The Final Destination (also known as Final Destination 4) is a 2009 3-D supernatural horror film written by Eric Bress and directed by David R. Ellis, both of whom also worked on Final Destination 2. Released on August 28, 2009, it is the fourth (and originally final) installment to the Final Destination franchise, and the first of which to be shot in HD 3-D. This is the only film to be not filmed in Vancouver. The tagline is "Rest in Pieces".
The Final Destination was rated R in the United States by the MPAA for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality. In the United Kingdom, it was rated cert 15.
Nick, Lori, Janet and Hunt sitting in section 180 of McKinley Speedway.
In January 2009, nine years after the explosion of Flight 180, eight years after the Route 23 pileup and three years after the Devil's Flight roller coaster derailment, college student Nick O'Bannon has a premonition of a car crash while watching a race at McKinley Speedway for a study break, which sends debris into the audience, crushing some spectators and resulting in the stadium partially collapsing, killing almost everyone present in the 180 section. In a panic, Nick convinces his girlfriend Lori Milligan, and friends Hunt Wynorski and Janet Cunningham to leave, with the quartet being followed by a handful of others who become angry with Nick after he pushes past them to escape. A security guard named George Lanter intervenes when everyone begins to argue outside, just as the catastrophe Nick had foreseen occurs.
Minutes later, a flying tire flies out of the race track and obliterates Nadia Monroy. After a memorial service at McKinley Speedway, Carter Daniels attempts to burn a cross on George's front lawn as he blames him for his wife’s death, but his plan backfires, he is set on fire and violently dragged down the street by his own tow truck, he is then blown apart by it and his blown off head lands right next to George who goes to see what is happening. The next day Samantha Lane is killed when a lawn mower rides over a rock, thrown in its path by her sons which is then shot right through her eye. Before their deaths, Nick had seen omens of clues of how they would die.
Hearing about Carter's and Samantha's deaths on the news, Nick and Lori begin doing research, and learn about the disasters that occurred inthe previousfilms and discover that the survivors who were saved by premonitions began dying in a series of improbable accidents shortly afterwards. While Hunt and Janet refuse to believe them, Nick and Lori manage to convince George that Death is after them and the trio begin trying to warn the other remaining survivors.
Nick, Lori and George telling Andy about his death.
Nick, Lori, and George head over to Grandstate Customs to warn Andy Kewzer that he is next to die. Andy fails to believe, but moments later he is struck by an oxygen tank, and diced into a metal grid fence. After Andy's death, Nick goes to save Hunt, while Lori and George go to save Janet. They are successful in saving Janet from a malfunctioning car wash, but Nick is too late to save Hunt when his organs are sucked out of his anus by a pool drain.
Nick then believes that saving Janet had broken the chain, and Lori and Janet celebrate by going to see Love Lays Dying in a mall. Nick then learns that another survivor, Jonathan Groves was found in the debris of the racetrack, and rushes to the hospital along with George. They fail to save Jonathan from being crushed by an overflowing bathtub above his hospital room, and moments later, George is hit by an ambulance. Nick then realizes it's up to him to save the girls, and rushes to the mall.
Once Nick arrives, he has another premonition showing him that Lori and Janet will die while watching the film in the shopping mall cinema after an explosion in a room behind the theater. Nick rushes to reach them, while Lori begins spotting omens warning her that the danger is not over. Once Nick arrives, he and Lori attempt to convince Janet to leave, but are unsuccessful in their efforts. Janet is killed in the explosion by a piece of shrapnel and Lori is squished to death by the gears of a malfunctioning escalator while escaping. But it all turns out to be part of a long premonition, Nick then realizes that the event hasn't happened yet but is unable to save George when he dies just as predicted. Nick hurries to the cinema, and despite Death pinning him to a pillar with a nailgun, he is able to save his friends by extinguishing the fire by triggering the fire sprinklers that would have caused the initial explosion.
Two weeks later, Nick wearing a cast on his right arm, notices a loose pylon outside of their hangout and warns the workers about it before meeting Lori and Janet inside. Moments later he deduces that the mall disaster premonition was merely a red herring meant to lead them to where they needed to be for Death to strike. At that moment, the pylon collapses, causing a truck to swerve and crash into the restaurant, then running over and finally kills the last three survivors Nick, Lori and Janet together. As the final scene turns into a x-ray scene, Janet is shown to have been crushed under the tires while Lori's neck is snapped, decapitating her, and Nick is thrown into a wall, bashing his skull and jaw, sending one of his teeth flying into the camera before the credits begin to roll.
Deaths
Premonition Deaths
Premonition 1
Nadia Monroy - Decapitated by a wheel blown into the grandstand
A drill is shown (which wasn't a death in any movie, and is actually intended as a shock for the viewer, watching in 3D. Although in an early script for Final Destination 2, Alex Browning was supposed to be killed by a drill).
has to kill himself for the chain to end. So, he puts out the initial fire and then jumps out a window, killing himself. Later, Janet and Lori embrace, thinking that it is over. Suddenly, a car hits the crane with the A/C unit. The unit drops and crushes Lori and Janet. This alternate ending contains a contradiction to the apparent 'rules' of deaths design according to the rules unless the person is next to die any suicidal attempt (and possibly any attempt by another party) on the persons life will fail two examples of this are Eugene Dix and George Lanter both of whom made failed attempts at suicide this contradiction is the possible reason it wasn't chosen as the canon ending.
In another, Nick is also crushed with Lori in the escalator, instead of it being a premonition.
Production
Development
After the success of Final Destination 3, which was initially planned to be in 3-D,[1] Eric Bress wrote a script, which impressed producer Craig Perry and New Line Cinema enough to green-light a fourth instalment. James Wong was on board to direct, but because of scheduling conflicts, he decided to drop out. Consequently, the studio executives opted for David R. Ellis to return because of his work on Final Destination 2, who personally accepted because of the 3-D.[2] For the 3-D, which is the same technology James Cameron used for Avatar, Perry said that he wanted it to add depth to the film instead of just "something pop[ping] out at the audience every four minutes."[3]
Casting
Filming
Although shooting was to be done in Vancouver, which was where the previous three films were shot, David R. Ellis convinced the producers to shoot in New Orleans instead to bring business in the city, and because the budget was already big.[4] The opening crash sequence at "McKinley Speedway" was filmed at Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Alabama. Filming began in March 2008 and ended late May in the same year.[3] Reshoots were done in April 2009 at Universal Studios Florida.[5]
Promotion
Producer Craig Perry presented clips of the film at San Diego Comic Con. Additionally, a number of video games feature The Final Destination posters: Saints Row 2 has posters around the city taped to walls and poles, Skate 2 features billboards with posters on them, and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames added billboards with the movie's logo in a content update. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 also features the promotional posters hidden around certain maps with the main goal to find all of the posters for a chance to win $1,300.[6]
Release
The film was released in 3-D as well as in conventional theaters on August 28, 2009, the same release of Halloween II. It was initially planned for an August 14 release.[7] It is also the first 3-D film to feature D-BOX motion feedback technology in select theaters.[8]
Posters
There are two different posters, one featured a skull face, and the other one is a cast poster.
The first poster
The second poster
The first poster only featured one character: Lori. The poster has two parts, one is the breaking glass part, and the other one is the mist part. Lori's face is normal in the breaking glass part, except her eyes. But in the mist part, Lori's face turned into a skull face.
Lori's nose and a little part of her lip can be seen in the breaking glass part, but her mouth, teeth and chin can be seen in the mist part in a skull version. Also, Lori's hair can be seen at the top of her head too. There also a tagline at the top of the poster: "Rest in pieces". The movie's name "The Final Destination" is under the skull face, with all capital letters. This poster is mainly in dark blue and black, except the skull face and Lori's face are obviously over white.
The second poster is a cast poster, which featured 5 characters, from left to right: Hunt, Janet, Nick, Lori, George. There are skull faces of the cast in the water shadow right under the cast. A race car with number 6 on it appeared up behind the cast, and another race car with number 10 on it also appeared right behind Janet and Nick. The cast are seen standing on a racetrack, and fences with lamp-posts can be seen at the background.
The tagline of this poster: "Rest in pieces" is as same as the one on the first poster, and both of them are also at the top of the poster. The movie's name "The Final Destination" is under the water shadow, with all capital letters. This poster is mainly in lighting blue and black, except the cast are in their normal color, but they still dressed up in similar color.
Trivia
This is the second movie in which William Bludworth does not appear, the first being Final Destination 3. Following both Tony Todd’s death in November 2024 and the official announcement of Final Destination 7 in April 2026, the latter is set to become the third film in the franchise without his appearance, unless the character is referenced or otherwise acknowledged in some way.
This is the first Final Destination movie to not feature Tony Todd in any way and it is followed by all installments from Final Destination 7 onward after the actor’s death in 2024.
This is the first Final Destination movie to be filmed outside of Canada.
This is the first Final Destination movie to not feature the entire cast on the cover of the DVD.
This is the shortest Final Destination movie ever made, only 82 minutes long, which is not even an hour and a half long, which is how long every other movie in the series has been.
This was originally supposed to be the last film of the franchise (as alluded by the title), but it was later decided to make another 'final' entry as more of a return to form, presumably due to the negative reception of The Final Destination. Despite the negative reception, it was the highest grossing movie of the franchise at the time.
Aptly, the follow-up Final Destination 5 took the idea of going back to its roots in a very literal way, with its main storyline acting as an immediate prequel to the events of the original film; therefore, The Final Destination was the last film of the series, chronologically speaking, until 2025's Final Destination Bloodlines.
This is the second movie to have no survivors. The first was the canon version of Final Destination 3, as Craig Perry did confirm that Wendy, Kevin and Julie died at the end of the 3rd movie.
This is the first (and only) movie to have a survivor die before the opening credits, that being Nadia Monroy.
In this film, the ways people die are based on visions that include items involved in the death, but also retained the usual "clues" shown in previous movies.
According to producer Craig Perry, Tony Todd was set to reprise his role as William Bludworth for The Final Destination, but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts.
This is the first in the series not to be composed by Shirley Walker, she died in 2006. In this film, she is replaced by Brian Tyler for the composing.
The Final Destination is referenced in the opening credits of Final Destination 5 by a screwdriver hitting the screen.
The bus that hits the cafe at the end of the film has the number 180 on it.
A brief moment during the opening disaster is similar to a brief moment in Final Destination 2. After Nick (Kimberly) has the vision, Lori (Shaina) asks him (her) what's wrong, while the other two, Janet (Frankie) and Hunt (Dano) don't seem to care.
All of the main characters (with the exception of Jonathan Groves) appear in the ending credits of Final Destination 5.
Reception
Critical reviews
The film received negative reviews by critics. As of April 28, 2023, it holds a 27% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. There was general agreement that "The Final Destination is predictable, disposable horror fare".[9] Likewise, based on the 13 reviews collected, Metacritic awards the film an average score of 34 out of 100, which denotes "generally unfavorable reviews".[10]
Many critics opined that "the series has clearly run out of ideas".[11] "The biggest sin of The Final Destination is its general lack of imagination," says one.[12] "It's death porn, pure and simple," says another.[13] "Whatever hints of originality lay in the series' previous editions have been all but sucked out of this one," spoke Jordan Mintzer of Variety.[14]
Some positive reviews referenced its "OK sense of humor", "swift [progression]" and "effective opening sequence of racetrack destruction that puts its Fusion 3-D technology to good use."[15] "The Final Destination has some surprising sparks of life to it yet," says Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.[16] In addition, fans (as well as non-fans) of the series were nevertheless generally favorable of the film, due to the 3-D and the hype that built around it.
Box office
According to USA Today and Newsday, The Final Destination debuted as the top of the box office beating out Rob Zombie's Halloween II, by earning $28.3 million during its first weekend.[17] It is also topped the box office in the UK.[18] The film remained #1 at the box office in North America for two weeks. On September 11, 2009, it gained a little more than a million dollars and dropped to #7.[19] The film has grossed $66.4 million domestically, $119.3 million in foreign sales, and $186.5 million worldwide.[19][20]
