Set your PVR – Final Destination 3, Sky Movies HD2, Saturday, 8pm
The original Final Destination movie – a smart new twist for the horror genre – was built around the theory that if you cheat death due to someone’s premonition, then death will inevitably come calling sooner rather than later. It was a box office hit and therefore an example of another inevitability – that sequels also follow sooner rather than later.
The original writing-producing-directing team of Glen Morgan and James Wong (of TV's The X-Files, Millennium and Space: Above and Beyond fame) bailed out of the first sequel. However, they were lured back for the third, possibly after the lacklustre reception of their other cinematic endeavours, such as The One and a remake of Willard (Morgan’s 2006 redo of Black Christmas was hardly a festive highlight either, unfortunately).
Final Destination 3’s formula is much the same as before. Many horror or adventure movies are described as rollercoaster rides. This one is actually based around one, namely a doomed Pennsylvania amusement park ride, which a bunch of high-school kids are supposed to be on, but who back out at the last minute after one of them, Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), gets the psychic jitters.
As expected, the surviving teenagers are picked off one by one in a series of 'freak accidents’, in the order they were originally seated, by an unseen malevolent force.
Related story: Also showing in HD this month, Underworld: Evolution.
