FINAL DESTINATION 3

SYNOPSIS:
High school senior Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has a premonition of a fatal accident on a roller coaster that involves her and her friends. Later, when she and Kevin (Ryan Merriman) study some happy snaps she had taken before the accident, they realize there are clues in the photos as to how the survivors will die - in strict order of seating on the ill fated roller coaster. As Wendy and Kevin try desperately to intervene, she feels a presence, a force, that manifests itself to her at times, confirming her worst fears - death is alive.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
If the story sounds familiar, you must have seen the first two films (the first also directed by James Wang); it's not my cup of tea, but it does what the filmmakers set out to do.

I confess to being a recalcitrant viewer of US teen flicks, no matter the genre, partly because they portray all the characters (except perhaps the lead) as crass, vulgar, loud, stupid and shallow people. These films also inevitably overstate every scene, every element, every joke and every fright. All the teens are stereotypes (almost numbered for easy spotting) and the dialogue is unbearable. This is certainly true of the first half of Final Destination 3, but the filmmakers half redeem their work with some inventive work in the second half, as the body count rises.

There is thankfully no bad taste joking, although some of the scenes are directed with a sense of irony that rescues what is otherwise a simplistic horror film with lots of grue ... deaths are nasty, bloody events, signalled in advance to generate maximum anticipation.

The premise is simple enough: if they didn't die in the initial accident, our classmates will be picked off in ghastly fashion by what amounts to a serial killer - which in this case seems to be death itself. Neat, huh?

A great date movie for couples who like to share their revulsion at squelchy death scenes and hug each other in dread. Not recommended for the squeamish.