Final Destination (series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (February 2008)

Final Destination series
Directed by	Films:: 1, 3 James Wong Films: 2, 4 David R. Ellis
Produced by	James Wong Glen Morgan
Written by	Story: James Wong Glen Morgan Characters: Jeffrey Reddick
Music by	Shirley Walker
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	2000 – 2009
Running time	280 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$315 million
Allmovie profile

The Final Destination series is the series of horror films created by James Wong and Glen Morgan, based on an unused X-Files script and characters created by Jeffrey Reddick and distributed by New Line Cinema. The films mainly centers on themes of determinism, predestination, and precognition, in relation to death (i.e. how to avoid, foresee, or control it), as well as a related series of books (published by Black Flame) and comics (published by Zenescope Entertainment Inc). Visually, they center around killing people in a variety of elaborate, gory, ways.

Contents 1 Basic story 1.1 Premise 1.2 Cheating Death 2 Volée Air Flight 180 (2000) 2.1 Plot synopsis 2.2 Deaths 3 Route 23 Pileup (2003) 3.1 Plot synopsis 3.2 Deaths 4 Devil's Flight (2006) 4.1 Plot synopsis 4.2 Deaths 5 24 Hours of LeMans (2009) 5.1 Plot synopsis 5.2 Production 5.3 Deaths 6 Reception 6.1 Box office performance 6.2 Critical reaction 7 Recurring elements 8 References

[edit] Basic story

[edit] Premise

The premise is basically the same throughout the movies, as well as in the book series. A group of people, usually teenagers, are about to embark on a journey or vehicular transportation of some kind. One of the group has a premonition of a large catastrophe, that will prove deadly to most of the people present. To date, the events in the films so far have included a plane flight explosion, a road trip pile-up, and a roller coaster ride falling apart (in the upcoming fourth film, however, the disaster will be an intense race car crash, sending a debris which will, presumably, kill the audience members). In the books, there has been a nightclub cave-in, a metro bombing, a train collision, an elevator crash, a yacht sinking, a killer's death list, and an (unconfirmed) plane crash on a beach. In the comic books, the beginning accident involved several explosions at a hotel. The person with the premonition then tries to prevent the accident from happening by alerting the others. Since no one else has any way of knowing of the coming tragedy, practically none of them believe the visionary. Usually only a small group leave with the visionary, either because they were forced by the visionary, they were concerned about the visionary or his or her words, or they were forced to leave by others for causing a disturbance.

Soon after, the visionary sees they're helpless to stop the disaster, which happens exactly as foreseen, killing everyone who had not left. All the survivors see the visionary was right, and their view about them changes drastically. Over the next few days, weeks or months, the survivors begin to die in a series of bizarre freak accidents. Usually, the survivors will begin dying in the same order they would have, had they been present at the original disaster. The accidents are usually extremely gruesome. The death causes range from the common to the bizarre and elaborate (e.g. hanging by a rope, killed by a nail gun.) By the end of the movie, the visionary manages to find a way out of the dilemma they are in, having salvaged two or three of the others (see Final Girl), but there is always at least one final unexpected death at the end of the film, usually with a comedic undertone.

[edit] Cheating Death

A recurring theme in each Final Destination films is the concept of truly defeating Death. Constant intervention is shown to merely keep repeating the list. Once the list of Death's Design runs through, it rewinds to the beginning. The only way to defeat Death is through "new life". This is first introduced by the mortician Bludworth in the second film. So far, one way has been determined to cheat Death once and for all, while another remains a theory.

[edit] Volée Air Flight 180 (2000)

Main article: Final Destination

[edit] Plot synopsis

Volée Air Flight 180 is the fictional flight route designator for the flight featured at the beginning of the film; most of the flight and subsequent crash was based on the real life crash of TWA Flight 800. It is assumed that the flight routinely flies from John F. Kennedy International Airport near New York City to Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. On the night of the crash, Flight 180 is being operated by a Boeing 747-200 aircraft when it explodes on a 9:25 PM take-off just off Queens and burns up in the Atlantic Ocean on May 13, 2000, with the loss of 287 lives. Among the passengers are 39 high school students from Mount Abraham High School and their four chaperons. Several days later, the National Transportation Safety Board rules that metal fatigue had deteriorated silicon insulation on an electrical connector to the plane's scavenge pump, sparking electrical wires in a fluid line. This ignited a fuel tank in the fuselage and caused the explosion.

Several minutes before takeoff, one of the passengers, Alexander Chance Browning (Devon Sawa), has a premonition of the plane's explosion. He causes a minor uproar, and he gets himself thrown off the plane along with his best friend, Tod Wagner (Chad Donella), soon to be his girlfriend, Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), Carter Horton (Kerr Smith) and his girlfriend, Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott) and Mrs. Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke). Alex is soon proved to be correct when Flight 180 explodes as predicted. As seen in the first film, the survivors soon learn that Alex's vision went against the death's design, which is not just a biological event but a nearly conscious force that causes people to die at a predetermined time. The survivors begin dying in the order they would have on Flight 180 (depending on the seating arrangement and a small diagram displayed on the news which explained how the engine exploded, which brought together the death order and seating) and he sets out to save them, which becomes the plot of the first film.

Despite its total destruction within the first few minutes of the film, the plane’s predestined effects allows Flight 180 to serve as a MacGuffin, and a Chekhov's Gun — evidenced by the death-related imagery in the pre-flight part of the film. Later in the series, the plane's flight number appears extremely frequently, and the characters occasionally associate it with the flight and take it as a bad omen. Appearances in the second film include a car crash at mile marker 180 on a back road that leads to the death of three survivors, which happens after an electronic construction sign that reads NEXT 180 FEET. In the second film when Kim just saw the premonition she saw a sign that said "Next 180" the same sign is seen in the third film. As well as in the third film in which the ID on the subway is 081, becoming 180 in the reflection of the train’s windows before crashing. More examples include a large neon sign that reads Le Miro 81. When it falls apart, it swings backwards and hits Carter. From behind, the last letters read 18 o.

[edit] Deaths

Actor/Actress	Role	Death
Devon Sawa	Alexander Chance Browning	Killed by a falling brick (never shown, but directly mentioned).
Ali Larter	Clear Rivers	Killed in an explosion from the escaped oxygen (shown in the second film).
Kerr Smith	Carter Horton	Hit by a huge neon sign that read Le Miro 81 (never shown, but implied when the credits roll).
Seann William Scott	Billy Hitchcock	Decapitated his head by a piece of a car bonnet at the railroad crossing.
Kristen Cloke	Ms. Valerie Lewton	A broken piece of computer launched at her neck, stabbed by a knife and blown up when her house explodes.
Amanda Detmer	Terry Chaney	Smashed by a speeding bus.
Chad Donella	Tod Waggner	Slips on water in his bathroom, and strangled to death by shower cord during his fall.

[edit] Route 23 Pileup (2003)

Main article: Final Destination 2

[edit] Plot synopsis

The second movie begins on the 1st anniversary of the Flight 180 explosion, on Route 23. A log truck's chain supports break off and the logs crash into the cars behind, killing 26 people in the ensuing chaos. But Kimberly Corman (A. J. Cook) had a vision that allowed her to stop several people from gaining access to the highway. The pile-up happens but Kimberly's friends Shaina, Frankie and Dano are killed when a truck carrying cars drives off the roadway and smashes into their car, killing them instantly and nearly killing Kimberly.

Afterwards, Route 23 is hardly mentioned, apart from a news report after Evan's (David Paetkau) death. The only other reference to the accident is while in the vision, Kimberly drives past a sign that says 'Next Service 23 Miles'. This film connects to the first when the Route 23 survivors visit Clear Rivers, who was the only survivor boarding Volée Air Flight 180 to Paris.

[edit] Deaths

Actor/Actress	Role	Death
A. J. Cook	Kimberly Corman	Impaled by a faulty woodchipper (shown on the DVD choose-your-fate featurette in the third film).
Michael Landes	Officer Thomas Burke
Terrance Carson	Eugene Dix	Killed in the explosion from the escaped oxygen (along with Clear from the first film).
Jonathan Cherry	Rory Peters	Sliced his body into three parts by a fence of barbed wire from the van explosion.
Keegan Connor Tracy	Kat Jennings	Impaled through her head by a broken plastic pole.
Lynda Boyd	Nora Carpenter	Decapitated her head by elevator doors in her apartment.
James Kirk	Tim Carpenter	Crushed by a glass window used for construction.
David Paetkau	Evan Lewis	Impaled through his eye by a falling ladder.

[edit] Devil's Flight (2006)

Main article: Final Destination 3

[edit] Plot synopsis

The third movie begins on the 6th anniversary of the Flight 180 explosion, on a ill-fated roller-coaster ride known as Devil's Flight. The roller-coaster breaks down, and when Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton) drops a camera, the carts derail, plus the hydraulics rupture and the track is partially broken further on. However, Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) foresees this, and gets the people off the ride. There are clues that death is coming including the letter "V" in High Dive. The letter "V" in Wendy's camera, there are no light. Now the High Dive reads into High Die. In the end, Wendy had a premonition of a subway derailment five months later for which she, along with her best friend Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman) and sister Julie (Amanda Crew) were killed.

Note: Although Frankie gets off the ride, the ride still derails due to the breakage. However, other factors were seen as causes of the accident, including a faulty hydraulic line on the train and a section of track being broken. Frankie's camera presumably only accelerated the accident, instead of being the sole cause.

[edit] Deaths

Actor/Actress	Role	Death
Mary Elizabeth Winstead	Wendy Christensen	Killed in the subway derailment.
Ryan Merriman	Kevin Fischer
Amanda Crew	Julie Christensen
Kris Lemche	Ian McKinley	Sliced his body in half by a falling sign.
Maggie Ma	Perry Malinowski	Impaled by a flagpole.
Alexz Johnson	Erin Ulmer	Hit by a nail gun 6 times in her face.
Texas Battle	Lewis Romero	Crushed his head by gym weights.
Sam Easton	Frankie Cheeks	Back of his head sliced off by a still-spinning fanbelt from Kevin's car.
Chelan Simmons	Ashley Freund	Burned alive after their tanning beds explodes.
Crystal Lowe	Ashlyn Halperin

[edit] 24 Hours of LeMans (2009)

This article or section contains information about one or more scheduled or expected films. The content will change as the film's release approaches and more information becomes available.

Main article: Final Destination 4

[edit] Plot synopsis

Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) has a premonition of a race car crashing into the stands at the 24 Hours of LeMans. After warning his friends, several of them leave moments before a LMP2 car crashes and flies into the audience, killing those who remained. Now, those who survived are being killed off one by one by Death in gruesome freak accidents.

[edit] Production

The fourth film is "greenlit." On November 20, 2007, the Hollywood Reporter announced that David R. Ellis, who directed the second film, as well as Cellular and Snakes on a Plane, has signed on to direct and develop the fourth installment with Eric Bress writing the screenplay. The film will be a stand-alone sequel and will have no connection to the other films, starting off with new teenagers.^[1] It will also be shot in 3-D.^[2]

Production begin on March 3rd, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana and wrapped up May 29th with an early 2009 release set. This was the first Final Destination film not to film in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

[edit] Deaths

Actor/Actress	Role	Death
Bobby Campo	Nick O'Bannon	?
Nick Zano	Hunt Wynorski	?
Shantel VanSanten	Laurie Milligan	?
Haley Webb	Janet Cunningham	?
Krista Allen	Helen	?
Jessica Ritchie	Cassie	?
Phil Austin	Edward	?
Billy Slaughter	Frankie	?
Justin Welborn	The Racist	?
Lara Grice	The Racist's Wife	?
Mykelti Williamson		?
Andrew Fiscella		?
Richard T. Jones	The Widow/Security Guard	?

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office revenue			Reference
		United States	Foreign	Worldwide
Final Destination	March 17, 2000	$53,331,147	$59,549,147	$112,880,294	[3]
Final Destination 2	January 31, 2003	$46,961,214	$43,465,191	$90,426,405	[4]
Final Destination 3	February 10, 2006	$54,098,051	$59,172,557	$113,270,608	[5]
Final Destination 4	2009
Final Destination film series		$154,390,412	$162,186,895	$316,577,307

[edit] Critical reaction

Film	Rotten Tomatoes		Metacritic	Yahoo! Movies
	Overall	Cream of the Crop
Final Destination	29% (78 reviews)[6]	21% (19 reviews)[7]	36% (28 reviews)[8]
Final Destination 2	46% (103 reviews)[9]	32% (22 reviews)[10]	38% (25 reviews)[11]	C (14 reviews)[12]
Final Destination 3	45% (110 reviews)[13]	33% (24 reviews)[14]	41% (28 reviews)[15]	C (13 reviews)[16]

[edit] Recurring elements

• Tony Todd is the only actor that has been in all three Final Destination movies. In the third film, he only plays an omniscient voice.
• The first death is always the most drawn out.
• Writers paid tribute to the band The Ramones in each installment of Final Destination.
• Each movie includes an unexpected death at (or toward) the end of the film (usually with a slightly comical undertone).
• Each movie references the number 180 in some way. For example, the people intended to die in the accidents that survive after, die in 180 degrees reverse order. In the third film when Wendy looks into the mirror she sees that the subway's number is 081.
• In all the films and books except the third movie the third death is always the longest and most painful
• Wind is usually a sign that death is near, especially after various camera shots establish a lack of sources for wind in the area (closed windows, unpowered fans, etc).
• At least one death in each film involves fire. The first one was when the Ms. Lewton was burned because the stove blows up, the second one was when Clear opens Eugene's door, which hits a wire and jerks the plug from an outlet, creating a spark, which explodes the escaped oxygen, killing them both instantly, and the third when Ashley and Ashlyn were burned because the tanning booth explodes. Also in the second movie, Evan Lewis dies in a house fire, althogh the fire has nothing to do with his actual death (a ladder is impaled in his eyes), but he wouldn't have been impaled on said ladder if not for the fire.
• In all three movies, the fourth death always has something to do with the head.
• In all three movies, a death has always revolved around someone being crushed or obliterated.
• In each movie someone is killed due to a car part. The first one was a decapitation by a jagged piece of a roof, the second one due to the air bag inflating causing the victim's head to go into a sharp piece of piping, and the third one was a fan blade from inside of the motor slicing into the back of a man's head.
• At least one death involves someone loosing their head. In the first movie, Billy was decapitated by a flying car part; in the second film, Nora, grieving over her son's death, accidentally gets her head caught in an elevator going up; and in the third film, Lewis gets his head crushed by falling weights.
• In each film, at least one death has something to do with water: the first film, the water in the bathroom in which Tod slips on, the second, when Kimberly drowned in the lake (but was revived shortly afterwards), and the third, where Ashley and Ashlyn died because of the water dripping into the machine warming the tanning beds.

[edit] References

v • d • e The Final Destination Series Films Final Destination · Final Destination 2 · Final Destination 3 · Final Destination 4 Other media Books · Comics Crew members James Wong · Glen Morgan · David R. Ellis · Eric Bress · Shirley Walker · Jeffrey Reddick