Final Destination (2000)

March 17, 2000

March 17, 2000

Final Destination is a 2000 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wong (in his directorial debut), who co-wrote the screenplay with Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick, based on a story by Reddick. It stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, and Tony Todd. Sawa portrays a teenager who cheats death after having a premonition of a catastrophic plane explosion. He and several of his classmates leave the plane before the explosion occurs, but Death later takes the lives of those who were meant to die on the plane.

The film began as a spec script written by Reddick for an episode of The X-Files in order for Reddick to get a TV agent. A colleague at New Line Cinema persuaded Reddick to write it as a feature-length film. Later, Wong and Morgan, The X-Files writing partners, became interested in the script and agreed to work on the film. Principal photography took place in New York City and Vancouver, with additional scenes filmed in Toronto and San Francisco.

Final Destination was released in the United States on March 17, 2000. The film achieved commercial success, earning $112.9 million against a $23 million budget. While it received mixed reviews from critics, it won the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Sawa, The film's popularity led to the expansion of the Final Destination franchise, which includes five additional films, as well as novels and comic books. The first sequel, Final Destination 2, was released on January 31, 2003.

Storyline

High school student Alex Browning boards Volée Airlines Flight 180, a Boeing 747, with his classmates for their senior trip to Paris from John F. Kennedy Airport. Before take-off, Alex has a premonition that the plane will face a mechanical failure, leading to a mid-air explosion that causes an aviation accident, killing everybody on board. When the events from his vision begin to occur in reality, he panics until a fight breaks out between him and student Carter Horton, resulting in both of them being removed from the plane, along with Alex's best friend Tod Waggner, Carter's girlfriend Terry Chaney, teacher Valerie Lewton, and students Billy Hitchcock and Clear Rivers. None of them, except Clear, believe Alex about his vision until the plane explodes on take-off. Afterwards, the survivors are interrogated by two FBI agents, Weine and Schreck, who are both suspicious of Alex.

After a memorial service, Tod slips on a puddle of water from the toilet and falls into the bathtub while a clothes line wraps around his neck, strangling him to death. While his death is ruled a suicide, Alex sneaks into the funeral home along with Clear to examine Tod's corpse when mortician William Bludworth reveals that the survivors who escaped from the impending circumstance have disrupted Death's plan and that Death is now claiming the lives of those who were meant to die in the accident. Alex and Clear are discussing their next move when the rest of the survivors arrive outside a café, where Terry is run over by a speeding bus.

After watching a news report on the cause of the explosion, Alex concludes that Death is reclaiming the survivors in the order they would have died in the disaster. Nonetheless, he is too late to save Ms. Lewton, whose house explodes after a falling kitchen knife impales her. The remaining survivors reunite while driving through town as Alex explains the situation. Still skeptical of Alex's theory, Carter stops his car at a train crossing to prove it wrong. Alex, Clear, and Billy manage to escape, but Carter, realizing his impending fate, is still trapped in his car. Alex manages to save him just before the car is smashed by an oncoming train that knocks a piece of shrapnel from the wreckage into the air, decapitating Billy. Alex deduces that because he intervened in Carter's death, it skipped to the next person in the sequence.

While hiding in a fortified cabin the next day, Alex recalls never changing seats with two students to sit directly next to Tod and realizes that Clear is actually next. He rushes to her house to save her while Weine and Schreck pursue him. Alex finds Clear trapped inside her car, surrounded by loose electrical cables that ignite a gasoline leak around her. He grabs the cable, allowing her to escape the car just before it explodes.

Six months later, Alex travels to Paris with Clear and Carter to celebrate their survival. While discussing their ordeal, Alex reveals that Death never skipped to him after he saved Clear. Fearing their struggle is unfinished, Alex retreats when a bus collision hurls a parking sign towards a neon sign that begins falling towards him. Carter pushes Alex out of the way at the last second, but the sign swings back towards Carter and kills him.

Also See

Movie Trailer

  • Final Destination (2000) (Trailers)

Sound Effects Used

Image Gallery

Audio Samples

The edited variant of the first rev from Hollywoodedge, Harrier Takeoff Vert PE211301, as heard in the movie:

External Links