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
Studio	Zide/Perry Productions Hard Eight Pictures Matinee Pictures Practical Pictures Road Rebel
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

Final Destination 3 is a 2006 American supernatural horror 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 Final Destination 4.

Plot

6 years after the explosion of Flight 180, and 5 years after the Route 23 pile-up, 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 Carrie and Jason.

Afterwards, 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.

Next they find Ian and Erin at the hardware store in which they work. As they explain to them what is going on, Ian explains that Death must be some kind of plot, and if the last in line were to kill themselves, It would ruin Death's plan and it would save everyone else still alive. Wendy manages to save Ian as he's about to be crushed by planks of wood, but a piece pops a sandbag, causing Erin to stumble backwards and to be killed when an automatic nail gun shoots 12 nails into her head, leaving Ian devastated.

Wendy realizes that her sister Julie (Amanda Crew) and one of her friends is also on the coaster, and rushes to the county fair to save them. She and Kevin are able to save Julie from being impaled on a harrow, but find out too late that Julie's friend Perry Malinowski (Maggie Ma) would also have been on the coaster and watch as she is impaled by 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 large sign, causing it to fall and bisecting Ian. Wendy believes that Ian unintentionally intervened when the sign was intended for her.

Five months later, the three survivors cross paths aboard a subway train. Wendy has a premonition of the subway crashing, 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.

Cast

• Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Wendy Christensen
• Ryan Merriman as Kevin Fischer
• 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
• Amanda Crew as Julie Christensen
• Maggie Ma as Perry Malinowski
• Ecstasia Sanders as Amber Regan

Tony Todd has previous appeared as William Bludworth in both "Final Destination" and "Final Destination 2", but he did not make a personal appearance in "Final Destination 3". He would later return for "Final Destination 5" as William Bludworth years later.

Production

Development

Final Destination 3 was originally considered as the final part of the FD trilogy and was in talks since the time of Final Destination 2's release, 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 Christensen, 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.

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 3 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 make different decision at few points in the film. If chosen different to the original version, it triggers a minorly alternate scene, which does nothing to change the film, despite the title, as all characters die regardless of the viewers decisions. The only difference is slightly alternate death scenes. For instance, Ashley and Ashlyn originally burn to death in tanning beds, but the "alternate" death option shows them being electrocuted instead. Frankie is the only person able to survive, but is later arrested for filming smut; his fate afterwards is not revealed.

The bigger difference is the viewer being able to stop the four characters from getting on the roller coaster at the start of the film. However, if this is done, the film ends there and then, with brief texts screens saying the four went their separate ways, their fate not revealed.

The fate of Kimberly Corman (A. J. Cook) and Thomas Burke (Michael Landes) from Final Destination 2 is revealed near the end of the film in the form of a briefly seen newspaper article, which states that they fell into a woodchipper.

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

External links

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