There Is One Important Thing I Learned From This Movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You all read my post awhile back about "Final Destination 3", darlings!!!!!! Well, I decided I wanted to see the others in the series. So, I checked out the Original, the Second One, and the last, which, I believe, is the Fifth. I watched the Original yesterday afternoon, and there is one important thing I learned from it.

My girls--if ANY of you out there aspire to be actors and actresses, do NOT go up for one of these movies--and there will be more made--because, if you are cast, and take the job, it will be the Kiss Of Death to your career!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly, it has been 12 years since I first saw the original, when it came out, in 2,000, and as I looked over the cast list NOW, I realized that none of these young actors ever went ANYWHERE!!!!!!!! The same for the cast of "Final Destination 3." So, I am telling you, these movies are to avoid, if you want to hang on to any kind of acting career!!!!!!!!!!!!

As to the Original, how did it stand up???? Pretty much like the third; the first twenty minutes or so--that is, the Disaster that sets the whole thing up--is unquestionably the best. It maintains a steady creepiness till about halfway through, after which it kind of peters out. And the ending is rather anti-climactic.

Maybe this is due to its not being conceived as a movie in the first place. The story that became the movie "Final Destination" was written by Jeffrey Reddick as a spec script for the TV series, "The X Files." Much in the same way that James Dearden first conceived of what became "Fatal Attraction" as a short film for British television, entitled "Diversion," made around 1980!!!!!!! I would be curious to see both scripts, and see how they played out. Might they have been better than their outcomes as feature films???????? I highly suspect the answer is yes!!!!!!!!!!!

There was something else that bothered me about the film, as it unfolded. The set pieces for the opening death--the plane crash, inspired by the real life incident of TWA Flight 800 in 1996-- are spectacularly staged--so much so that I am not planning on getting aboard a plane anytime soon. BUT it is a genuine catastrophe; the deaths that follow all seem to be accidents that are TOO contrived. The same holds true for FD3, where the roller coaster opening is the best part.

And two of the deaths in this original film are just too dwelt on in an almost sick way. The first is the death of Tod, who, through a series of grotesque coincidences, fundamentally hangs himself in his bathroom. It looks to everyone, like suicide, but, to the audience, and to Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) and Clare Rivers (Ali Larter), who know what is going on, it is NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then there is the death of Miss Valerie Lewton, the schoolteacher, played by Kristen Cloke. Of course, she is a spinster who lives alone, though her manner suggests more of a bitch gym teacher, cheerleader squad instructor, which makes her come off as abrasive and dislikable. Maybe that is why the filmmakers take so much pleasure--sadistic, really--in setting up her death, and then disposing of her.

It begins with her heating some tea in a pot. Is something going to happen, because we see the black specter of Death mirrored in the pot???? Then a chink in the glass leaks water out of the tea, and shatters the liquid all over. Then Miss Lewton resorts to vodka, which tells us she is not a REPRESSED spinster, darlings, and the drippings of that find their way into the computer, which causes it to fizzle, leading to her being stabbed by one of her kitchen knives, culminating in the entire house exploding!!!!!!!!! Another great set piece, but was it necessary??????

Then there is Kerr Smith, as Carter Horton, who deserves to die!!!!!! And almost does, several times. You go from hating him to liking him as the film progresses. But his implied statement to Miss Lewton before her death that he finds her hot is just....gross, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!

The interesting thing is that in lots of these deaths, Alex always happens to be on the scene, which causes two FBI guys investigating Flight 180 to wonder if he in any way has anything to do with all this. And if you are coming to this as a first timer, that is easy enough to believe.

But somewhere--after I think the train tracks sequence, where Alex intervenes and saves Carter Horton, the film sort of peters out. And the ending, which has the three survivors making it to where they intended, Paris, is rather anti-climactic. Necessary, maybe, but I expected something more clever, especially as the early part has such promise.

As was the case with the third one, and I am sure the others, much of the films are pretty much the same. Though Number 3 has a momentum that does not give out. One thing is certain--as long as people will watch, these films will continue to be made, which leads me to expect that when we get to the final "Final Destination" movie, there is only one way to end the series!!!!!!!!

The last survivor dies at the very end of watching a "Final Destination" movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!