Ole’ Mr. Death doesn’t like standing around the water cooler and talking about the ones that got away, so if you happen to escape he’s coming after you – with a vengeance. However, Death is a sporting chap and give you hints about your eminent demise.
Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is spending a fun filled evening at the amusement park with her friends. They get in line to ride a rather ominous roller coaster. She and her boyfriend Jason (Jesse Moss) are split up and she has to sit with his friend Kevin (Ryan Merriman). Jason gets to sit with Kevin’s girlfriend Carrie (Gina Golden). They get on the ride and a series of unfortunate events leads to all their deaths. Well, not really since this was all just Wendy’s vision while they’re setting in the car in the staging area about to start the ride.
She freaks out and wants off of the ride. So she and Kevin, Lewis (Texas Battle), Ashley (Chelan Simmons), Ashlyn (Crystal Lowe), Frankie (Sam Easton), Ian (Kris Lemche), and Erin (Alexz Johnson) all get off of the coaster. Jason and Carrie are in a different car and the attendant won’t let them off of the ride. Just as the supervisor is taking Wendy and company out the back door of the ride when her vision comes true and the coaster crashes and Jason and Carrie are killed. The school is in mourning over the deaths of those two, but Wendy is taking it hardest.
Kevin has researched Wendy’s phenomenon and found another incident where some teens got off a doomed airplane and missed the crash. He tells Wendy that the survivors then began to die in the order that they would’ve died if they stayed on the airplane.
Is that death I see comin' for me?
Wendy thinks that Kevin is full of crap, that is until she downloads the pictures that she was taking on the night of the accident and starts noticing odd discrepancies in the pictures. She figures out that the pictures give clues as to how the people pictured in them died. The problem is that eight people got off the ride and she also discovers that there was also an unknown ninth person.
Wendy tells Kevin about her discovery and they come to the conclusion that if they break the chain of death and save one of the people pictured that the remaining victims will be spared (as it was with the plane survivors). So it’s up to Kevin and Wendy to interpret the modes of death of their friends in the pictures, find out who the ninth person is, and stop mean ole’ Mr. Death (who seems to like to listen to oldies music as he goes about his business) from completing his rounds before he gets to them.
Final Destination 3 is truly a popcorn movie, turn you’re brain off at the door and you’re in for a fun ride. It’s pretty much a murder by the numbers show, but whatever it is it has a sense of gory fun. Luckily, the makers didn’t take the usual route of horror movies these days and PG-13ize the flick.
We’re treated to some silly, gory kills and even some boobie shots. Some of the kills are downright hilarious. The one in the hardware store plays like some sort of Rube Goldberg contraption. I thought the film had a sense of fun throughout, though if you think too hard about it you might not enjoy yourself.
Death by nail gun
Final Destination 3 is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. A separate fullscreen release is also available. Special features are spread across this two disc set. Disc one has a commentary with director James Wong, writer Glen Morgan, and director of photography Robert McLachlan.
It also has a “Choose their Fate” version of the film. Several times during the movie you will be asked to make choices and depending on which choices you make you can change the course of the film and the fate’s of the characters.
I tried this feature one time through and it only confused me since I saved a character which should’ve meant that the next victim didn’t die. Well, that didn’t happen. I guess that death took not kindly to my earlier remarks. As if that wasn’t enough, Disc two comes loaded with special features.
The first feature is the 7 minute cartoon “It’s All Around You” that is about other cases where people have cheated death. Next is the 24 minute “Dead Teenager Movie” which is a documentary about the teenage horror movie phenomenon (as told by film critic Roger Ebert).
Next is the 88 minute “Kill Shot: Making of Final Destination 3” and covers the whole process of making the third part of the Final Destination franchise. There’s also a 2 minute deleted scene, a section on promotional material, and a selection of DVD-ROM/Online features.
Those expecting the next horror classic perhaps need not apply, but if you’re looking for a gory and fun little horror flick then this one might appeal to you (mind that you turn off your brain).
Splat!
New Line also packs in the special features and if extensive behind-the-scenes production information appeals to you then this also might appeal to you (it’s okay to turn your brain back on for these parts). Definitely worth a rental if either of those appeal to you.
Final Destination 3 – Two Disc Special Edition is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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