Final Destination series
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| Final Destination series | |
|---|---|
| Written by | James Wong (story) Glen Morgan (story) Craig Perry (story) Jeffrey Reddick (characters) |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | 2000 - 2006 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Final Destination series is the series of horror films from New Line Cinema created by James Wong and Glen Morgan, beginning in 2000 and ending in 2006 and is based on an unused X-Files script, catered by James Wong from his work with Chris Carter. It is also as a related series of books, published by Black Flame. Also in production is a series of comic books, published by Zenescope Entertainment Inc. It centers on themes of determinism, predestination, and precognition, in relation to death, i.e. how to avoid, forsee or control it.
Contents |
[edit] Basic story & concepts
The premise is basically the same throughout the movies, as well as in the book series. A group of people, usually teenagers, are about to embark on a journey or vehicular transportation of some kind, or gather for some other reason. One of the group has a premonition that the event will become deadly as a large catastrophe happens, killing everyone, or at least most of them. The events in the movies so far have included a plane flight explosion, a road trip pile-up, a roller coaster ride falling apart, and a subway derailment. In the books, there has been a nightclub cave-in, a metro bombing, a train collision, an elevator crash, a yacht sinking, a killer's death list, and an (unconfirmed) plane crash on a beach. In the comic books, the beginning accident involved several explosion at a hotel. The person with the premonition then tries to prevent the accident from happening by alerting the others. Since no one else has any way of knowing of the coming tragedy, practically none of them believe the visionary, so only a few people actually leave the event. This is either because they were forced by the visionary, they were concerned about them, or they were kicked off for starting a fight.
Soon after, the visionary sees they're helpless to stop the disaster, which happens nevertheless, killing everyone else who had not left. All the others see the visionary was right, and their view about them changes drastically. Over the next few days, weeks or months, the survivors begin to die in a series of bizarre freak accidents. These accidents are usually extremely gruesome. By the end of the movie, the visionary manages to find a way out of the dilemma they are in, having salvaged two or three of the others (see Final Girl), but there is always at least one final unexpected death at the end of the film, usually with a comedic undertone.
[edit] Plots
[edit] Flight 180 (2000)
Volée Air Flight 180 is the fictional flight route designator for the flight featured at the beginning of the film; most of the flight and subsequent crash was based on the real life crash of TWA Flight 800. It is assumed that the flight routinely flies from John F. Kennedy International Airport near New York City to Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. On the night of the crash, Flight 180 is being operated by a Boeing 747-200 aircraft when it explodes on a 9:25 PM take-off just off Queens and burns up in the Atlantic Ocean on May 13, 1999, with the loss of 287 lives. Among the passengers are 39 high school students from Mt. Abraham High School and their chaperones. Several days later, the National Transportation Safety Board rules that metal fatigue had deteriorated silicon insulation on an electrical connector to the plane's scavenge pump, sparking electrical wires in a fluid line. This ignited a fuel tank in the fuselage and caused the explosion.
Several minutes before takeoff, one of the passengers, Alexander Chance Browning (Devon Sawa), has a premonition of the plane's explosion. He causes a minor uproar, and he, his friends, Clear (Ali Larter) and Carter (Kerr Smith), and four others are kicked off the plane. Alex is soon proved to be correct when Flight 180 explodes as predicted. As seen in the first film, the survivors soon learn that Alex's vision went against the death's design, which is not just a biological event but a nearly conscious force that causes people to die at a predetermined time. The survivors begin dying in the order they would have on Flight 180 (depending on the seating arrangement and a small diagram displayed on the news which explained how the engine exploded, which brought together the death order and seating) and he sets out to save them, which becomes the plot of the first film.
Despite its total destruction within the first few minutes of the film, the plane’s predestined effects allows Flight 180 to serve as a MacGuffin, and a Chekhov's Gun — evidenced by the death-related imagery in the pre-flight part of the film. Later in the series, the plane's flight number appears extremely frequently, and the characters occasionally associate it with the flight and take it as a bad omen. Appearances in the second film include a car crash on a back road that leads to the death of three survivors, which happens after an electronic construction sign that reads NEXT 180 FEET, as well as in the third film in which the ID on the subway is 081, becoming 180 in the reflection of the train’s windows before crashing. More examples include a large neon sign that reads Le Miro 81. When it falls apart, it swings backwards and hits a character. From behind, the last letters read 18 o.
[edit] Route 23 Pileup (2003)
The second movie begins one year after the Flight 180 explosion, on Route 23. A log truck's chain supports break off and the logs crash into the cars behind, killing 26 people in the ensuing chaos. But Kimberly Corman (A. J. Cook) had a vision that allowed her to stop several people from gaining access to the highway. The pile-up happens but Kimberly's friends Shaina, Frakie and Dano are killed when a truck carrying cars off the roadway and smashes into their car, killing them instantly and nearly killing Kimberly.
Afterwards, Route 23 is hardly mentioned, apart from a news report after Evan's death. The only other reference to the accident is while in the vision, Kimberly drives past a sign that says 'Next Service 23 Miles'.
[edit] Devil's Flight (2006)
The third movie begins 6 years after Flight 180 on a roller-coaster called Devil's Flight. The roller-coaster breaks down, and when Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton) drops a camera that causes the carts to derail, plus the hydraulics rupture and the track is partially broken further on. However, Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) foresees this, and gets the people off the ride.
Note: Although Frankie gets off the ride, the ride still derails due to the breakage.
| The Final Destination Trilogy |
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Films |
| Television and film works by James Wong and Glen Morgan |
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| The X-Files • Space: Above and Beyond • Millennium • Final Destination series • The One • Willard • Black Christmas |
