Death Comes Torturous: Final Destination 3 (2006)

Final Destination 3 (2006) (AKA Cheating Death: Final Destination 3)
Rating: ***1/2
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche

Gore, gore, and more gore; when movies like SAW (2004), Hostel (2005) and The Devil's Rejects (2005) introduced long and torturous overkills in the early to mid-2000s, bighead business types probably wanted to cash-in to these movies' successes by putting the splatter back in horror and thriller cinema. Thus, the once clever and intense dead teenager series Final Destination steps its game up for its third inning to cater a new wave of gore-hungry audience, even if it meant re-telling the same plot all over again.

This time around, we join highschooler Wendy and her friends at a local fair as they celebrate their last days attending McKinley High before graduating. What should have been a fun night for everyone in her year, tragedy strikes when a roller-coaster accident takes the lives its riders, though there should have been more victims in the count.

Wendy, you see, had a premonition of the upcoming disaster minutes before it started, thus she ends up saving a few of them, something she's not too thrilled about as it costs her a loving boyfriend and a good friend, leading to one hell of a survivor's guilt. It will, however, go for worse when one by one, the should-be coaster casualties start dropping like flies from one fatal accident to the next, all in the order they were supposed to die at the fair. Now aware of her predicament, Wendy has no choice but to figure out the pattern and clues to stop an inevitable force hunting them down or end up next on Death's list.

In comparison, the first two Final Destination movies can be seen as teen thriller-cum-supernatural slashers with some metaphysical themes, while Final Destination 3 (2006) is more of the splatter-filled junkfood horror, throwing off factors like proper character build and plot development in favor of off-the-wall kills, paint-by-number clichés and stereotypes. Not any of that is a bad thing honestly, but it kinda stepped this entry down a lot from the imaginative dead-teenager flick that started it all, to a messy and chunky kill-a-thon rollercoaster ride. (Pun intended)

That said, the movie's greater focus on the brutal impact of these kills meant the deaths here are more torturous and/or overdone as the mutilated gets further dismembered and splattered beyond recognition, done gloriously in traditional practical effects with CG enhancements in full onscreen. Basically, a gorehound's wet dream. Those expecting a smart and witty film may not find much to work with this entry, but with the right mindset and expectations, Final Destination 3 (2006) can definitely be fun; yes, the plot could have gone down the route to at least explain a little bit further on how Death works in these movies, but the basic teenagers-in-peril story has its own perks if you're not in a demanding mood. Sometimes you just want to see doomed teenagers lined up as lambs for the cosmic slaughter and, as sadistic as that sounds, it does make one hell of a guilty entertainment, even more so paired with the nihilistic undertone of this movie. (I mean, just look how this movie ends. No hope at all!)

Final Destination 3 (2006), as far as I can tell, could have been a rather dull entry to the series as it retreads the same plot that backbones the first two films. Nevertheless, the fun factors of these Final Destination films, who will die next and how, are still present, with the how here being answered with loads of stage blood and shredded latex. Gorno-addicts and enthusiasts might find a worthwhile time through this one, as too those who are willing to trade out smarts for bloody parts. It could have been worse, and I mean really worse -*COUGH*THEFINALDESTINATION! - so let's just thank the invisible forces for these small mercies, and hopefully this series can continue a stable footing.

Bodycount:
7 riders mangled in a roller-coaster accident
2 females incinerated in malfunctioning tanning beds
1 male had his head shredded by a truck engine fan
1 male had falling exercise weights crush his head
1 female repeatedly shot on the head with a nailgun
1 female impaled by a broken flag pole
1 male crushed by a falling cherry picker
1 female crushed by a dislodge train wheel
1 male filleted in between a train and tunnel wall
1 male and 1 female mangled in train derailment

A number of victims seen killed in train derailment
1 female ran over by an incoming train
Total: 19+