The Final Destination (2009)

O Masterpiece

O Excellent

O Good

O OK

X Mediocre

O Avoid

Review by Jason Pyles / August 28, 2009

There is a rap song that begins, “Six million ways to die — choose one.” In the “Final Destination” movies, there are about six trillion ways to expire, none of them pleasant.

This horror franchise specializes in portraying elaborate, freak-accident deaths, usually befalling young men and women.

“The Final Destination,” which is supposedly the last installment of the series, continues to wring out its bone-dry, bankrupt gimmick. Though the first film was sufficient, here we are with a fourth rehashing where several friends are once again enjoying themselves, until one of them has a premonition depicting an imminent catastrophe.

“The Final Destination” opens at a race track. The visionary leading character, Nick — who’s played by Wheeling-born actor Bobby Campo — foresees a horrendous car crash that will kill him and his friends. After warning his skeptical cohorts and surrounding spectators, they flee the scene whereupon the crash occurs as he had envisioned, except the majority of those who listened to his warning cheat death.

But only for a time.

In these movies death itself is personified as an invisible stalker, preying upon those who should have died. And just like the three previous films, the characters realize what’s happening and try to prevent their fatalities.

When I discussed Campo’s new film with him, he said, “Our object was to see how gruesome and how intricate we could make these deaths.” While it’s true that “The Final Destination” delivers some chain-reaction executions, it spends more time trying to defy audience expectations than it does creating complicated and ghoulish kill scenarios. (The problem with faking out viewers every time is the deception is no longer a surprise.)

“The Final Destination” does deliver one stroke of genius pertaining to its 3-D format: Typically, the fun of 3-D is the alarming perception that something is flying out of the screen toward your face. This movie cleverly exploits this anxiety with a 3-D movie scene within the 3-D movie you’re watching.

But otherwise, most of the blurry 3-D sequences are difficult for your eyes to bring into focus and look artificial — like cartoonish, transparent holograms.

Campo has a charismatic screen presence, and he does fine with this role of looking worried, making ominous predictions and trying to evade death. He told me, “It’s weird to act in a horror movie, because you can’t exactly draw from anything you’ve ever experienced.”

Let’s hope.

Directed by David R. Ellis

Bobby Campo / Shantel VanSanten / Haley Webb

Horror 82 min.

MPAA: R (for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality)