Final Destination 5 Review

Film review

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Director: Steve Quale.

Genre: Body horror

Plot:

Sam is on his way to a company retreat with. While crossing a Bridge under construction work, Sam has a vision that the bridge will collapse, killing everyone including himself. Worried by his vision, he urges his girlfriend Molly and his friends to leave the bridge before it collapses. FBI agent Jim Block doesn't believe that Sam was responsible for the bridge collapse, but promises to keep his eye on him. Following the memorial service, local coroner William Bludworth mysteriously warns the survivors that they cheated Death. Believing this to be just some nonsense, they ignore his warnings and move on. But as each survivor is killed off, the other feel death is coming back around.

 

Two scenes that impressed me were:

The bridge scene really impressed me because it was one big collision cut. It starts with long drawn out shots of the bridge, the workers and the character. But as the scene moves on, we are shown quick shots of how unsafe the bridge is. Then we are lead into 5 minutes of quick cuts, fast paced music and body horror. These editing techniques work really well in making the two juxtapositions states look even more extreme then they actual are.

The ending of the film uses montage very well to deliver the conventional un-happy ending. It turns out that the film is set before the events of Final Destination (2000). So in the finale on the plane, it uses collision cutting from Sam and Molly relaxing on the plane, to the moments when the plane beginnings to crash.  This is also a nice touch for fans of the franchise, with films overlapping and characters meeting. Also it is an example of Schatz’s genre theory, with it carefully following the generic convention of a horrific ending, even though everything looked to have been resolved.

 

Throughout the film I can see a number of features that appear on the genre checklist:

Mise-en-scene; the film used more body horror than restricted narration. We can see all the violent deaths because it is the highlight of the film. Also, because there isn’t a physical villain chasing the down the character, the audience needs to see the deaths. The long, drawn montage before each death makes the payoff that much better for the audience. Creepy, enclosed locations are made out of seemingly everyday situations. The best example would be the doctor surgery. The silence and lack of colour, with the low key lighting gives a sense of entrapment within the office. You feel uneasy in a place where you should feel safe. The film uses parallel music well to match the action on screen. I feel without the use of parallel music, the first scene wouldn’t have the same emotional impact on the audience.

 

Editing; the film use of fast to slow montage creates successful collision cutting. All of the death scenes are collision cuts, without this editing the film would suffer. An example of this would be the first death of the gymnastics. The scene first uses slow montage, with long takes of her using the equipment at the gym. However we get quick cuts to items of danger, like the nail on the bar. Then towards the end of scene when the tension has reached the high point, the quick montage happens and we see her death unfold in front of us. The use of collision cutting is what make these scenes so tense for the audience, and cause the jump scare for the audience.

Character & Representation; the film has a clear male hero through Sam. We see this through his actions on scene. For example he saves the group in the first place by convincing them to get off the bus. Also he is more relatable through his job. We see how his boss doesn’t take a shine to him, even though he tries his hardest. This would relate to the target audience of teenagers who don’t feel they get enough credit for their work, making Sam a much more realistic character. Also he survives right until the end; the only thing that stops him is bad luck, rather than the killer. He is a stereotypical good looking man who gets the girl, all the conventions of the male hero.    

Theme; the theme of violence is constantly running through Final Destination 5. The really gorey, violent death suffered by the character shows how they fear death. The whole reason these events begins, is because Sam has a fear of dying in his vision. The violence connotes death saying, “you can’t escape me, if you miss me the first time, I will come back stronger and more deadly”. This would scare a wide audience because a common fear  that all people share, is the fear of death. So to show these violent deaths on screen would create reliability between the characters and the audience.       

 

    

Historical context; The set up for Final Destination 5 is by using a fear that has become much larger in the last 10 years with the rise of disasters, especially with the uproar natural disasters related to global warming. People already feel uneasy about events like this, so what better way than to tap into that fear by showing a natural disaster which horrific results.  

Aspects I would include in my own trailer:

I feel a good aspect of the film was the characters. They were very strong, the audience grow an emotional connection to all of them in some way. For example Peter loses his girlfriend near the start of the film. He spends the rest of the film affected by this incident, and it pushes him over the edge at the end of the film. The gore in the film is one of the best I have seen in a horror movie. It really shows off how the genre has developed with the use of CGI and the easing of censorship. The best effect without doubt is the gym accident, in which a girl is basically snapped in half. All the bones come out and it just looks exactly how you would expect. The body horror is often what makes the horrors memorable, and this movie certainly deliveries.

Aspects I would avoid in my own trailer:

However, towards the end of the film it got rather predictable, this is something I want to avoid when making my trailer.  This is highlighted at the end of the film where you see the only other survivor sitting in a bar. You know that any moment the piece of the plane will crush him. And before you know it, the debris comes straight through the roof of the bar. The idea of this shock is good, but the audience could all see it coming.  

My favourite aspects of the film:

The best aspects of the film are the cast of unknown actors. They played their parts really well and were really likable, and easy to associate with. It achieves the all-important emotional connection between audience and character. If you can make the audience feel pain and sorrow for the characters then the horror movie will be much more successful.

 

 

Also, the gore was simply incredible. It’s without doubt the best I have seen in a horror lately and really deliveries the scares in the movie. I can’t recreate anything like this because of the budget that they have. However I do want to have gore within my horror trailer. So I will have a more simplified gore in my trailer, but will go all out on one big moment in the trailer to shock the audience.