Final Destination which spawned a veritable cottage industry of sequels like Rocky had a certain popularity among the young who really seem to have a terribly negative view of life. When young Devon Sawa has a creepy premonition and gets himself thrown off a plane bound for Paris in a class trip, a few others of his classmates and one teacher get thrown off with him.

They all see in real life exactly what Sawa saw in his vision and they count themselves horrified at seeing friends and classmates die in a spectacular way as the plane exploded. They count themselves lucky at first, but then some mysterious force best articulated by Tony Todd says that Death is a character like any other and it's got a mean disposition. There is a plan of leaving this mortal coil in a specific order and you dare not disrupt the order.

After which the rest start dropping in a series of bizarre situations and this has been the secret of the success of Final Destination and its sequels. And the deaths are properly gory and spectacular as well.

For this kind of film of which I'm not a particular fan, Final Destination is as good as it gets.

Once in a while a film comes along that you have no hopes for, but which pleasantly surprises you anyway. And into the over-saturated market of the teen flick comes FINAL DESTINATION, a dizzying and suspenseful shocker which has to be the best teen horror film we've had since SCREAM - all right, I know that's not saying much, but watch this anyway. Tired viewers will be glad to hear that this teen-orientated film isn't full of moronic dialogue and boring situations set in a school - instead, the film is focused entirely on the central premise, there is no deviation.

Created by the two guys who made THE X-FILES so interesting when it first started - James Wong and Glen Morgan - this is, at last, an original film. There is no bogeyman here, no masked slasher, instead the killer is fate itself. I'd give my right arm for a little bit of originality these days, which is why this film enthralled me so much. The film starts off excellently with a strong sense of impending doom and a horrific to watch plane explosion. It then slows down only to pick up the pace in the second half, becoming both exciting and thrilling. Of course, it's the deaths which are the highlights of the film, and these definitely do not disappoint.

Inbetween them, we get some typical teen angst as the shunned Sawa tries to convince his friends that they're about to die. Sawa, who starred in horror comedy IDLE HANDS, is surprisingly good in the lead role, giving us a likable neurotic who manages to be heroic when the time comes. Okay, so the rest of the cast are merely passable - full of the beautiful but bland faces populating most American soap operas these days - but it's nice to see Tony Todd pop up in a cameo as a creepy morgue attendant who gets all the best lines.

As I mentioned before, the death scenes are outstanding, yes, FANTASTIC; they consist of a series of commonplace accidents which culminate in the victim's demise. They're grisly and surprisingly gory in places, making a nice change these days from relatively bloodless stuff like I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Okay, so the fiery, frenetic climax is a bit predictable but there's a nice twist at the very end. FINAL DESTINATION is a clever film, and one to be watched. It has a uniqueness about it which sets it above the rest and it's thoroughly enjoyable too - what more can be said?

'Final Destination' is most notable for two things mainly. The first being that it was the introduction of a fascinating and clever premise that is pretty unique for a supernatural horror. The other being that it was the feature film directing debut of James Wong, best known beforehand as a veteran of 'The X Files'.

It spawned four sequels with the fifth film being released in 2011. While it is flawed and somewhat of an uneven film, the first 'Final Destination' is still, six years after the fifth film, one of the franchise's better outings. Perhaps even the best, and the one where the premise feels the freshest. The more stale the concept got, the more the novelty wore off and the less effective the film. Could 'Final Destination' have executed its premise better? Perhaps. Mostly, to me, it did it quite well.

Visually, 'Final Destination' looks pretty good for low budget. It's slickly shot and very atmospheric, while the plane effects in the Flight 180 plane scene/explosion are quite impressive. The music score has a suitable eeriness.

The film is never dull and is a vast majority of the time fun and suspenseful, with elaborately creative death scenes that are ingeniously unsettling. The film's highlight is the opening Flight 180 scene, anyone already with a fear of flying will have their fear exemplified and it is likely to turn people from boarding a plane for a while. Wong does competently with the directing and the portrayal of Death is an interesting and well done one.

Acting varies, with personable Devon Sawa, affecting Ali Larter and Tony Todd's creepy cameo coming off best. Really liked the characters' surnames, that were nifty homages to horror/suspense icons.

Not all the acting works however. The others are saddled with one-dimensional and flatly written roles and are a mix of bland (Kristen Cloke) and irritating (Kerr Smith),also found myself not being able to take Seann William Scott seriously.

The biggest issue is the script, which is very high in the cheese and awkwardness factors and there is some clumsy exposition that often feels under-explored and not really going anywhere. Generally the story is nice, but things could have been explained better and explored more and it's a little too reliant on coincidence. Things also take a dumb turn towards the end before the film concludes on a logic-defying note.

Overall, patchy but entertaining. 7/10 Bethany Cox