The parking lot of Petco Park was abuzz yet again tonight, this time courtesy of Warner Bros. in honor of the August 12th release of Final Destination 5. While I did catch the film’s stars Nicholas D’Agosto, P.J. Byrne, Tony Todd, Miles Fisher and Arlen Escarpeta floating around, the spotlight belonged to a portable theater screening the film’s opening disaster.
Before the Final Destination 5 footage began, the audience of about 30 or so relived the past four films in a montage of the most gruesome kills. After enjoying Rory (Jonathan Cherry) getting sliced and diced, Evan Lewis (David Paetkau) taking a ladder to the face and poor Ms. Lewton (Kristen Cloke) a knife to the chest in 3D, Tony Todd wrapped up the sequence with the especially ominous line, “You all just be careful now.”
From there the Final Destination 5 footage began and we met the sorry souls about to get entangled in Death’s games. D’Agosto leads the bunch as Sam Lawton. His coach bus is crossing a suspension bridge when, uh-oh, pavement starts to crack, ropes snap and the blood begins to flow. He seems super cozy with Emma Bell’s Molly as he keeps a close eye on her as they attempt to dodge the disaster. The scene features Byrne’s Isaac in a particularly amusing moment as well as Fisher’s Peter making a desperate attempt at survival. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood is the victim of death-by-no glasses while Escarpeta’s Peter suffers a rather harsh lashing.
After four films, you know the deal. One-by-one we watch them all die until eventually, the film’s #1, D’Agosto, wakes up having seen what lies ahead. Now for the important stuff, the quality of the footage. Overall, after checking out the film’s first eight minutes, the outlook is good. The bridge collapse is a terrifying and exciting start with roots in a scenario that many genuinely worry about. Plus, the collapse looks good. When the setting snaps, warps and crumbles, it’s entirely convincing.
As for the 3D, I just about forgot it was there – in a good way. I felt part of the action, but, unlike with The Final Destination, wasn’t overwhelmed by random objects being hurled in my face. For such a catastrophic event being shown in such a detailed and personal fashion, the entire accident scene flows particularly well. The outlooks is good and I’m very much looking forward to seeing more.
We’ve still got a few more weeks to go until Death returns to the big screen, so hopefully these photos from the Final Destination 5 party at Comic Con will hold you over – for a little, at least.
