Sky Guide described this film as "The best ironic teen horror since Scream". I enjoy horror films, but these days I think there are so many around that they really do need a little irony to help them stand out from the crowd. That in mind, I decided to give this one a go when it came on Box Office.
Be warned, the following op does give away some of the plot, but even if you haven't seen the film and you decide to read on anyway it is still worth watching, because it is one of those films where you kind of know what's going to happen pretty soon after the outset, but it doesn't spoil it for you as you are still kept guessing!
The film centres on Alex, a 17 year old, who is off on a school trip to Paris with 40 of his class mates and 4 teachers. When he boards the plane at JFK, he falls asleep and has a vivid premonition that the plane is going
to crash, panics and causes a disturbance on the plane which results in him, 4 of his classmates and one teacher being thrown off the flight, which leaves without them. (Incidentally a glaring error was made at this point as there is no way passengers would be allowed off an aeroplane without their bags being offloaded as well, which clearly didn't happen in this case as the flight left about 2 minutes later! No matter, a minor detail which didn't spoil the film, but might reassure any nervous fliers!) Sure enough, shortly after take off we see the plane explode in the sky, killing all those on board.
Emotions amongst the survivors run high - some blame Alex, or think he is a witch, whereas others are grateful to him as he "saved their life". They return to school and try to rebuild their lives.
However, it soon becomes clear that someone - or something - is not happy with them. One by one the survivors die horrible deaths - which appear to be accidents (or in one case a suicide), but all result from a series of very unlucky coincidences.
Alex soon realises that something is going on, and has more premonitions - he knows when each of them is going to die. He deduces that, by getting off the stricken plane, they all "cheated death" and didn't die at what was supposedly "their time". Death is now - not to put too finer point on it - very pissed off with them, and is out to get them in whatever way it can.
Other than that, I won't tell you any more about the plot, as it will spoil it for you!
I did enjoy this film, but have to admit to finding the opening scenes, where the plane crashes, very disturbing. There is a vivid reconstruction of the scenes within the plane, and I couldn't help but think of the horror of being on board a plane which you know is going to crash. Admittedly it was probably not the best film to watch the night before my nearest and dearest were flying home from holiday, so you may want to bear that in mind if you have a holiday planned! Also, if you are nervous of flying it is another no go movie!
Some of the death scenes are also quite gory - I have to say I was surprised it was only a 15 certificate as I thought that some of the deaths were worthy of an 18. That aside, this is where the irony kicks in, because of the range of events which take place leading up to the deaths of several of the characters. The camera focuses on many inanimate objects, keeping us guessing until the last moment which one is going to be responsible for the latest horrible death!
The actors all perform well. None of them are big names yet, although a couple of faces rang a bell, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of them go on to greater things as they delivered promising performances in this movie.
All in all I would recommend the film, it is a teen horror which is a little bit different (it hardly contains any screaming!), and does have an original and clever idea behind it. The idea that we all have a predefined time to die, and that there is nothing you can do to stop it, really is quite an interesting one, but not one that I would want to dwell on late at night after a few drinks!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2003 - Horror - Director: Marcus Nispel - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, Andrew Bryniarski
Production Year: 1995 - Horror - Director: Bill Condon - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart, Veronica Cartwright
i am scared of flying, and the graphic-ness of when we see them all die on the plane scared me half to death. I am due to fly to Greece in a few weeks, and this op has just reminded me of the film, and scared me soo much! brilliant op though!! :)
cool_bob 16.06.2001 00:19
I loved the teacher bit. my friends and i all guessed what was gonna happen, and it was highly amusing when most of us were right :p (not hard really!). Nice op - **cool_bob**
Angelus 06.06.2001 17:47
Ooooooooooh I'm in a minority here - I detest the film!, still a good op though!!
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May 10th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
