There
have been so many horror films as of late then why do we
need sequels as well. Well because horror films are kings
of the box office right now. It costs next to nothing to
make them and people line-up around the block to see flicks
like “Saw 2” and “When a Stranger Calls”.
Why
are people so fascinated with the new wave of horror films
especially when 85% of them are unbelievably bad?
The
FD series stretches back to the original film 2000’s
“Final Destination” which was created by Glen
Morgan and James Wong who created the short-lived Fox series,
“Space: Above and Beyond” and contributed to
the cult series “The X-Files” and “Millenium”.
The
film’s plot had seven high school students suddenly
bolt from a doomed airliner before it takes off and explodes.
It turns out that one of the students (Ali Larter) had a
vision of the plane’s destruction and freaked out.
For the rest of the film, the escapees die in rather bizarre
accidents as it seems like fate itself won’t let them
live.
2003’s
“Final Destination 2” was a follow-up to the
first film finds yet another high-school girl (A.J. Cook)
having a premonition of a rather nasty highway pile-up when
her friends embark on a road trip.
This
brings me to FD3, as I have dubbed it. This time it’s
yet again another high school girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)
who has a vision of a roller coaster disaster while on a
visit to an amusement park with friends. The third film
also marks the return of series creators Glen Morgan and
James Wong.
What
makes this series so entertaining to audiences is how each
of the victims is killed. The traps set out by fate remind
me of that old game I used to play as a kid called “Mouse
Trap” except it ends up killing some one.
I like
how each of the traps are setup from basic situations in
life. It’s fun to see fate closing in and how stupid
people can be. The opening roller coaster sequence is probably
the best sequence of the film and it has such an excellent
execution.
As third
films go, this film is not bad for what it is. It probably
would have been better to see it go straight to video but
horror films are hot right now.
I liked
the performances of new-comers Mary Elizabeth Winstead and
Ryan Merriman. Winstead has the potential to go places if
she can find the right projects. I also fondly remember
Merriman from the 2003 short-lived TV series, “Veritas:
The Quest” which I still love to this day.
FD3
is about the same as the films before it and if you liked
the first two then you are sure to like this one. What else
can you say about a third horror film?