At last, a horror film that has an interesting premise and one that actually does away with the rules of that teen slaying sub-genre. You can't cheat death, warns the foreboding tagline for Final Destination, an intriguing hook that hints at the film's plot, but thankfully does not give away the whole story. Accordingly, I would not want to spoil the nasty surprises that lurk within this small but effective movie, but I can tease you with a few details. 

A bunch of perfect, beautiful young teens are heading off on a school trip to Paris, though one imagines that their time will be spent on more illicit extra-curricular activities rather than learning the local language. All the stereotypes are presented here; the nubile cheerleaders, the quiet, awkward girl and the macho football jock who has an 'F' word for every occasion - played by Dawson's Creek actor Kerr Smith, evidently doing his best to shake off any sensitive gay guy type-casting. Yet, our attention is turned away from these high school clones to the nervy, nerdy Alex, who falls asleep and has a bad dream that the plane they are on will explode just after it leaves the runway, mercilessly killing everyone on board. 

Unsurprisingly slightly worried by this premonition, Alex causes a bit of a rumpus, and to cut a long concept short, seven of the group are forcibly removed from the plane by security. After this dramatic dip, things get a little weird when said plane does explode, in the exact same fashion that Alex said it would, and the spared lives of the six teenagers and one teacher are thrown into turmoil; guilt, anger, resentment all come into play, but it is Alex who is the most worried. It is not every day that a boy learns that he can predict the future--imagine how Uri Geller felt when he first learnt to bend a spoon and you're getting close. 

Of course, you can't cheat death--and here is where the set-up of Final Destination becomes more intriguing than most teen films of recent years - for it seems that the Grim Reaper is a little miffed that he failed to do his job properly, and returns for a second stab at it. From a series of grisly events, it soon transpires that the lives of the characters were not so spared after all, that there is a set of knives/shard of scrap metal/train/piece of modern art with their name on it. On the surface, these may seem like 'accidents', but Alex and a gradually trusting girl Clear know better, mostly due to his talent of predicting the future, especially in the area of who is going to die next. 

Interestingly, the idea that we know whose number is next up adds for more tension, and is more effective than the random deaths that clog up other horror movies of the same ilk. We know full well that not everyone will be saved, but Alex and Clear's efforts to outwit fate are exciting, and in some cases, truly eerie. The Wiley E. Coyote death sequences are ridiculous and more often than not played for laughs, but the film's premise asks important questions about the fragility of life and how seriously we take the big questions of death and fate. Though this questioning may not be intentional, behind the shocking and spooking, one is left to wonder how our lives are governed--do we have control over our destiny or does some other higher power? If so, is it a caring deity, or one who has a malicious design in store? Of course, I would have my own opinions on that, but Final Destination did make me look at things from the other side of the fence. 

Yet, at the end of the day Final Destination is primarily about entertainment, and thankfully it does deliver. Since the arrival of last year's The Sixth Sense, the horror genre has had to pull its shocks up and do something different to capture an audience. Wong's film may fall between a few stools, but most of the time the picture pervades a very strong sense of excitement and there are some good gasp moments--watch for the bit with the bus--and the air crash at the beginning is a truly horrible sequence, so I severely doubt that Final Destination will be shown as an in-flight movie. 

Thankfully, the in-joke film references are thin on the ground; for those anal cinema buffs like me, the characters are all named after old horror directors and actors, and it is good to see that the gravelly voiced chap from Candyman is finding work where he doesn't have a hook for a hand. Sadly, while there is little blood, dialogue too often relies upon profanity to make its point and sometimes feels just a little too stilted and ill-rehearsed for comfort, but these are mild quibbles. It seems that in Hollywood, you're still a nobody if you haven't starred in a teen horror film, so thankfully Final Destination is a good one.  It omits the self-conscious wise-cracking of the Scream series and is not afraid to indulge in a few murderous setpieces that are vaguely reminiscient of the boardgame Mousetrap. Yet, it is the quieter moments that are most memorable--shadows on the wall, the wind blowing curtains, the usual false scares--ones that will probably not haunt you when you go to bed at night, but are quite chilling at the time. 

Just remember though; you can't cheat death. 

Ross Thompson 05/23/2000