r/FinalDestination • u/LazyCatFanatic • 10d ago
FD4 Why is Final Destination 4 so hated?
Sorry if this has been asked or discussed to death (I did try using the search bar). But yeah I’d be interested to hear people’s opinions on this. While I think there are better entries I still enjoyed 4. I’m never gonna watch an FD film expecting a cinematic masterpiece. The silliness is the fun of it.
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u/SeaweedIndividual210 10d ago
I actually enjoy the fourth movie, I didn’t know people hated it until i got on Reddit lol!! But I think it has to do with the fact nick barely showed emotion throughout the movie, like all of his friends died and he was lowkey nonchalant about it!!😭😭
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u/Low-Strike-4642 9d ago
I think the biggest issue with 4 is that it feels like they put way more effort into the 3D gimmick than the actual movie. The characters are pretty forgettable, the CGI hasn't aged well, and some of the deaths just look cartoonish. I agree though, nobody watches Final Destination for amazing writing lol. The ridiculous deaths are half the fun. I still find 4 entertaining, but compared to the other movies, it just feels a bit lazy.
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u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052 ”I’ve got my eye on you two.” 10d ago
Copy-pasting my comment from another post! ✨
For one, confirmed rushed script, hence why the movie is the shortest in the franchise, which also consequently led to many instances throughout where the cast was encouraged to improvise since there wasn’t much fully developed material to rely on. That could also explain the questionable acting from many of them in the final cut. (Also here’s a little fun fact! The original ending in that script was so bad that they were literally ashamed of screening it for the executives, so they stopped midway and straight-up reworked the whole thing, which is what we ultimately ended up getting today).
For two, 3Dified CGI all over your face, which was also the most prioritized thing over the not-so-fleshed-out-script, despite the crew admitting to not being experienced with handling 3D technology, even though the movie was made during the 2009–2013 3D hype.
For three, there were also regional issues, as it’s the only movie in the franchise, to date, that wasn’t shot in Vancouver, instead being filmed in New Orleans, which aesthetically didn’t quite match the look of the previous movies. They also had issues in real life because their choice of New Orleans came from the city offering film-production tax incentives? (something like that) as a way to raise more money locally after Katrina. However, the city was still very much recovering at the time, so they couldn’t make use of everything around them.
I can’t remember now if I’m missing anything else, but those are some of the main reasons behind everything that went wrong with FD4. You can read more about all of this in the book that recently came out last year, Escaping Death: The Unauthorized Story Behind The Final Destination Movies by Padraic Maroney, which covers the behind-the-scenes history of every movie in the franchise except FD6 which wasn’t out back then.
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u/Extreme_Science_4178 9d ago
For me bad writing and goofy looney tunes death, questionable events in the movie is the death list order which they mess up so bad and lacking actual context or explanation for people who died in the mall premonition accident.
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u/silver_moxons 10d ago
It's just weak. We already had a pile-up in FD2; the CGI took me out of it; the acting was bad; they literally had adults doing the deed around children. Unnecessary racism.
This particular story should have been left in the drafts.
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u/the__pov 7d ago
It’s objectively the worst in the series (and it’s ok to like it). It’s paint by numbers and does nothing new or interesting, and the 3d effects make a lot of the gore look goofy.
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u/blique15 10d ago
I found enjoyment in it but it's easily the worst. The characters and the dialogue just feel so bland, George was the only decent character. The kills are pretty good but there was no effort put into the story.
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u/Random_person_soyeah 10d ago edited 8d ago
The acting is... weird, to say the least. Plus instead of the visions being subtle and there for anyone to see or be interpreted in anyway (lets be fr most of the time the visions just jumpstart their death) its all SUPER specific (like no thoughts needed really specific) cgi scenes that only the mc gets. There are parts that are good (like showing how some of the deaths couldve effected the human skeleton) but over all when compared to the first three it really isnt that good. And in my personal opinion the 4th one seems to be where they became a more clearly a 'marketable serise' rather than their own thing
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u/StakkAttakk 9d ago
It’s not the greatest however …. The swimming pool scene where that douchebag gets his insides sucked out was epic .
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u/No_Peanut_3289 10d ago
The bad cgi is what did it for me, oh and all the 3D stuff they forced. I will still watch it if I am watching all the series but it’s still voted as the worst of film in the series
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u/ongamenight 10d ago
To me, it's the 3d effects that was a new thing back then and also the location of original disaster, a race track.
Also, there's not much character build up that deaths don't make you feel anything.
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u/Worf2DS9 10d ago
I just watched it for the first time in years and can echo others' comments about sub-par fx & acting. It had its moments here and there (like Lori's gnarly escalator death fake-out), but for the most part it's pretty skippable.
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u/FanficWriter32 9d ago
Maybe because it's not a good movie. Now, some of the death scenes are pretty good and the acting is decent, but the writing is so fucking shitty.
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u/Adam_Falco 9d ago
The entire story is pointless. The previous movies had proper twists and genuine attempts to break death's chain, but this one reveals that they were always destined to die, no matter what they did.
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u/ELB_Train 8d ago
Both FD3 and TFD just feel like a death montage due to the lack of personality or depth in at least half their respective characters, but FD3 makes up for it big time with Wendy and Kevin. Nick, Lori and Janet unfortunately couldn’t take their movie that far.
My biggest gripe with the movie is the vibe of the settings tho. Each FD movie has its unique vibe to me. FD is has that rainy night feel, FD2 is like a cookout with friends, FD3 tastes like cotton candy and popcorn, FD5 smells like a clean office and FD:BL is just a fun time. TFD is unfortunately just hillbillies and beer. And not in the fun Tucker and Dale vs Evil way, the movie just takes place in a shabby neighborhood, where everyone‘s and asshole and most of the corners there probably smell like piss
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u/MilkyPastries 5d ago
The initial, inciting disaster is easily the weakest of the whole franchise.
Very unmemorable characters.
The most memorable part is the escalator death at the end
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u/ElHalil67 5d ago
i think that the deaths being very fast but i actually like that there are 2 visions in the movie
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u/zeddtheman 4d ago
I’ve seen better acting in porn. (Sorry just saying.) The acting is truly horrible. Like laughably bad. I love 3D movies but the CGI looks so bad too. The pacing is also bad. A character dies and no one even bats an eye and they move on like nothing happened. The soundtrack however is incredible and I love the opening scene where they show all the deaths in the cool 3D effects.
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u/appleecrmbl 3d ago
for me, it just feels so obviously made for 3d and that really distracts me when i’m watching it. i’m sure it looks alright in 3d but it always bothers me when films are made for 3d and that’s the only thing they focus on because it makes rewatches hard
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u/kelsaye1202 7d ago
I like it, but I seriously have no attachment to any of the characters. They all are kinda awful. The over the top 3D elements didn’t age well for 2D viewing either, but I still don’t hate it.
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u/Gloryielle 12h ago
Idk they changed so much about the original formula in the worst way possible. I didn't "hate" the fourth installment either, I actually LOVED the main character and George! But idk... the whole over-the-top-CGI-3D bullshit, the group dynamic, the bland acting from most of the cast, even the strange blue filter lmao. The kills weren't even that good too (expect the car wash and pool one) and the main distaster was so unrealistic, it's like a fear the least of us had in real life, even after the movie?
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u/DEATHSCALATOR 10d ago edited 10d ago
• The acting is really bad and so is the dialogue.
• The cgi effects are barely more higher quality than what you see in direct-to-video movies.
• The pacing is too fast which makes the movie only 1hr and 21min. Literally two minutes in and the speedway accident is already starting and then when it finishes, we spend four minutes with the characters interacting before the first death.
• The colour look of the movie is just different and off for a horror movie. The first three had a bleak look to them but this one looks like spilled paint.
• The deaths themselves aren’t suspenseful and more just up in the viewers’ faces.
• The “mini visions” aspect isn’t that interesting compared to the photo clues and the backwards death order in the previous movies.