Final Destination 5

The Final Destination franchise is back, complete with a fresh line-up of victims for Death to pick off one by one.

Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) has a disturbing vision of a bridge collapse, and saves his co-workers from a grisly end, including girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell). After a warning from the local coroner (Candyman star Tony Todd) the survivors realise that they are destined to die, in increasingly inventive and entertaining ways of course. Sam and Molly might be the wettest couple on the planet - no one is exactly routing for them – but that is largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Gymnasiums, massage parlours, the optometrist’s surgery – is nowhere safe? Evidently not, for as the coroner cheerily reminds us, Death does not like to be cheated.

Full of little nods and clever touches, Final Destination 5 is easily the best film in the franchise (which admittedly lost its way around 3 and 4), retaining the edge of the first film without neglecting the rest of its predecessors. Unlike Saw, which tries to please audiences with increasingly disgusting splatter sequences, Final Destination 5 is true to form but never descends into torture porn. The deaths are funny, gruesome and well thought-out, built-up wonderfully with short and sharp conclusions, and the ending is fantastic (the less said the better, but it is a corker). A great lesson is pleasing fans without regurgitating gore.

This film was reviewed as part of Film4 Frightfest 2011.

Last edited: 8th January 2012

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