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Review: The Final Destination
The fourth installment of the teenybopper horror series sticks to the template delivering yet another chain of gruesome death scenes, writes Rashid Irani.
The Final Destination
Cast: Bobby Campo, Shantel Van Santen
Direction: David R. Ellis
Rating: **
Not again. The fourth installment of the teenybopper horror series sticks to the template delivering yet another chain of gruesome death scenes. Without the semblance of a plausible storyline, The Final Destin-ation will leave fans of the franchise disappointed despite being available in the 3-D format. Also, the shudder-fest is not meant for the squeamish.
In the latest go-around, a clairvoyant teenager (Campo) sees a vision warning him of an impending disaster at the race track. He persuades his fiancée (Van Santen) and a couple of friends to flee the stadium in the nick of time.
Naturally, ole Grim Reaper isn’t too pleased about this turn of events. The luckless survivors are now killed off one by one in the most macabre manner possible. Their deaths are so clearly telegraphed they fail to generate the same chills or tension as the earlier editions.
Director Ellis, who also helmed Final Destination 2, relentlessly resorts to crude shock tactics, imbecilic dialogue and a deafening soundtrack. More preposterous than perturbing, the action peters off into a wishy-washy climax.
Throughout, the effects as well as the make-up design are of the cheap and messy variety. The cast of little-known actors merely make the appropriate omigosh-this-can’t-be-happening-to-us expressions.
Ultimately, even hardcore horror geeks may find it difficult to survive the running time of 82 minutes. Here’s hoping this is the Final stop for Destination.
