. Dawson's Creek star Kerr Smith was soon added to the cast as jock Carter Horton, with newcomers Amanda Detmer and Chad E. Donella being cast as students Terry Chaney and Tod Waggner, respectively. Morgan's wife Kristen Cloke was later added to play teacher Valerie Lewton, and legendary horror icon Tony Todd signed to cameo in the film as the mortician William Bludworth (Morgan initially wanted Todd for the role because he felt his deep voice would give the film an eerie tone).
[shouting angrily at Carter]
Terry: I'm moving on, Carter. And if you want to waste your life beating the shit out of Alex every time you see him... then you can just drop fucking dead!
[a bus comes out of nowhere, and runs Terry down!]
Top and Above: One by one, the remaining survivors are picked off by Death, including Ms Lewton (Kristen Cloke) and Carter's girlfriend Terry (Amanda Detmer)
While filming of the plane scenes were shot on location in Long Island, most of Final Destination was filmed in British Columbia. Unfortunately, most of the cast members were filming other projects during production, so filming schedules had to be moved repeatedly in order for all of the cast to appear. According to Detmer, her death scene (being rammed by a speeding bus) was filmed first because "it was easy but much anticipated".
To serve the subtleties of the script and to help personify death, production designer John Willet developed the concept of "skewing" the sets. "What I've tried to do with the sets themselves, with their design and with various color choices, is to make things just a little unnatural," Willet explained. The plane scene during which passengers die in mid-air was created inside a very large sound stage, with a three-ton hydraulic gimbal being operated automatically. Used for filming the on-board sequences, it could be shifted on the gimbal to create a pitching movement of up to 45 degrees side-to-side and 60 degrees front-to-back, realistically conveying the horror of airborne engine failure. Wong said, "You walk into the studio and there's a huge gimbal with a plane on top and you think, 'What have I done?' I was afraid we were gonna have 40 extras vomiting."
To serve the subtleties of the script and to help personify death, production designer John Willet developed the concept of "skewing" the sets. "What I've tried to do with the sets themselves, with their design and with various color choices, is to make things just a little unnatural," Willet explained. The plane scene during which passengers die in mid-air was created inside a very large sound stage, with a three-ton hydraulic gimbal being operated automatically. Used for filming the on-board sequences, it could be shifted on the gimbal to create a pitching movement of up to 45 degrees side-to-side and 60 degrees front-to-back, realistically conveying the horror of airborne engine failure. Wong said, "You walk into the studio and there's a huge gimbal with a plane on top and you think, 'What have I done?' I was afraid we were gonna have 40 extras vomiting."
Above: Co-writer/Director James Wong
A 10 feet long and 7 feet wide miniature model of the Boeing 747 was also created. According to visual effects supervisor Ariel Velasco Shaw, the miniature had to be launched about 40 feet up into the air to make it look like a real Boeing 747 exploded into a fireball. If blowing up a four-foot plane, the explosion must be a minimum of eight feet in the air. To film the explosion in detail, the crew used three cameras running 120 frames per second and one camera running 300 frames per second (if they had filmed using a real-time camera, the succession of the explosion would not be filmed in a particular order).
Released in 2,587 theaters across the United States and Canada, Final Destination earned over $10 million in it's opening weekend, eventually grossing $53 million at the North American box office, and another $60 million internationally. While a commercial success, Final Destination received mostly mixed reviews from critics. On the negative side, Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that "even by the crude standards of teenage horror, Final Destination is dramatically flat", while Lou Lumenick of the New York Post commented that "the film's premise quickly deteriorates into a silly, badly acted slasher movie—minus the slasher". In contrast, the film gathered positive reviews from top critics, including Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, who enjoyed the film and gave it three out of four stars, stating that "Final Destination will no doubt be a hit and inspire the obligatory sequels. Like the original Scream, this movie is too good to be the end of the road. I have visions of my own". Joe Leydon of Variety also praised the film, saying "[it] generates a respectable amount of suspense and takes a few unexpected turns while covering familiar territory", while Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said it was "a terrific theatrical feature debut for television veterans Glen Morgan and James Wong".
Released in 2,587 theaters across the United States and Canada, Final Destination earned over $10 million in it's opening weekend, eventually grossing $53 million at the North American box office, and another $60 million internationally. While a commercial success, Final Destination received mostly mixed reviews from critics. On the negative side, Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that "even by the crude standards of teenage horror, Final Destination is dramatically flat", while Lou Lumenick of the New York Post commented that "the film's premise quickly deteriorates into a silly, badly acted slasher movie—minus the slasher". In contrast, the film gathered positive reviews from top critics, including Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, who enjoyed the film and gave it three out of four stars, stating that "Final Destination will no doubt be a hit and inspire the obligatory sequels. Like the original Scream, this movie is too good to be the end of the road. I have visions of my own". Joe Leydon of Variety also praised the film, saying "[it] generates a respectable amount of suspense and takes a few unexpected turns while covering familiar territory", while Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said it was "a terrific theatrical feature debut for television veterans Glen Morgan and James Wong".
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 34%
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