Regardless, when watching a teen horror movie, I expect to laugh out loud, remark on the stupidity of at least one of the lead characters, be disgusted by at least one “gut explosion”, and enjoy the requisite topless scene.  On all counts, “The Final Destination” did not disappoint.

Film 

For those unfamiliar with the “Final Destination” franchise, the premise is pretty simple.  At the beginning of each movie, a group of young people (and expendable side/minor characters) escape Death due to a premonition of one of the characters.   Then, for the rest of the movie, Death hunts them down relentlessly.

What has made this franchise a cut above (pun intended) some of the other teen horror franchises is the non-specificity of death.  Virtually any character can die in any scene from virtually anything located in their environment.  For example, “The Final Destination” starts at a stock car race, an environment where an excellent assortment of flying debris and explosives are available.  Construction sites (indoors no less), can link together innocuous items such as a pair of glasses, sawdust, a nail gun, and the ever-present barrels of “flammable” material.  Even car washes and swimming pools are not safe.

However, “The Final Destination” also shows a smirking self-awareness.  When one of the minor characters is being teed up for their eventual demise, we see slippery material on the floor, a can of hairspray ready to explode, a loose ceiling fan, a faulty barber’s chair, plus many pairs of scissors.  Although the movie overtly teases us into imagining multiple gory resolutions to this scene, we still are surprised at the way the scene resolves itself.  The scene where a tow truck-driving racist skinhead meets his fate will have you laughing out loud.

The 3-D presentation of this movie is surprisingly good for an anaglyph (red/cyan) 3-D transfer.  As anyone who has experienced good 3-D (polarization) knows, anaglyph 3-D presents a substandard 3-D image, and struggles with resolving red/cyan images on screen.  In “The Final Destination”, the 3-D effect was the best I’ve ever seen at home using anaglyph, though the color had its understandable issues.

If you are familiar with the “Teen Horror” genre, and you enjoy these types of movies, “The Final Destination” is a solid middle-of-the-pack movie.  Not the most creative, funny, or gory of movies, but entertaining.  Fortunately, this movie also never pretends to be anything other than what it is making it enjoyable for what it is.

Video

The video in this move was quite mixed.  On the good side, outdoor scenes were shot beautifully, with great color saturation, nice depth of field (especially obvious on the 3-D version), and a natural looking amount of grain.

On the bad side, the low light scenes did suffer from excessive grain, and could have used some clean-up during the transfer process.  Although grain should have a softening effect in low light and indoor shots, at 1080p this excess grain almost makes the shots appear out of focus.

One other observation is that the Blu-Ray format does highlight any weaknesses in the source material.  In the case of “The Final Destination”, some of the effects are not very well done, and these flaws in both the CGI and the filmed effects are quite obvious.

Audio 

It is difficult to find any flaws in the audio presentation of this Blu-ray, though it does not have enough dynamics to be considered a reference disk.

The use of music in the movie was good, and it was mixed in clearly and appropriately.  Dynamic levels were extremely well-balanced, with dialog (and screaming) always present and clear through the centre channel.  All channels had very good separation, with the rear channels being fed appropriate amounts of sound during the right times in the movie.  Bass was good, with the subwoofer adding impact without booming.

Overall, this was a very-well mixed move that made proper use of the 5.1 channels.

Special Features 

Interestingly enough, “The Final Destination” did not include a commentary track, likely due to the space constraints of including both a 2-D and 3-D movie on the disc.  Instead, it included a behind the scenes look at a number of the death scenes in the movie, and how they were created.  However, I was surprised to see that with the effort put into filming the scenes (versus CGI) that they didn’t look more realistic.

The main disc also included two alternative endings (one of which wasn’t really an ending), some storyboarding, and the valuable deleted scenes.  In the case of “The Final Destination” the director did a pretty good job, with only two of the deleted scenes being a better fit for the movie.  On one, they clearly picked a “gross out” death over a more realistic one.

The second disc contains a digital copy of the movie.

To the movie fan in me, the bonus features in this set were slightly better than average.  Although there was not a great quantity of them, they were all in HD, and they all provided a very-good glimpse into the world of the filmmakers.

Final Thoughts 

“The Final Destination” is a reasonably typical movie for the Teen Horror genre, though its use of quality 3-D makes it more rental-worthy than most.  Unfortunately, it suffers from the affliction most sequels have; there is simply not enough creativity or originality. Although the movie would have difficulty holding up under repeated watches, it is really not that bad, considering it never attempts to be anything other than what it is.

Let me first say that I love Godzilla and I love monster movies. The Host is a South Korean film that has received much critical acclaim for the return of the giant monster. With many comparisons to both the Godzilla movies and Jaws, to say that I was looking forward to watching this would be an understatement. Yet, when all was said and done, I was left, like the monster, a little cold. Maybe I had just bought into the hype a little too much.

The Host, with its success in Korea, and limited success in the US, has set the bar much higher for Korean cinema in terms of ticket sales and dollars earned. Korean cinema has become more popular over the past several years and will likely continue to move in that direction if The Host is any indication.

Synopsis:

Part TV family sitcom, part giant creature horror-fest, The Host tells the story of a wacky dysfunctional Korean family and their fight to survive and stick together during a giant monster attack. What begins with silly family antics straight out of The Simpsons, quickly turns to real tragedy and loss. The cast of characters is thin and built on one-note. There is the doting grandfather, the imbecilic father, the drunken brother, the semi-successful sister, and the overly-intelligent/obnoxious daughter. It is the daughter’s kidnapping by the monster that pulls the family together despite all odds to try to save her. The creature itself looks like a CGI Sid and Marty Kroft character gone wrong, but it looks decent enough considering the likely low budget. There were some genuine thrills and some downright funny moments, but as I mentioned, I was hoping for more.

Unfortunately, throughout the struggles, little redemption is found for the characters, and some don’t even make it through the day. I guess that’s my beef with this movie. Is it horror, or is it comedy? I think what often makes a good horror movie is a good dose of dark comedy, but The Host just can’t balance it. I found it jumping from one extreme to the other, disregarding the characters let alone the audience. But maybe I’m being a bit harsh. It wasn’t a bad movie per-se, and has garnered some great reviews, but it wasn’t enough for this monster movie fan.

Video:

The Host arrives on BD via a 1080p/VC-1 encode. Like the film, I had somewhat mixed feelings about the transfer. While there were a few knockout shots (see the close-up of a girl at the beach near the beginning of the movie), I just didn’t feel the transfer was consistent. While much of the film is covered with a light grain (likely intentional), it seemed this verged into a heavier grain/possibly noise (likely unintentional) in spots. The overall result was an adequate presentation that, also like the movie, didn’t thrill me.

Audio:

Maybe I’ve been bashing a bit so far, but I won’t in the audio department. The PCM 5.1 track is a killer (pun intended). Prepare to be immersed in the sound-scape. This is demo material here, and anyone who questions the validity of a lossless track vs. Dolby Digital can compare the two here and find the PCM track significantly stronger. It really packs a wallop. This is how all track should sound in horror films, crisp, clean, and powerful at just the right times. As far as the dub, yes, you can watch it in English, but no, you shouldn’t.

Special Features:

Here’s a bone to pick. Why are high-def discs often left with less special features than their SD counterparts? I’m all about using the extra space on the disc for superior audio and video, but why not, like the SD version, include a second disc of extras? Anyhoo..Here’s what we get:

• The Making of the Host
• The Creature
• The Cast
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Commentary with director Bong Joon-Ho
• Korean Trailer

All features are presented in SD (why not include the rest of the SD features?) and are pretty self-explanatory. Worth watching are the Making of the Host and the commentary is worth the time for fans.

Final Thoughts:

Despite my review, I didn’t hate The Host, I just didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I thought I would. That’s not to say it isn’t worth a rent, but I’d advise doing so before blindly buying (as I did). Audiophiles and fans will be more than pleased. I’ll be heading back to my newly released/remastered Gojira, thank you very much!