Final Destination 3 (DVD)

In this standalone sequel to the first two installments in this franchise about the perils of cheating Death, high-schooler Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has a terrifying premonition that she and her friends will perish on a rollercoaster. Unfortunately, she has this little brainstorm after she and her friends are at the carnival and locked into the ride.

Wendy sounds the alarm loudly, insisting that she be allowed to disembark. The ride's operator obliges her and she jumps off — a few of her friends follow, but some others, including her boyfriend, are already on their way down the track. Sure enough, the cars crash and the kids die horribly.

Death was cheated when Wendy and her pals jumped ship, so one-by-one he comes to collect. And he does it in the most inventive, gruesome ways possible — it's as if the Devil were possessed by Rube Goldberg.

If you already saw Final Destination 3 on the big screen, there are still many reasons to get the DVD. For one thing, it actually plays better the second time around. In addition to that, you can control the fates of the characters and change the entire outcome of the movie.

I sure wish I'd had more time to play with the "Choose Their Fate" feature. It's super-cool (but time-consuming - this one's for serious slackers only!) because every time a death scene is about to play out, a fortune teller poses a question to you – based upon your choice, the death scene is affected and so too is the course of the film.

For example **SPOILER ALERT***, for the fast-food drive through sequence, one of the most radical, bloody, gruesome exits in the film, you can choose to have Wendy give Frankie one extra warning honk, or not. If not, Frankie's death plays out as it did on the big screen. If you do allow her to warn the potential victim one more time, he completely avoids decimation.

The film commentary, shared between director James Wong, writer Glenn Morgan, and DP Robert McLachlan is animated and good-natured, but surprisingly with three speakers there are some dead spots. Wong leads the way with some funny stories, particularly one involving the Devil's testicles (you'll just have to hear that one for yourself), the faces depicted on the Strength-Meter at the carnival, and how Tony "Candyman" Todd factors into the ending of the film. There are some insider hints about how the deaths are foreshadowed in the beginning of the movie.

Also on the Widescreen 2-Disc Special Edition:

• Additional scenes
• Alternate endings
• Kill Shot, The Making of FD3: 10-part documentary
• Dead Teenager Movie: In-depth featurette on a sub-genre of horror films
• It's All Around You: Original animated short
• Planned Accidents: a look at the making of the rollercoaster

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson