The Final Destination

What if cheating death cursed you with premonitions regarding the upcoming fatalities of others? That's the basic concept behind the gruesome Final Destination horror franchise, with this fourth installment in the series adding the crowd-pleasing fillip of 3-D (making impalement more fun, apparently). The formulaic Grim Reaper tale revolves around Nick (Bobby Campo), who experiences precognition at a NASCAR racetrack, presumably saving himself and those randomly seated around him—including friends Lori (Shantel VanSanten), Hunt (Nick Zano), and Janet (Haley Webb)—from a gorefest. But fate persists, so those who were supposed to die but didn't are stalked until they bite the proverbial dust—in a myriad of ways. “I feel something's in the room with me,” Nick notes; to be specific, it's Death (with a capital “D”). Screenwriter Eric Bress and director David R. Ellis (who collaborated on Final Destination 2 before Ellis helmed Snakes on a Plane) have a dandy ready-made villain, as Death is presented as an ethereal, invisible being, sometimes announcing its presence through breezes. Since impending Death is also inventive, the means of disposing victims are limited here only by the filmmakers' convoluted imaginations—such as a drunk white racist setting himself on fire while placing a burning cross on a black man's lawn. Other carnage includes decapitations, mutilations, eviscerations, and those grisly, inevitable impalements. Offering only the flimsiest of performances from Campo and the rest of the cast, this frantic, in-your-face supernatural horror flick is not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (8 min.) and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is “Body Count: The Deaths of The Final Destination” which deconstructs key death sequences (22 min.), pre-visualization/storyboards of key scenes (11 min.), two alternate endings (3 min.), and a sneak peek at the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street (2 min.). Bottom line: a so-so extras package for a lame horror flick.] (S. Granger)