Final Destination (film)

Final Destination is a 2000 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wong. It stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, and Tony Todd. In the story, Sawa plays a teenager who has a premonition of a terrible plane explosion and manages to avoid it with some friends. However, Death later comes for those who were meant to be on the plane.

The idea for the film started as a spec script written by Jeffrey Reddick for an episode of The X-Files. It was later turned into a movie, with filming in places like New York City, Vancouver, Toronto, and San Francisco.

When Final Destination was released in the United States on March 17, 2000, it became very popular, earning much more money than it cost to make. Although some critics had mixed feelings about it, the film won awards and led to more movies, novels, and comic books in the Final Destination franchise. The first sequel, Final Destination 2, came out in 2003.

Plot

High school student Alex Browning had a dream that his plane would explode on a trip to Paris. He convinced some friends and a teacher to get off the plane, and soon after, the plane did explode. But Death wasn't done yet. The friends who got off the plane started to die in different ways, just like in Alex's dream.

Alex and his friend Clear Rivers tried to stop Death, but it was very hard. They saved each other from danger many times. Even after six months, Alex worried that Death might still be coming for them. Sadly, one of their friends was killed while trying to save Alex from falling debris.

Cast

Further information on individual characters: List of Final Destination characters

• Devon Sawa as Alex Browning
• Ali Larter as Clear Rivers
• Kerr Smith as Carter Horton
• Kristen Cloke as Valerie Lewton
• Daniel Roebuck as Agent Weine
• Roger Guenveur Smith as Agent Schreck
• Chad E. Donella as Tod Waggner
• Seann William Scott as Billy Hitchcock
• Tony Todd as William Bludworth
• Amanda Detmer as Terry Chaney
• Brendan Fehr as George Waggner

Several characters in the film are named after famous movie directors, actors, and producers. For example, Billy Hitchcock is named after Alfred Hitchcock, and the Browning family and Tod Waggner are named after Tod Browning. Other names reference well-known figures in horror films.

Production

Development

The idea for the film started when writer Jeffrey Reddick read about a woman who changed flights because she had a bad feeling, and the plane she would have been on crashed. He thought it would be interesting to imagine what if she was meant to die on that flight. Reddick wrote a script for a TV show but was encouraged to turn it into a movie instead.

New Line Cinema bought the idea and asked Reddick to write a script where an invisible force caused the deaths. Originally, the survivors were adults, but they changed them to teenagers after the success of another teen horror film, Scream. Directors James Wong and Glen Morgan joined the project and rewrote the script, focusing on making everyday objects seem dangerous and creating a sense of mystery.

Casting

The main characters were chosen for their ability to show subtle emotions. Canadian actor Devon Sawa played Alex Browning, the teen who has a vision about the plane crash. Other actors included Ali Larter as Clear Rivers, Seann William Scott as the class clown Billy, and Kerr Smith as the bully Carter Horton. Tony Todd played a mortician who adds an eerie tone to the film.

Filming

Filming happened in different places, including Long Island for the plane scene and Vancouver for other scenes. The actors had busy schedules, so filming times were adjusted. Special effects were used to create the scary scenes, like a large model plane for the explosion and a gimbal to move the plane set. The crew used lifecasts of the actors and special effects to show the death scenes safely.

Effects

The designers made the movie sets look slightly off to create an uneasy feeling. They built a large gimbal to move the plane set and a detailed model plane for the explosion scene. The train crash scene was especially hard to film safely. The crew used special effects and careful planning to create suspense and scary moments.

Music

Although there was no official soundtrack album, several songs appeared in the film. One famous song, "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver, is used often to remind viewers of the plane crash theme. Other songs include tracks by Nine Inch Nails and Jane Siberry. The film's score was composed by Shirley Walker.

Release

Box office

The film Final Destination came out on March 17, 2000, showing in 2,587 theaters in the United States and Canada. It made $10,015,822 in its first weekend, finishing third at the box office behind the films Erin Brockovich and Mission to Mars. The movie stayed in theaters for 22 weekends and ended up making $112,880,294 worldwide.

Home media

Final Destination was released on VHS and DVD on September 26, 2000. The DVD included extra features like audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and two documentaries. A Blu-ray Disc version came out on April 7, 2009, with many of the same extras.

Reception

Critical response

Many critics had mixed feelings about the film Final Destination. Some thought it was exciting and kept them guessing, while others felt it was not very well made or interesting.

The movie won some awards and was popular with fans of horror films. The main actor, Devon Sawa, received praise for his performance as the hero, Alex.