Death holds no fear

Watching the first 25 minutes of Final Destination 5 was an inspiring thrill and it was magical to have survived the last 25 minutes. But one can't help feeling panphobic — the dreadful fear of everything around you.  Most of us must cringe at the thought of our eventual demise, but hardly are we scared to the extent of fearing that death might occur anywhere, anytime. Well, Final Destination 5 really allows your imagination to run wild, perhaps unfavorably wild.

What if one fine day you were walking and the ground beneath you crashed? Wouldn't you just disappear without warning, without saying goodbye? What would it feel like to have loved ones crying over you and the Civil Defence digging your charred, broken body out of debris?

Guilt: Does guilt increase one's chances of death? Like, if I've taken something I didn't deserve, will retribution hit me and draw the life blood from me? What will it be like, knowing that Death awaits you because of some evil deed you've done? Like if you hate upon someone and wished him dead in a fit of anger, will you suffer death as punishment?

Ah, figured out 3 ways to calm myself:

1) Have a clear conscience. "It's the choices you make that determine who you are." Don't make choices which you will regret later, always do what you think and know is right.

2)  Have no regrets."Anyone who has never made a mistake, has never tried anything new.” Live life to the fullest and cherish every moment of it, embrace your mistakes and move on with stride. 

Live life as it comes and cherish every moment of it, don't waste time regretting mistakes

3) Don't hold back. Do everything you can and not think back and wonder, 'if only'. Even if you're unsure whether things will work out, just give it your all and not be afraid to exceed your own limits.

So let's all live life to the fullest. By this, I mean living on a daily basis. Greet your loved ones, show them you care. Start writing the book you've always wanted to. Go get some exercise. Eat, sleep and rest well. By making each day count, we need not fear death after all :)

Who dies from swinging on bars?

“Did you see the crazy shit those gymnasts do? I'm surprised it doesn’t happen more often.” Olivia, on Candice’s death.

Some people are surprised this doesn't happen more often

Considering Final Destination 5 exposes us to so many ridiculous and random deaths, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more people were like Olivia.

Like its predecessors, Final Destination 5 is based upon the rather unhopeful premise of not dying when you’re supposed to: a young man receives a premonition allowing him and his friends to narrowly avoid a gory death. Hence they are deemed to have cheated death and they have to die.

Irony aside, surely you must admit Final Destination’s plot isn’t its selling point. What is its selling point, however, is its melodramatic farce. The blatant overuse of conspicuous clues, over-emphasising cinematography, unnatural acting, and a random (though gory!) death contribute to its unique feel of an “un-horrific dramedy”, which, surprisingly, works very well. 

Nothing beats the five-minute sequence of Candice narrowly avoiding stepping on a protruding screw, avoiding electrocution, managing to stay on a loose bar, only to reach an underwhelming death when her hand slipped. 

Apparently, people do die from swinging on bars in a safe, padded, nowhere-near-the-beach school gymnasium. They die because sand got into their eyes. 

What do you think was the quirkiest death in the movie? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Hooked by Death

Final Destination carries an irresistibly strong hook: Death cannot be cheated, and the movie characters die one by one.

It’s a storyline with an easy-to-follow plot: Someone gets a premonition just before a disaster and gets himself and his friends away from danger. However, although they escaped death, they soon begin dying one by one because they cannot run from death’s clutches.

What strikes me is how successful such a simple storyline can be. Everyone in the show dies eventually. No emotionally-shattering plot, no characters to cry for. Boy, did I just think of that somewhere in my dreams? But no, Jeffery Reddick beat me to it and wrote the script which spun off the money-making Final Destination series.

Funny how we enjoy watching characters die in Final Destination. I mean, it’s not everyday you watch a movie just to watch how the characters are going to die. Movies have you rooting for the hero through his/her challenging journey, and hope with all your heart he survives his ordeal. Romantic comedy, anyone? Stuff which pull your heart strings. Final Destination does just the opposite – it skims the surface of each character it portrays – thus you don’t really feel for them and it’s okay for them to die.



So that’s it >> they die and I lust to see them die. Their intestines and eyeballs get wrenched out, their limbs crack and fly apart and they get burnt to a crisp. And I laugh in merriment. Didn’t realise I had a thirst for blood. Seems we all do. What better then to watch blood spilled... by others on a screen? No guilt, no pressure.

Which reminds me of how we like watching horror movies just to see ghosts/supernatural beings pop up to scare us. Think classics like Colic and Shutter. The thrill in watching them is delicious.

Let’s share our favorite movies in the comments page - the ones that hook us with the promise of death and horror. And perhaps we can organise an online movie marathon. Who’s in?

Eye-popping visuals

Okay so admittedly, the visual effects for Final Destination 5 aren't the most realistic or the most magical. The 'blood' looks more like honey colored with red food coloring. It irks me when the bodies were sliced and diced in the air looking like cartoon characters rather than humans.

And the characters were also set in implausible positions that one has to watch the scene again to believe what they are seeing. It's either kudos to the actors for some badass flexibility or the film's Visual Effects supervisor Ariel Velasco Shaw.