Final Destination 4, is this where the franchise started to trail off? It tried to bring new ideas to the table but failed to have the punch its predecessors possesed.

Final Destination 4’s premonition is set around a race track where race cars are thrown into the audience and this causes a chain of events where many people are killed. But of course a group manage to survive and get killed off later on in freak accidents.

And let’s talk the freak accidents for one moment. This one scene ruined the whole storyline for me, which may seem odd but it didn’t fall under the same category as the rest of the killings. Samantha goes to a hair salon to get her hair done where little things start to act strangely including her chair suddenly deciding to drop meaning the hairdresser’s scissors come very close to Samantha’s head.

But that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that the hairdresser had left a straightener on, on its side next to a can of hairspray. This hairspray then happily moves itself into the straightener with nothing touching it – and no it did not roll, it was upright as it moved. Now obviously we all know this is death causing these things to happen but before he always made it seem like someone or something else caused these things to happen.

For example, in the 3nd movie when the two girls die in the tanning salon there is a chain of events which cause it:

• The girls are drinking slushies which drip onto the regulator causing it to overheat.

• In taking the CD from the shelf this causes the nail to become dislodged which makes the same shelf later on trap them in the overheating beds.

• The owner gets locked outside because the tube of tanner he used to prop open the door is squeezed with such pressure it pops open and empties.

• And he also cannot re-enter the salon from the front door because the girls have decided to lock it as if the salon is shut so no one walks in on them naked.

All of these moments are down to cause and effect and it is fascinating to watch it unravel and see how little choices in life can end with big consequences.

So, back to the hairspray and the straightner (great detective novel name by the way) this wasn’t a cause and effect moment, it was something supernatural that would not have happened if death wasn’t a conscious-being going after these people. And to then say all these occurrences are ‘freak accidents’ is no longer true. It may seem like a small plot point but it has been the plot point that has sold the rest of the series and it’s a shame to see it tampered with for cheap scares..

While I enjoy the Final Destination movies I definitely feel this one was the weakest because it didn’t connect you well with the victims and some of the deaths were just a bit too much. It felt less time and effort was put into this one compared to the others.

What do you think?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding