Running time: 100 minutes
Starring: AJ Cook, Michael Landes, David Paetkau, Keegan Connor Tracy, Jonathan Cherry, Terrence Carson, Lynda Boyd, James N Kirk, Ali Larter, Tony Todd
Rating 6 out of 10
I'm ashamed to say that I enjoyed Final Destination 2, the sequel to the cult horror thriller about a group of teens, who escape death in an airplane explosion then suffer horrible fates as the Grim Reaper returns to finish his ghoulish work.
The second film follows the template of the original to the letter, but ups the ante with increasingly outrageous and sick death sequences.
Exactly one year to the day since the tragedy of Flight 180, Kimberly Corman and her friends head out on a road trip. During the long drive and tedious on Route 23, Kimberly suddenly has a premonition of a terrible multi-vehicle pile-up further up the motorway. A logging truck will lose its deadly payload, drivers and their vehicles will be crushed, and Kimberly and her friends will die in the ensuing inferno.
Understandably spooked by her vision, Kimberly immediately stops the car, blocking the paths of the vehicles behind and alerting the attention of passing police officer Thomas Burke. Despite the threat of arrest, Kimberly refuses to move her car and consequently she and the other drivers avoid the horrifying accident which unfolds before their eyes.
The survivors are a motley crew: recent lottery winner Evan, aggressive corporate executive Kat, drug addict Rory, motorcycle-riding school teacher Eugene Dix, and widow Nora Carpenter and her teenage son Tim.
As Kimberly and her fellow travellers struggle to come to terms with their lucky escape, an otherworldly force begins to pick them off one by one, completing Death's work. In desperation, Kimberly turns to the one remaining survivor of Flight 180 - Clear Rivers - for guidance.
Like its predecessor, Final Destination 2 knows the conventions of the genre and gleefully plays with them, tongued wedged firmly in cheek. Once again, the characters are named after famous horror movie directors - Roger Corman, John Carpenter et al - and this time, the screenwriters pay silent homage to The Omen films in the ways they choose to kill off the characters. Leftover spaghetti, a stray fridge magnet, pigeons and prosthetic limbs suddenly become weapons of mass destruction, and there are plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing where the killer blow might come from.
At least one of the deaths is completely unexpected, and acts as a clever smokescreen for a second, extremely gruesome slaying. Special effects are excellent throughout, notably the jaw-dropping motorway crash at the beginning of the film.
Cook is a suitably teary heroine and Larter successfully reprises her role as the sole survivor of the first film. Tony Todd (best known as Candyman) cameos as the spooky Mortician, who helps Kimberly to see a way to beat Death's devious design.
Final Destination 2 has plenty to keep you teetering on the edge of your seat or diving for cover behind your coat. You won't know whether to laugh or scream.
The second film follows the template of the original to the letter, but ups the ante with increasingly outrageous and sick death sequences.
Exactly one year to the day since the tragedy of Flight 180, Kimberly Corman and her friends head out on a road trip. During the long drive and tedious on Route 23, Kimberly suddenly has a premonition of a terrible multi-vehicle pile-up further up the motorway. A logging truck will lose its deadly payload, drivers and their vehicles will be crushed, and Kimberly and her friends will die in the ensuing inferno.
Understandably spooked by her vision, Kimberly immediately stops the car, blocking the paths of the vehicles behind and alerting the attention of passing police officer Thomas Burke. Despite the threat of arrest, Kimberly refuses to move her car and consequently she and the other drivers avoid the horrifying accident which unfolds before their eyes.
The survivors are a motley crew: recent lottery winner Evan, aggressive corporate executive Kat, drug addict Rory, motorcycle-riding school teacher Eugene Dix, and widow Nora Carpenter and her teenage son Tim.
As Kimberly and her fellow travellers struggle to come to terms with their lucky escape, an otherworldly force begins to pick them off one by one, completing Death's work. In desperation, Kimberly turns to the one remaining survivor of Flight 180 - Clear Rivers - for guidance.
Like its predecessor, Final Destination 2 knows the conventions of the genre and gleefully plays with them, tongued wedged firmly in cheek. Once again, the characters are named after famous horror movie directors - Roger Corman, John Carpenter et al - and this time, the screenwriters pay silent homage to The Omen films in the ways they choose to kill off the characters. Leftover spaghetti, a stray fridge magnet, pigeons and prosthetic limbs suddenly become weapons of mass destruction, and there are plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing where the killer blow might come from.
At least one of the deaths is completely unexpected, and acts as a clever smokescreen for a second, extremely gruesome slaying. Special effects are excellent throughout, notably the jaw-dropping motorway crash at the beginning of the film.
Cook is a suitably teary heroine and Larter successfully reprises her role as the sole survivor of the first film. Tony Todd (best known as Candyman) cameos as the spooky Mortician, who helps Kimberly to see a way to beat Death's devious design.
Final Destination 2 has plenty to keep you teetering on the edge of your seat or diving for cover behind your coat. You won't know whether to laugh or scream.
