As our last summer weekend has come, so has a new entry into a popular franchise about people dying. This could be the header for the new Halloween movie as well, and maybe I’ll review that one in the future. But for now, I’ll introduce a movie that completes a series which uses the big screen as it’s canvas for copious amounts of blood and gore, with each entry playing out like a demented Sydney Pollack work.

Never have I seen a series that uses death as some sort of art. It’s repulsive, but darkly entertaining at the same time. I’m only for the use of gore as long as it serves a purpose in the story or atmosphere, but when it’s piled on as some pathetic excuse for shock value, that’s when I get picky. Most people have seen it all, so why do horror writers still insist on trying to push the envelope? But here comes an idea that shows some originality and tells us that you might as well have people just die and save the exposition of an unoriginal slasher, by the means of ending a complicated Rube Goldberg-inspired chain reaction with their death. This spawned Final Destination.

Without getting into too much detail, the first FD movie was good because it expanded on its core premise. The characters constantly debated their views on fate, and as the body count rose, their desperation to stay alive did as well. It was a good movie, enough fun to appeal to hardcore gorehounds, and enough speculation between the characters to service the ones who care more about story than slashing. The second and third are just retreads of the idea, but if the first established the premise, then the second and third are there to have fun with it. It’s the same formula that’s kept the Jason and Freddy movies alive all these years.

But unlike the first three, Final Destination 4, sorry, THE Final Destination, has been cut to 80 minutes and thrown in 3-d to extend its blood-covered canvas to the entire theater. Without exaggeration, everything in this movie is in 3-d, including the characters, the projectiles flung at them, the jagged-edges for them to be impaled on, the blood that spurts out of their wounds and at your face, it’s all here. In fact, there’s actually 3-d sex, but don’t worry, it’s not too 3-d. You can cross your fingers for the unrated edition if that’s what your into.

But as for the plot, you know the drill. Accident happens, character sees it in advance, saves whoever he/she can from impending doom, accident actually happens, all characters die in over-the-top coincidences. In this case, it’s a racing track that employs incompetent handymen, has lousy support structure, loose screws, and obnoxious characters that do anything but follow rules and not crowd exits. Likewise the other movies, there’s not one piece of technology that works correctly and doesn’t freakishly kill off a character. So in a way, the silent killer is flawed architecture.

Acting is typical for a horror movie, and it’s done anything but improve throughout the series. What’s strange is that the writers put in a line that was bordering on “It’s like in that movie Final Destination” and have everyone nod in agreement. It saves precious time for bloodshed, but it also saves the tediousness of hearing what you’ve already figured out by the first trailer. Because nobody going into this movie really cares about continuity, character development, or exposition. We want to see nasty, stomach-churning, fun death scenes we saw in the previous movies, and that is what TFD gives you, whether you’re into it or not.

So in short, The Final Destination is good because it takes itself less seriously than the others, but still provides enough gore and laughs to call it a night. The moody score used in the first movies has been remixed into this awesome hard rock theme that blasts throughout the cleverly done opening credits. I was half tempted to start headbanging, but I was afraid my 3-d glasses would fall off, slide to the front of the theater, get slipped on by someone struggling through the aisle to leave for more snacks and impale them on the straw extending from their leaking Pepsi cup.