Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: Final Destination 3 (Full Screen 2-Disc Special Edition) (2006) |
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Review of Final Destination 3 (Full Screen 2-Disc Special Edition)
- Death seeks out a group of students after they escape a deadly rollercoaster ride.
Genre: Suspense
Rating: R
Release Date: 4-SEP-2007
Media Type: DVD
Product Description
- Giddily gruesome and perversely entertaining, Final Destination 3 proves, yet again, that horror franchises will thrive as long as teenagers keep finding spectacular ways to die. A stand-alone sequel to the first two Final Destination thrillers, this one begins when a group of seven high-school graduates luckily escape from a deadly roller-coaster disaster, only to discover that their own deaths have been only temporarily avoided. Cute brunette Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) spots clues of impending doom in digital photos of her soon-to-be-expiring classmates, and an ill wind follows her everywhere, suggesting the presence of a supernatural force that makes her a catalyst for gory events, as each of her friends is dispatched in the order they were meant to die. Returning to give their brainchild a suspenseful, low-budget makeover, franchise creators and former X-Files writers James Wong and Glen Morgan cleverly play on our collective fears (the roller coaster sequence is genuinely terrifying) with a knowing nod to violent urban legends, which explains their inclusion of the '70s hit "Love Roller Coaster" on the soundtrack when two stuck-up girlfriends pay an ill-fated visit to a tanning parlor. And that's just for starters: With Wong as director, FD3 serves up its grisly deaths with tight pacing and humor, and the cathartic carnage is discreetly edited yet gory enough to satisfy hardcore horror buffs. When morbid mayhem is this much fun, it's a safe bet that another sequel is just around the corner. --Jeff Shannon
On the DVD
As befits a horror franchise heavily invested in the idea of "fate," the Final Destination 3 disc carries a "Choose Their Fate" option. In other words, you can watch the movie with occasional choices offered; click on one of two alternatives, and see that version play out. This won't give you the power to let one character live or die; it's more like deciding whether somebody honks her horn twice in a scene, calls heads or tails on a coin flip, or pushes the thermostat to 72 degrees or 76. Not exactly life-changing, but it's kind of fun.The bonus disc includes a 90-minute "making of" feature called Kill Shot, which covers the production of the movie in exhausting detail (honest detail, too: filmmakers James Wong and Glen Morgan are funny and blunt about the business they're in, including a section on how the original ending was scrapped in favor of a bloodier finale). It's everything you'd want to know about this movie--but who needs to know this much? A 7-minute cartoon, "It's All Around You," is an amusing meditation on bad luck and laws of probability, while a 25-minute featurette called Dead Teenager Movie spins off from Roger Ebert's theory about the rigid formula of a certain kind of horror film (Ebert weighs in on the subject himself). A few experts opine on the traditions of teenagers dying in horror films; some of them don't seem to be aware that the formula pre-dated the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Audio commentaries, special effects sidebars, and trailers fill out this needlessly authoritative disc. --Robert Horton
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Comments for Final Destination 3 (Full Screen 2-Disc Special Edition)
- Posted on 2008-07-30
My fave of the 3!
It's very unusual that I would like a third in the series the best, but I really do! I love the opening amusement park setting, I can always get the creeps there and so many bad things that can happen in one, it makes perfect sense to start a thiller in one. The funny the is, the characters are the least likable ones, not on in the FD series, but in almost any movie. They were just really broad stereotypes of some diffrent teens about to graduate. You know, snotty girls, jocks, emos, etc. I swear you almost cheer for them to get killed, and wow do they get killed in cool and new ways! I really loved the ending, it's how it should be considering the first 2 movies. I also like the interactive features, and some of the stuff on the other disk. If you like these movies for the orignal death scenes, not character development, you'll enjoy this entry.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-06-16
Love Rollercoaster, Ride On It.
Let's face it, roller coasters are one of those terrifying thrills that many of us have a attraction/aversion to on a primal kind of level. It makes the first 15 minutes of "Final Destination 3" truly scary in a white knuckle kind of horror way. It is easily the best thing about this movie, and the bonus disc shows just how much effort they put into making that tiny sequence as authentic as possible.
Thus, when Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has her premonition and then starts divining clues from her digital pictures, the blueprint for the very determined force of death offing the survivors (ala the original Final Destination) is in place. FD3 does so with humor and verve (putting the infamous scream from The Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster" was a great touch) while devising increasing grisly and freakish ways to kill off the seven survivors. Trust me, you'll want to swear off tanning beds after this one.
The bonus features are what help elevate this DVD to the 4th star. The "Choose Their Fate" option offers both alternative takes and some really funny bonus clips (Frankie Cheeks' in particular) and a cool documentary about the "Dead Teenager Movie," featuring Roger Ebert. For a thrill ride movie, it takes a good perspective on itself.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-05-28
Little originality, but who cares?
In my opinion, the original "Final Destination" was one of the best horror films to surface in the wave of post-"Scream" horror films that emerged in the late 1990's. The idea of a group of teenagers "cheating death" and then having "death" come back to collect them was a great one and with all of the elaborate death sequences, it was extremely well executed (excuse the pun) too. Evidently, I wasn't the only person out there who thought this, because "Final Destination 3" is essentially just a remake of the first "Final Destination" and why would you remake something if the idea didn't have merit to begin with? Of course, since "Final Destination 3" is just a remake, why bother to watch it at all; why not just re-watch "Final Destination"? The answer to that question depends on why you liked the first film to begin with.
If you are looking for originality of plot, then don't bother with "Final Destination 3". It's not there. This film will just give you a 89 minute feeling of deja vu. However, if you want to see yet another series of gruesome and elaborate death sequences, then you've come to the right place. The death sequences in this instalment are even better than those in the previous two films, and in spite of myself, I found myself eagerly anticipating each new death. Guessing who would be the next victim and how they would die was fun and the 89 minutes of the film literally just vanished, I was so engrossed in it (something which I can't say about many films). I won't give away the details of any of the deaths, since that would spoil the fun, but if that's why you like this series, then you will definitely enjoy this film.
Score: 4 - Posted on 2008-05-25
A Gory Good Time (3.5 stars)
The first few times I watched FD3 I was pretty skeptical. After the release of FD2 which was pretty subpar compared to the first one, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the third installment. To my surprise, the producers of the first movie came back to do FD3, plus they brought in some good actors to which added a lot more depth to the characters.
While FD3 doesn't veer from the typical storyline of the FD franchise, it does dispatch the characters in new and oftentimes in a "graphic novel" way. Moreover, the end of this one tops the other two movies as well.
Overall FD3 is a movie to have a lot of fun with (if you're a thriller/horror fan).
Score: 3
- Posted on 2008-05-01
get on get dead
this was a thrilling and relistic movie very great. This movie was fantastic a shocking and most disturbing yet, this and final destination1 was the best part2 was okay but this was great this movie will have you at the edge of your seat if you did'nt see this yet but awsome movie.
Score: 5
