#202 -- Final Destination 3 (2006)

Rating: 4 / 5
Director: James Wong

Up until now, there were only two of the Final Destination movies I hadn't seen. Now the only one I've got left is the newest. I think I was nervous about watching this one because of my own personal phobias, but I really enjoyed it. It had quite a few familiar faces for me--Ryan Merriman (Luck of the Irish), Jesse Moss and Kris Lemche from Ginger Snaps, Alexz Johnson (from the TV show Instant Star), and Amanda Crew from Sex Drive. Overall, I'd say it was a very nice installment in the series.

The first was an exploding airplane; the second was a freak car accident; this one is a failing roller coaster. Wendy felt exactly how I do every time I stand in front of a roller coaster: that if I get on that thing, I'm going to die. She was nervous before-hand, but it all got worse when she had a premonition of the coaster crashing and everyone aboard dying. She caused a gigantic scene and got thrown out of the amusement park. Fortunately, a small group of people followed her, as usual in these movies. Those who remained on the coaster died, but the others were saved--for the time being. Because unfortunately, death hadn't forgotten about them.

I don't need to explain to you too much about what followed. If you're reading this, I'm assuming you're familiar with the series. Death stalked the survivors, blah blah blah, everyone died in fucked up ways, blah blah blah. Once they figured everything out, they realized if they saved each other, death would skip over them. But I think we all know that, while death might have a shorter attention span, it always remembers eventually.

There were a couple of really gruesome deaths in this one that I liked. A guy got his head chopped up by a fan out of a truck; another guy got his head crushed by a couple of weights; a girl got several nails shot into her head. The production values were great, especially the carnival scenes; all the colors and bright lights were truly beautiful. Until they all got splattered with blood, of course.

As far as comparing this one to the others...I prefer the second to this one, and nothing will ever beat the first. I don't remember much about the fourth, and I haven't seen the fifth yet.

I've only ridden one roller coaster in my entire life (the Georgia Scorcher at Six Flags). So what did this movie ultimately do for me? It ensured that I will never--ever--get on another roller coaster. I was terrified of them to begin with, and Final Destination 3 certainly didn't help.