Product Details

• Actors: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kristen Cloke, Daniel Roebuck
• Directors: James Wong
• Writers: James Wong, Glen Morgan, Jeffrey Reddick
• Producers: Art Schaeffer, Brian Witten, Chris Bender, Craig Perry
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Original recording reissued, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: January 16, 2001
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (379 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000542DG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,723 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While hardly a spiritual upgrade of the slasher film, this high-concept teen body-count thriller drops hints of The Sixth Sense into the smart-aleck sensibility of Scream. Helmed by X-Files veteran James Wong, who cowrote the screenplay with longtime creative partner Glen Morgan, Final Destination is an often entertaining thriller marked by an unsettling sense of unease and scenes of eerie imagery. It suffers, however, from a schizophrenic tone and a frankly ludicrous premise. A high school Cassandra, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa of Idle Hands), wakes from a preflight nightmare and panics when he's convinced the plane is doomed. His ruckus bumps seven passengers from the Paris-bound plane, which immediately explodes into a fireball on takeoff, but fate hasn't finished with these lucky few and, one by one, death claims them. Wong brings such a funereal tone to these early scenes of survivor's guilt and inevitable doom that the already far-fetched film threatens to veer into unplanned absurdity. Thankfully, the tale loosens up with a playful morgue humor: one of the victims winds up the splattered punch line to a grim joke and elaborate Rube Goldbergesque chains of cause and effect become inspired spectacles of destruction. Final Destination is a pretty silly thriller when it takes itself seriously, and the filmmakers play fast and loose with their own rules of fate, but once they stick their tongues firmly in cheek, the film takes off with a screwy interpretation of the domino effect of doom. --Sean Axmaker

From The New Yorker

Two alumni of "The X-Files," writer Glen Morgan and director James Wong, make the leap to the big screen and come up with one of the most enjoyable scarefests in years. While boarding an airplane, a high-school student (Devon Sawa) has a premonition that the plane will crash-a hunch later proved explosively correct. He saves the lives of a group of fellow-students, but death won't be cheated, and supernatural forces begin to menace the survivors, one by one. Wong bathes each scene with deep shadows, and the creepy lighting gives the picture a ghastly, nightmarish feel. The "Omen"-like setup (a grisly death every fifteen minutes or so) rolls along like a funhouse ride, and the deaths themselves are designed with the fabulous complexity of Rube Goldberg contraptions. The film is clever enough not to get caught in its own mousetrap; there's a gleeful spirit to the frights delivered here, and the kicker of an ending leaves the audience with a perfect final scream. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't Take It Too Seriously And You'll Enjoy It, November 23, 2004

By 

K. Fontenot "Prairie Cajun Regenerated!" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Final Destination (New Line Platinum Series) (DVD)

"Final Destination" is a pretty good flick considering that it's filed under the "Teen Slasher" title. The concept of Death coming after those who have thwarted their fate seems fairly original to me. I don't recall any other movie using this concept.

As most of you probably know, the story starts out with a young man(Devon Sawa) having a vision of Flight 180, the flight he and his classmates happen to be on, exploding into a ball of flames. He freaks out, gets himself and some of the other students and a teacher booted off of the plane and shortly thereafter, his vision becomes truth. He's considered a prime suspect for planting a bomb on the plane.

One by one, however, his classmates begin to die in some rather unorthodox ways. The agents tailing Sawa happen to notice that he has been around when most of these deaths occur, further incriminating him. Sooner or later Sawa, Ali Larter, and a few of the other surviviors realize that Death is hunting them down in the order that they should have died in the plane explosion.

This is where the train goes off the tracks. The plot gets a little bit loopy and things get rather silly as Death picks off the survivors one by one. The death scenes are rather original, and some of them make you cringe for a second as Death narrowly misses his victims. Of course, you have to wonder how Death can pull off a plane explosion, but can't manhandle a few puny high schoolers after they avert him the first time around. Just don't take this movie too seriously, and I'm sure everything will be okay. Look beyond the absurdities and you'll love every minute of it.

Overall, this isn't a bad flick. The story, though somewhat absurd, is original and the pacing of the film is perfect. The acting is solid, though Sawa seems a little bit stiff compared to the others. Ali Larter does a fine job as the loner who is the first to believe in Sawa's character. All of the death scenes are morbidly entertaining. I'm sure everyone has heard about the scene with the bus. If not, keep your eye out for it. It's one of the quickest, most violent deaths I've seen in the past few years. Also, look for the guy from "Candyman."

Recommended to teen slasher fans who like gore more than actual scares and anyone who just wants a neat popcorn flick to kill a little time. This one is entertaining enough to fill that need.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE FICKLE FINGER OF FATE..., September 22, 2005

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Final Destination [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This teen scare flick is a cut above most others. Here, it is not some crazed killer which does away with most of the cast but, rather, the fickle finger of fate that selects the next denizen of the great beyond.

The movie starts off happily enough with a class of high school seniors about to depart for Paris. Once they board the plane, our main man, Alex, cannot quite overcome his fear of flying, as he has a premonition that the plane is going to blow up upon takeoff.

His hysteria is such that he, as well as four other students, is escorted off the plane, accompanied by faculty members, one of whom returns to re-board the plane. No sooner does the plane take off, it blows up in mid air. It seems that fate has snatched these lucky individuals out of death's clutches...or has it?

Their relief, at having escaped being blown up on the plane, turns to terror, as it appears that fate will not have them cheat death. The lengths that these young people go to evade fate, and the steps that fate takes to hunt them down one by one, makes for a crafty and clever thriller. Teens and adults alike will enjoy this flick.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must See, July 2, 2000

By 

Justin Young (Paducah, KY USA) - See all my reviews

I went in hoping very much to like this film, and I came out being surprised that I actually did.

A group of students bound for Paris leave the plane when one has a terrible vision, only to find that it comes true a few moments after takeoff. Oh, but death doth not allowth such an easy route out. Soon the ole Grim Reaper begins to hunt down each of these students one by one and kill them off. Wow, a slasher flick with the ultimate slasher, huh? Yep, and it works beautifully.

The film starts off with the best plane crash perhaps ever seen on screen and is quickly followed by two very original death scenes. And well, then it kinda goes downhill. What started out clever becomes cliché, and the last few deaths are not nearly as original as the first. The ending is also very lame and seems more tacked on for sequel purposes than for a "complete film."

Still, even with those flaws, and the semi-bad acting, the dialogue shines and the movie itself blazes. Final Destination has its flaws, but in spite of them it ranks as one of the most entertaining films so far this year. Go see it, but beware if John Denver comes on the radio...