Final Destination 3

Final Destination 3
Theatrical poster
Directed by	James Wong
Produced by	Craig Perry Glen Morgan James Wong Warren Zide
Written by	Glen Morgan James Wong
Based on	Characters by Jeffrey Reddick
Starring	Mary Elizabeth Winstead Ryan Merriman
Music by	Shirley Walker
Cinematography	Robert McLachlan
Editing by	Chris G. Willingham
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	February 10, 2006 (2006-02-10)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	Canada United States
Language	English
Budget	$34,000,000
Box office	$117,719,158[1]

Final Destination 3 is a 2006 supernatural slasher film, and the third film in the Final Destination series. The film was directed and written by James Wong, who co-wrote and directed the first film, and was produced by Craig Perry. It was released in North America on February 10, 2006. It was followed by The Final Destination.

Plot

In 2005, six years after the explosion of Flight 180 and five years after the pile-up on Route 23, Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the school photographer at McKinley High School, visits an amusement park with her boyfriend, Jason Wise (Jesse Moss), best friend Carrie Dreyer (Gina Holden) and her friend Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman). As they board the Devil's Flight roller coaster, Wendy has a premonition that it will crash, killing everybody on board. When events from her vision begin to repeat themselves in reality, she panics and attempts to stop the roller coaster and Wendy along with Kevin, popular girls Ashley Freund (Chelan Simmons) and Ashlyn Halperin (Crystal Lowe), athlete Lewis Romero (Texas Battle), goths Ian McKinley (Kris Lemche) and Erin Ulmer (Alexz Johnson) and alumnus Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton) are forced off the roller coaster. Moments later, the roller coaster crashes, killing the remaining people, including Jason and Carrie.

Afterward, Wendy learns from Kevin about the explosion of Flight 180 and the subsequent events that killed the survivors. Wendy dismisses this as she thinks Kevin is mocking her. But later that day, Ashley and Ashlyn are killed when their tanning beds malfunction and burn them alive. Realizing Death may be after them, the two set out to save the remaining survivors using what they believe to be omens contained in photos that were taken of them prior to the crash. Frankie dies next at a drive-thru when a runaway truck crashes into the back of Kevin's truck, causing Kevin's engine fan to blow out of his truck and slice-off the back of Frankie's head. The next day they try to save Lewis who mocks them until two iron weights swing down and crush his head. They next find Ian and Erin at the hardware store in which they work. Wendy saves Ian as he's about to be crushed by plank wood, but a piece pops a sandbag, causing Erin to fall back in confusion, and to be killed when an automatic nail gun shoots her repeatedly in the back of the head.

Wendy realizes that her sister Julie (Amanda Crew) was also on the coaster, and rushes to the county fair to save her. All the while, Wendy believes that it will be Ian who causes her death due to one of the photos. Wendy and Kevin are able to save Julie from being impaled on a harrow, but find out too late that her friend Perry Malinowski (Maggie Ma) would also have been on the coaster and watch as she is impaled on a flying flagpole.

Wendy saves Kevin from an explosion caused by the commotion and is confronted by Ian, who blames her for Erin's death. The explosion sets off fireworks which nearly hit Wendy but strike a nearby cherry-picker holding a "McKinley" sign. As Ian declares his victory over death, the sign falls and obliterates the right half of his body. Wendy believes the sign was intended to kill her until Ian unintentionally intervened.

Five months later, the three survivors cross paths aboard a subway train. Wendy has a premonition of the subway crashing (causing Julie to be killed by a tire, Kevin to be crushed by the tunnel wall and Wendy to be hit by a second train), but realizes it too late to save herself or anyone else. The train starts up and a crashing sound is heard.

"Corkscrew" Rollercoaster used during the film.^[2]

Cast

• Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Wendy Christensen
• Ryan Merriman as Kevin Fischer
• Amanda Crew as Julie Christensen
• Kris Lemche as Ian McKinley
• Alexz Johnson as Erin Ulmer
• Sam Easton as Frankie Cheeks
• Jesse Moss as Jason Wise
• Gina Holden as Carrie Dreyer
• Texas Battle as Lewis Romero
• Chelan Simmons as Ashley Freund
• Crystal Lowe as Ashlyn Halperin
• Maggie Ma as Perry Malinowski
• Ecstasia Sanders as Amber Regan

Tony Todd makes an uncredited appearance as both the voice of the devil in front of the Devil's Flight roller coaster and the subway station announcer at the end of the film. Todd had previous appeared as William Bludworth in both "Final Destination" and "Final Destination 2" and would later return for "Final Destination 5" years later.

Production

Development

Final Destination 3 was originally considered as the final part of the FD triology and was in talks ever since Final Destination 2 was released according to the interviews of FD2.

Casting

Mary Elizabeth Winstead had originally auditioned for the role of Kimberly Corman in Final Destination 2 but later tried out for the role of Wendy Christenson, the main character and visionary of this film. Other candidates for the role were Alexis Bledel but eventually Winstead was cast. Zac Efron tried out for the role of Kevin Fischer but it was given to Ryan Merriman. Amanda Crew was going to portray Erin Ulmer and Alexz Johnson would have played Julie Christenson but the two actresses ended up switching roles. Vanessa Hudgens also tried out for the role of Julie and Ashley Tisdale auditioned for the role of Erin as well.^[3]

Reception

Final Destination 3 has received mixed reviews from critics. Rating site Rotten Tomatoes reports that the film holds a 45% approval rating, based on 122 reviews. BBC film reviewer Stella Papamichael described the reference to the 9/11 attacks as tasteless and gave the film a rare 1 star out of 5, after awarding the first installment four stars and the second three. Most critics agreed that the film was "running out of ideas", that there was nothing new the series could offer, other than the theme of death. Positive reviews praised the death scenes, such as the tanning bed and nail gun deaths, describing them as "gruesome" and "painful". Most of the critics praised Winstead's performance, stating: "...the real tragedy is that promising young actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead must endure this torture."

Home media

The film was released on DVD on July 25, 2006 in both widescreen and fullscreen. There is a second disc of special features, including three documentaries. Two of these documentaries involve the making of the film while the third is about the "dead teenager" sub-genre of horror films. Other features include an animated short entitled "It's All Around You" and trailers/TV spots for the film.

The DVD also includes an optional "Choose Their Fate" feature which allows the viewers to play the movie and, when prompted, possibly alter the events of the film. The main differences are how the characters die, even though the order of their deaths remains the same. Ashley and Ashlyn originally burn to death in the film, but the alternate death option shows them being brutally electrocuted. Frankie is shown to survive in this version, but he is arrested for filming smut; his fate afterwards is not revealed. The viewer can opt to save the four characters killed by the roller coaster at the start of the film; at which time they are shown brief text screens describing each character's future, but not their fate. This version also reveals the fate of Kimberly Corman (A. J. Cook) and Thomas Burke (Michael Landes) from Final Destination 2 in the form of a newspaper article that the viewer can read.

Featured songs

1. "Smokin" – Performed by Boston
2. "Amos Moses" – Performed by Jerry Reed
3. "Turn Around, Look At Me" – Performed by The Lettermen
4. "New York City" – Performed by the Statler Brothers
5. "One Step Forward" – Performed by The Desert Rose Band
6. "Bed of Rose's" – Performed by the Statler Brothers
7. "Turn" – Performed by Eddie Rabbitt
8. "I Love a Rainy Night" – Performed by Eddie Rabbitt
9. "Love Train" - Performed by Tommy Lee (main theme)
10. "Killing Time" - Performed by (hed) p.e.
11. "Make The World Go Away" - Performed by Mickey Gilley
12. "Tribal Dance" - Performed by 2 Unlimited
13. "Turn Around, Look At Me - Matt Ellis
14. "Love Rollercoaster - Performed by The Ohio Players

References

1. ^ Final Destination 3 Box Office Mojo
2. ^ http://www.imdb.es/title/tt0414982/locations
3. ^ "Get Answers, Ask More Questions: 'Final Destination 5' Producer Craig Perry Round 4!". MrDisgusting. 2011-27-06. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/25566/. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 

External links

• Final Destination 3 at the Internet Movie Database
• Final Destination 3 at AllRovi