A Whole Host Of Hitherto Unimagined Threats From Flaming Cars, Rogue Ceiling

There will come a time in the not-too-distant future when the appeal of 3D will fade, when the time-honoured values of story, dialogue and character will once again be prized above giant pointy objects zooming perilously into the delighted faces of a screaming audience. But until that day arrives there’s absolutely no reason not to enjoy ‘The Final Destination’, a film which doesn’t just pride itself on the spikiest, shiniest collection of audience-intimidating implements yet seen (nails, knives, scissors, screwdrivers) but adds a whole host of hitherto unimagined threats from flaming cars, rogue ceiling fans and even a killer car wash.

Occasionally, life throws up situations which defy all logical explanation: premonitions, feelings or simple gut instincts which warn us of impending doom and spookily turn out to be true after the fact.

In Final Destination, Alex (Devon Sawa) is sitting on Flight 180, awaiting take-off with the rest of his high school French class, when he is blinded by a terrifying vision of the aircraft exploding in mid-air. Gripped with terror, Alex flips out and begs everyone to leave the plane.

Following a struggle, Alex and six other people are ejected from the flight including his teacher Ms Lewton (Kristen Cloke), who tries to sweet-talk the airline staff, but to no avail.

Before the group has time to rue the lost opportunity to visit Paris, Alex's vision proves tragically correct, and the plane explodes a couple of miles from the airport. The other six survivors struggle to understand how the boy could have predicted such a terrible event, returning to their sleepy backwater town and a so-called normal life.

When one of the septet meets a grisly end and Alex turns up soon after at the scene of the crime claiming to have foreseen the tragedy, alarm bells start ringing once more, and gradually Alex realises that the group's ordeal is only just beginning. The angel of death which was meant to have taken their lives on Flight 180 has followed them back home and is trying finish the job. Banding together, the fugitives of fate attempt to understand how they can once again cheat death, this time for good.

Eat your heart out, James Cameron. The "final destination" horror series, written by Eric Bress, is back for a fifth movie. This time it's showing in 3D in many cinemas, but there's no sign of Cameron's haughty credo about the modern generation of 3D being subtle.

This one is very much about scary things flying out of the screen straight atcha! As ever, a bunch of male and female babes have a premonition of a terrible bloodbath - this time at a motor-racing stadium - and get the heck out of there pronto, along with one or two others. But the Angel of Death, cheated of his bounty, wants to kill them in freak accidents. So carelessly tipped-over gasoline cans start glugging out their lethal contents and nail-guns teeter on unsafe shelves. Witty, ingenious, horrible entertainment.