We’ve got a good mix of old and new this time around, starting with the very sci-fi “Ash” from 2025. Also from this year are “Shadow of God” and “Final Recovery.” We’ll then watch a couple of not-so-new films, with “Godzilla vs. Gigan” (1972) and “The Final Destination” (2009) [The fourth in the series].
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Mainstream Films:
2025 Ash
Directed by Flying Lotus
Written by Jonni Remmler
Stars Eiza Gonzalez, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais
Run Time: 1 Hour, 35 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one is a bit of a mystery as the main character wakes up with a foggy memory and tries to piece together what happened on a space station with failing power and multiple bodies. Which gives it a video game quest vibe at times. But things gradually come together as she, and the viewer, figures out what happened and why. The cast is good, the story is compelling, and the effects are excellent. We really liked it.
Spoilery Synopsis
Riya has flashing visions of people’s heads melting and exploding; it’s all very graphic. The computer announces, “Abnormal activity detected. Systems failure. Reboot.” She wakes up on the floor with blood on her hands. She walks down the hallway, noticing bloody handprints and dead bodies everywhere.
She goes outside, and it’s raining ash. She finds more bodies scattered about. She looks up and sees something amazingly weird. Credits roll.
She finds that she’s having trouble breathing and barely makes it back inside.
Flashback time. Adhi, Kevin, Davis, Clarke, and Riya eat Brion’s Beans, referring to a guy still up in orbit, and talk about who’s going to be the first one outside. They’re the first ones on this planet, ever. The atmosphere is almost breathable, and it may be the best find yet for potential colonization.
Back in the present, Riya washes the blood off and wonders, “Who am I?” She walks through the ship, reading notes and watching videos.
Suddenly, the computer announces that there’s movement outside the airlock. There’s someone outside banging on the door to get in. Riya attacks the man when he comes in, but quickly finds it’s Brion, who has come down to the surface. He got their distress call; something about Clarke having a psychotic break. She explains that by the time she woke up, everyone had been killed. Other than that, she doesn’t remember anything.
Brion tells her that Earth is dying, and they sent out seven expeditions to find a new home. This planet, Ash, is where they sent the seventh ship. He remained aboard the mothership to establish communication with home, but now he’s come down to investigate. He does a medical scan on Riya, and says she’s got a concussion, but is otherwise fine other than the memory loss and minor wound on her forehead that the automatic surgeon robot fixes up.
Riya keeps hallucinating the dead faces of her crewmates; could she have been the killer? They wonder where Clarke went, could she still be alive outside? The station is slowly running out of oxygen, so they need to get back up to the orbital. The launch window is in twelve hours.
There’s a sandstorm outside, and they get a hull break that needs to be repaired, as they’re losing more oxygen. She fixes the hole, but they have even less time now. They have to leave in five hours, so they may never get any real answers about Clarke.
Riya watches recorded footage from the group going outside in their suits. They found a deep tube; someone, but not humanity, has built terraforming equipment on the surface, which is why there’s so much oxygen in the air. Davis drops something into the tube, and it explodes with strange energy, killing him.
Riya admits to Brion that she thinks it was her who killed the others, but she doesn’t know why. She wants to stay on the base to get her memory back, but their time-frame for leaving is running out. Brion points out that they’ve found alien technology, and this is about the survival of the species, not just her memories.
She remembers more about killing Adhi, but now it looks like he was attacking her and it was self-defense. She goes through the ship and finds Brion, dead, with his head broken up. Clarke is there, in a suit, and she attacks Riya. Riya eventually beats Clarke, using the suit against her.
Riya does a post-mortem on Clarke, but doesn’t find any alien contagion.
The computer announces that the orbital lineup window is now open, so she has to hurry to the lander to get up to the mothership. The computer on the lander is as messed up as the one on the base, so she goes back to the base.
She puts Brion’s body in the medical scanner, and it reports that he’s been dead for 51 hours. Who has she been talking to all this time?
“Unusual lifeform detected” announces the computer. It’s Brion. He explains that he’s part of her now. He shows her what happened in her mind. Riya’s crewmates found something alive inside the circuitry of the computer, some kind of alien worm. Brion arrives, and they all talk about the creatures. Adhi decides they need to get off the planet before the thing spreads. Riya argues that they should stay anyway.
The self-replicating lifeform jumps right up Adhi’s nose and takes possession of him. Then he attacked, and she killed him with Kevin’s help. The creature, however, then crawled into Kevin and did the same with him. Kevin then killed Brion and beat Clarke severely. Clarke then rushed out to the lander. Riya then stabbed Kevin to death and then the alien entered her. She took poison, but passed out rather than dying, and that’s the point we saw her waking up from in the beginning.
Back in the present, the alien speaks inside her head. “This is our planet. We will not let you take it. Your species is inefficient and doomed to self destruction. All we need is one of you. You have been chosen to join the many.”
Riya hops into the medical scanner and sets it to “excise parasite.” She passes out in pain, since there’s apparently no anesthesia. It yanks the worm right out of her head, but then it crawls into Brion’s body, and it goes into full “The Thing” mode, with tentacles and everything.
The monster chases her through the ship, getting crazier-looking with every step. She eventually burns it with a flamethrower and extra oxygen. She then goes back to the lander, which is working now, and takes off.
As she approaches the orbiter, she thinks about her dead friends. Happy ending for her!
…except for the mid-credit scene, which isn’t so happy.
Brian’s Commentary
While all the red and blue light sources look cool for a movie, that’d make me insane after a few hours. In the future, they won't have white light bulbs anymore, I guess. What’s with the equipment speaking Japanese on an all-American base?
Those are maybe some of the most alien aliens we’ve seen. Very cool.
Other than the funky lights, the special effects, gore, and sci-fi stuff all look great. The plot is a mystery: what’s going on and why. This could almost be taken as a sequel to “The Thing” as the aliens could be related.
This was really good!
Kevin’s Commentary
Science fiction horror is one of my favorite genres when it’s done right, and I thought that this one was. It builds nicely as we gradually piece together what’s going on and what’s causing it. The creature effects were nightmare fuel, very effective, and did remind me of John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” with a dash of 2017’s “Life” and a bit of Lovecraftian elements. And I didn’t mind the colored lights.
2025 Shadow of God
Directed by Michael Peterson
Written by Tim Cairo
Stars Mark O’Brien, Jacqueline Byers, Shaun Johnson
Run Time: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is very well made. It’s an exorcism kind of movie, but not a ho-hum-it’s-another-one which we were kind of expecting. There are some differences which make it unique and interesting. We both liked it quite a bit, Kevin more so than Brian.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a church in Guadalajara, Mexico. A pair of priests talks to a woman in a wheelchair; they’re doing an exorcism. The demon argues with them about her name, and then the woman kills Father Scott. The other priest, Father Mason Harper, uses Scott’s blood to drive out the demon. Harper reports to the Vatican, and they mention that Father Scott was the sixth exorcist killed today. Something is going on. Credits roll.
In Southern Alberta, Canada, Mason waits for a ride in the empty countryside. He watches his own father jump off the bridge, but he appears to have imagined that. Tania comes to pick him up, and he says the past 24 hours have been strange. Mason’s coming home, where he grew up with all kinds of terrible trauma. She doesn’t believe in anything, and she thinks his exorcisms are psychosomatic cures (she’s a psychiatrist) for lunatics, but he knows better– he’s seen things. They argue, and she leaves.
There’s no alcohol in the house, so Mason walks to the store and buys a bottle. As he leaves, he sees his father in the fog. We flash back to his father, a religious fanatic, nailing Mason’s hands to a board as his father whips him for the parishioners. Yes, Mason escaped from his own father’s cult– and went straight to the Catholic Church. Tania doesn’t see that as an improvement. She says his father wasn’t possesed, he was schizophrenic.
Tania gets a call from the police that a man jumped off the bridge and there was a witness who walked away afterwards. She goes to the hospital, and to see another man who was under the bridge and witnessed the death. He says the dead man landed on the rocks right in front of him, and it was horrible. Then the body got better and walked away, it was some kind of terrible miracle. “It means the End has come!”
The police chief, Glen, comes to Mason and says he saw Mason’s father wandering down the highway. “Resurrection’s more your jurisdiction,” Glen says. “They’re looking for us,” says Angus, the father. “If they find us, we all die.” Glen bails out and leaves, he’s done his job, and it’s on Mason now.
Mason has always believed that his father made a deal with a demon many years ago, and maybe this is their opportunity to fix that. Angus admits that all his rituals and congregations were all wrong and that he was tricked.
On the drive back to town, Glen runs into several men on the road who have guns. They’re looking for Angus and shoot Glen full of holes.
Mason calls his boss, but Angus says “That fraud in Rome won’t help us.” Mason wants to do an exorcism on Angus, but Angus says he’s God’s vessel.
We flash back to young Mason and Tania, leading policemen with guns to their father’s compound. The cops shoot Angus several times in the chest.
Tania spots flashlights in the old compound and sneaks in to investigate. The old cult has returned; they capture her. She watches as they execute people.
Angus has a seizure and passes out, so Mason straps him to the bed. “He’s here.” The exorcism begins, and Angus begs him to stop. Mason calls Glen and tells him what’s going on. Glen is dead; it’s the murderer Beau who really answered the phone. Mason calls his boss but is informed that he was killed last night during an exorcism. The people on the phone forbid him from doing another exorcism until they know what’s going on.
Mason watches as screaming bright light pours out of Angus and makes things in the room explode. He goes out and puts on the collar and full uniform. Angus speaks telepathically, “Feel honored that you’ve been chosen for this,” says the old man with the glowing head. Mason turns the cross upside-down, and Angus doesn’t like that at all. This might be an angel, not a demon. No, he claims to be God himself.
The cultists realize that Tania is “a cohort of the Shepherd.” They talk about a prophecy.
Mason has a vision of Lucifer, who wants to talk. He’s been killing exorcists recently. “Humanity is done with God, and God is done with humanity.” When God gives up, all of humanity will be destroyed. He tells Mason that Angus is a vessel for God, and it’s important that Mason not let him out.
Beau breaks in with his goons and holds Mason at gunpoint. Mason escapes and runs out into the night. He goes to the local shop for help, but that’s a bad idea. He gets knocked out. He gets a vision where someone gives him a knife.
Mason wakes up chained in the cultists’ barn, but he does have a knife in his hand. The men nail Mason’s hands to a table, just as his father did. Then Beau whips him, just like the good old days. Mason tells Beau that if they complete the ritual, the world will end, but they’re fine with that. The whipping goes on and on as Mason does a Confession under duress. They cut a cross in his forehead with a razor blade.
Beau and the group force Mason to do the ritual on Angus. He summons God as “a being of flesh and blood.” It’s not an exorcism, not exactly. One of the cultists rushes up to look at God and his head explodes. Then we get a moment right out of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” only with less face melting. All the cultists explode into dust.
Angus stands up, and his face shows the universe. “The summoning is complete.” Mason turns his cross upside down and calls upon Lucifer for help. He tries to banish God.
In the other building, Tania escapes. She grabs a gun and shoots God full of holes, but that does nothing. As he’s distracted, Mason stabs him with the knife. Lucifer shows up again and tempts Mason to kill God, but he stabs Lucifer instead. He then used Lucifer’s blood to cast God out, and that does the trick.
Angus apologizes to Mason for everything before dying again. As Mason and Tania walk away, he throws out his collar.
We cut to a hospital, where an orderly rolls a gurney into the morgue. It’s Angus, who’s still twitching…
Brian’s Commentary
It’s a different kind of exorcist movie, where maybe God is the bad guy. The special effects are good. For a long while, we weren’t sure whose side we were supposed to be on, which made it interesting. Even at the end, I’m not sure who was right.
It was well made and looks good. It's different enough to be interesting, but it’s really just another exorcism film, which tends to bore me quite a lot.
Kevin’s Commentary
This was a breath of fresh air as far as exorcism movies go. I thought everything about it was well put together, and it was different enough to keep my interest. And who were we really supposed to root for? It’s complicated. I liked it a lot without being bored at all.
2025 Final Recovery
Directed by Harley Wallen
Written by Jerry Lee Davis, Nick Theurer
Stars Charlene Tilton, Jasper Cole, Richard Tyson
Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Ah, nothing like a festive holiday movie to put you in the spirit. This is well put together, with drama and human struggles building towards some real horror at the end. Charlene Tilton nailed it as Nanny Lou, able to hide her core with a mask of sweetness when she wanted to. We thought it was quite good.
Spoilery Synopsis
It’s 1974 at Christmas. Louise’s father closes the store at night and talks to a guy who’s begging on the street. The argument escalates until the old man gets stabbed and dies, and his daughter watches from the car.
Today, Rodney goes to his trailer and admires his drug collection when two cops, Levi and Jacob, barge in and search the place. They knock out Rodney and take him to a rehab place for treatment. Louise is there, grown up, and she runs the treatment center– she pays the two cops for bringing Rodney in. Dr. Sam Porter tells Louise that Rodney’s going to be unconscious for a while.
Jacob brings in another crackhead, and he’s not in good shape. Sam thinks they should call an ambulance. “We can’t send him to the hospital; he’s got my specials in him!”
In the morning, Rhonda brings some of Rodney’s things since he’s going to be there for a long time. She calls Louise “Nanny Lou,” and she’s been through this before. Rhonda still blames Rodney for the death of their child. Her daughter, Kylie, says she needs to forgive Rodney.
Meanwhile, at the treatment center, Louise makes up a batch of pills. Rodney talks to Dustin, the new guy, about them both being on Specials.
At group, we meet a few more recovering addicts. Tonya and Heather argue. They meet Marianne, one of the counselors there at Sage. Dustin tells his story, but he doesn’t want to be here.
Dustin later goes into convulsions and Levi brings him back in. Sam says they’re giving him too high of a dose. Cindy, Dustin’s sister, sees his condition and says it’s all from his Aleppo PTSD, and they can’t really afford to stay here. Louise points out that it’s either here or jail since the cops found so many drugs in his system. Louise talks about financing and she’ll let Dustin work in Cindy’s store to keep an eye on him. Levi thinks Cindy “is on to us,” but Louise is confident.
Rodney and Dustin start to conspire against Louise, who rules this place with an iron fist. Rodney tells him how his son died, and it was his fault. One of the patients dies, not accidentally, and Jacob and Levi carry body parts out in garbage bags.
Rhonda, Kylie, Cindy, Dustin, and Rodney sit together and discuss their situations. Louise yells at Rodney for leaving with her Specials, and now she wants him to find her more customers.
While the guys are working at Cindy’s store, Louise kills Tanya. Dustin falls over, he’s been taking the Specials again.
Walt tells Rodney that his month is almost up, and he’s looking forward to staying clean this time. Walt also mentions that he hasn’t seen Tanya today; she’s supposedly been released, but they both know that’s not true. Nanny Lou calls Walt out of a group meeting for a surprise.
Rodney sells some drugs to Kylie’s new boyfriend and feels bad about that, but Louise is making him do it. Louise says she’s here to make sure no addicts hurt anyone else; she still holds a grudge over her father’s death.
In the middle of a group session, Heather passes out, and she might die. Doctor Sam is also not in good shape– he may be on something as well. Louise tells Marianne that Sam is a recovering addict as well, and he’s lost his license. This devolves into threats from Louise.
There’s a big fight during visiting hours, and Rodney sees Levi making a move on Kylie. Rodney explains that they get people clean until it’s time for release, and then Nanny Lou gets them hooked on Specials again. This keeps people coming back, which is good for the bottom line.
Heather dies, Levi chops her up, and Dustin sees him doing it. Louise injects Dustin with something that knocks him out. Louise later forces Rodney to take some Specials. She tells Rodney that Dustin robbed her and then ran off with Heather. She also threatens to have Levi hurt Rhonda and Kylie if Rodney doesn’t play ball.
Dr. Sam starts to tell Rodney what Louise is up to, but then Levi kills him right in front of Rodney. Rodney runs downstairs and finds the bodies and parts in the dismemberment room. He also finds Dustin, but too late: Nanny Lou gets him.
Rodney and Louise talk about her motives, and she’s very pessimistic, she’d rather kill the addicts than release them for a relapse. Rodney stabs Louise and releases Dustin. They feed Nanny Lou a bunch of the Specials and then watch her die…
Brian’s Commentary
This was filmed here in Flint, Michigan, which is pretty cool, although I didn’t recognize any of the locations. It’s also, oddly, a Christmas movie.
The characters are all distinctive and interesting, and the drama of drug addicts in rehab and dealing with their families is good. It’s very talky, and the horror elements don’t really come in until towards the end, but we were entertained.
Kevin’s Commentary
Terrible people doing terrible things can certainly be as unsettling as literal monsters. I thought it could have moved a bit more and sooner into the horror. Like an engine revving in neutral, I found myself thinking it’s impressive, but put it in gear now. Still, the characters were interesting enough to make me care about them, and it’s decently made overall. I dug it.
1972 Godzilla vs. Gigan
Directed by Jun Fukuda, Yoshimitsu Banno, Ishiro Honda
Written by Takeshi Kimura, Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Stars Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yuriko Hishimi, Minoru Takashima
Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one has humans vs. aliens, multiple fighting creatures, loads of collateral damage to buildings and infrastructure, a lair in the shape of a giant Godzilla in an amusement park, and blood. The first time we’ve seen the creatures bleed in battle. And there are some long battles, maybe too long. If you’re a fan of the 70s Toho kaiju films, this is one of them. It’s fun for what it is.
Spoilery Synopsis
We start with a cartoonist drawing kaiju comics. He talks to his friend, who pitches him the idea of a “Homework Monster” which is what the kids really fear. It starts as homework and mutates into a monster. The cartoonist says that idea stinks.
Gengo is assigned to go to the construction on the “Children’s World Site,” where they are building the Godzilla tower, part of a theme park. The head of the project, Kubota, explains the idea to Gengo. He is a big advocate of world peace. Gengo says the park needs more monsters and suggests a few others. Kubota hires Gengo to design some new monsters. After this Children’s Land is complete, Kubota plans to destroy Monster Island.
Gengo gets to work drawing his Homework Monster and Uptight Mother Monsters. The Uptight Mother Monster, Mamagon, looks just like Gengo’s wife. On the way to see Kubota, he runs into a girl who drops a tape that he picks up. Kubota and four henchmen chase after the girl.
At the offices of the Children’s World Site, Gengo sees that it all looks like a supervillain’s lair, and the chairman there, Fumio, is very young but also is working on some serious math formulas. They mention a lost tape that could ruin their plans for peace. Gengo says nothing about the tape he’s carrying. On the way home, that woman and her friend wants her tape back. They are Machiko and Shosaku, and they tell their story. Her brother worked for the company and recently discovered an evil secret about the company, and they did something to him. The tape Gengo has is evidence, but he left it in a train locker.
Her brother, Takashi, argues with Kubota and the chairman about his forced overtime; he’s being held prisoner. They get an alarm that someone is playing the Action 2 tape. Gengo and his new friends don’t understand the tape at all, but on Monster Island, Godzilla and Anguirus wake up and pay attention. The two monsters talk to each other with comic book speech bubbles (which is hilarious).
Gengo goes to the company and snoops around. He finds Takashi’s lighter in Godzilla Tower. Shosaku and Machiko decide to do more research on the company, and Gengo goes along with the plan. The three find out that both leaders of the company came from Yamano, and our guys drive there to check out the little town. Fumio’s mother says that he died last year. His father says Fumio was never very smart, but his photo checks out. Kubota was his junior high school teacher, and he’s dead too, from a climbing accident.
Meanwhile, Fumio and Kubota receive a message from the space nebula, “Prepare for Arrivals.” They play Action Tape 1. They decide they don’t need Takashi anymore and plan to eliminate him.
Suddenly, Anguirus shows up on the beach and the Defense Forces leap into action. They open fire on the giant mutant turtle. They drive the monster back into the sea.
Kubota follows Gengo to Shosaku’s house and captures the three good guys. Gengo’s wife accidentally barges in and beats up the men. The trio goes to the police, but those guys are busy because they just heard that both Anguirus and Godzilla are heading to the city. We soon see that Gidorah and Gigan are on their way to Earth as well, drawn by the bad guys’ tape.
Gengo and Tomoko free Takashi from Godzilla Tower, but are soon captured. Fumio and Kubota admit that they are aliens here and give a lesson on pollution and ecology. They saved their planet, but it won’t last much longer. They both look like giant cockroaches in their true forms.
The monsters are coming, so the Defense Forces deploy again. The space monsters attack and buildings fall. They blow up lots of stuff for quite a while. This is the aliens’ “Peace Plan.” This goes on until Godzilla shows up. Both space monsters can fly, so that's a challenge for the Earth monsters to overcome.
Meanwhile, Shosaku and Machiko are outside Godzilla Tower trying to find a way in. Gengo, Tomoko, and Takashi are still prisoners inside. They send up a helium filled weather balloon up to the top of the tower with a rope for the others to climb down. Turns out, the big Godzilla Tower has a laser built in, just like the real monster.
Our heroes all go to the Defense Force and tell them about the aliens inside Godzilla Tower. Takeshi suggests attacking inside the base rather than trying to defeat the monsters. They sneak a bunch of boxes, clearly marked TNT onto the tower’s elevator.
Outside, Godzilla sees himself. No, that’s a tower that looks like him, and then the tower shoots laser beams at him.
The elevator gets to the top, the bad guys shoot it, and the entire tower explodes. Kubota and Fumio turn back into cockroaches and die.
Meanwhile, the monsters continue to fight. And fight. And fight. Working together, Godzilla and Anguirus tag-team the other guys to death. No, not quite– they both fly away, defeated.
Gengo and the others watch as the space monsters leave Earth. The good monsters turn and go home. Godzilla Tower and the evil aliens are defeated. “Maybe cockroaches will inherit the Earth,” someone points out. The end.
That closing song is something else!
Brian’s Commentary
So many models were destroyed in this! Actually, the modelwork is really good, and there’s a lot of it. A lot of work went into those, just to smash in one quick scene. The monsters, however, are still guys in rubber suits.
The voice bubbles for the monsters were hilarious, and the translations were even better. There were a lot of nods to comics, cartoons, and manga here; that must have been a big thing at the time of filming.
The monster-fighting goes on and on here. There are lots of models destroyed, but there’s not much to say about the fights themselves.
Three of these monsters had appeared before, but this was Gigan’s first appearance. He would later appear in three movies and make numerous appearances on TV. He’s got claws instead of hands and a buzz-saw in his belly. It looks like he has a laser-beam eye in the posters, but we never see that used here.
This is also the first film in the series to actually show any blood– this was actually based on requests from children to make the fights more realistic. There are no children in this one, so that’s a nice break, but overall, the monster fights aren’t that great because we already know who’s going to win.
I thought the fights were a little tedious, but the human bits were mostly funny. It’s… OK.
Kevin’s Commentary
If I had a secret lair, I would definitely want it to be inside a giant hollow Godzilla statue in an amusement park. Because why not? This one was on par with others of the era. It’s heavy on science fiction and very 70s in fashion and technology. I had a good time watching it.
2009 The Final Destination
AKA “Final Destination 4”
Directed by David R. Ellis
Written by Eric Bress, Jeffrey Reddick
Stars Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano
Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
In hindsight, this was called “Final Destination 4,” but at the time it was planned to be the last one. We didn’t see the 3D version, but it’s clear they were filming it with that in mind. It wasn’t as strong as the previous three. The main character has too many premonitions regarding the deaths that give away too many hints ahead of time. It still has the chain-of-events death scenes, but they weren’t quite as fun this time. It’s pretty good, but the weakest of the four.
Spoilery Synopsis
This one begins at the racetrack, as the cars speed around the loop and the fans cheer. We zoom in on Nick, explaining that they’re only really watching in case there’s a crash. Hunt, Janet, and Lori are there as well. Nick notices that the speedway is really old, with crumbling walls and broken bleachers. Janet asks, “Is it safe to sit here?” “Of course, there’s a fence here.” As we see a closeup of the fence bolts starting to vibrate loose.
Nick starts getting a weird feeling.
We cut to someone knocking over an oil can, and a car drives off with a gas nozzle left inside. A car drives over the nozzle and flips over repeatedly. A tire kills one of the spectators, and a car lands in the stands. Pieces of cars fly everywhere, the stands collapse and catch fire. People get sliced in half, trampled, impaled, burned, and squashed. Everyone dies!
Back a moment ago, Nick remembers what’s about to happen and displays his knowledge of the very near future. “We have to get out of here. We’re all going to die.” This devolves into a fight, and a bunch of people end up chasing them outside.
Outside, Nick and the guys watch as mayhem ensues inside. The racist guy’s wife got left behind. A woman still gets killed by a flying tire– credits roll.
Nick, Hunt, Lori, and Janet talk about what happened at a coffee shop. The death toll is at 52, and they talk about going to the memorial. At the memorial, they talk to a few of the other survivors: some are thankful, and some aren’t. One racist guy makes a scene with George, the black security guard.
Later, the racist guy drives to George’s house and puts a cross to burn in his front yard. Through a sequence of coincidences, his tow truck drives away and drags him down the street. He catches fire and then the truck explodes, dumping his head right in front of George.
Nick watches the news report on TV, and he dreamed about that last night. He gets another premonition.
Next up is the mother with two kids. She goes to the beauty salon, and we see that the chair is faulty. There are curling irons, chemical treatments, sharp pedicuring tools, and a wobbling ceiling fan. What could go wrong? Everything goes wrong all at once, but everyone is fine. Then they go outside and she gets hit in the head with a rock thrown from a lawn mower.
Nick and Lori tell Janet and Hunt about Nick’s most recent vision and also about the events of the previous movies. They are all going to die at some point soon. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence.
Nick and Lori go back to the racetrack to help him remember the order in which people died in his vision. They run into George, who shows them video of the incident. That reminds him of the sequence of deaths.
They go to talk to Andy, a mechanic who should be next to die. He was the one whose wife died by flying tire after they escaped. The garage where he works is an obvious deathtrap, He dies as the others talk to him. Hunt and Janet are next, but they died at the same time.
Hunt is at the country club, hanging around the pool. Janet is picking up dry cleaning and has trouble with her car’s sunroof. Nick gets another premonition that Hunt is going to die in water.
Hunt accidentally starts the pool drain, which has crazy pressure. A golf ball mishap makes Hunt drop his lucky coin in the pool, so he dives down after it. The drain suction grabs onto Hunt and pulls him down. The pump needs revenge, however, and cranks itself up to eleven, sucking Hunt’s guts out. The pump explodes with blood, intestines, and a lucky coin just as Nick arrives.
Janet goes to the coin-op automatic car wash. Something gets a short and the car gets stuck. Suddenly, the sunroof opens, just as a pipe breaks and fills the car with water. She sticks her head in the sunroof to avoid drowning, but then Lori and George arrive to help.
They saved Janet, so does that break the chain? George knows he should be next. He killed his own family in a drunken traffic accident a few years back, and he’s not against the idea of joining them.
Lori and Nick go to George’s house and find him hanging but the rope breaks. He’s been trying to kill himself all day. For some reason, he can’t die. They all decide that’s good news, and the cycle has been broken.
Nick has a premonition– he forgot about one of the victims, who has just died. The cycle is back on.
Meanwhile, George gets flattened by an ambulance.
Lori and Janet meet for lunch. We see some construction going on outside, and someone is playing with RC cars. Lori gets her shoestring caught in an escalator, but that doesn’t go anywhere. The two go to a movie in the mall. We see that a fire has started in a room full of flammable liquids right behind the theater screen. Lori starts getting premonitions now, and she wants to leave. She leaves with Nick, and Janet stays behind. Then the film explodes, killing Janet.
The whole mall starts exploding, and there’s a mass panic. Lori has another run in with the escalator, and this time it eats her.
Nick flashes back to the instant after George died. It’s too late to save him, but maybe he can get to Lori and Janet faster this time. He goes to the room with the fire and tries to prevent it, but he doesn’t have much luck at first. Actually, he’s attacked by a nail gun. He manages to set off the sprinklers, which douses the flames.
Two weeks later, Nick meets Lori and Janet at the coffee shop. Nick wonders “What if we didn’t change anything?” As a giant semi truck blasts through the window, killing them all.
Brian’s Commentary
The main incident was based on a real racing crash and chain reaction from 1955 - the Le Mans disaster - that killed 84 people and injured over 100, many in the same way as depicted here. This one was filmed in 3D, which is obvious from some of the obviously set-up shots we get. Nick’s visions are all bad CGI, and those shots didn’t hold up well at all.
It mostly follows the same formula as the previous films. This one adds Nick getting premonitions of how everyone is going to die with the freak accidents, which I think lessened the impact of the weird accidents. This time, Nick also gets yet another chance to rewind, and that lessened the impact even more.
Kevin’s Commentary
This was my least favorite of the four, a step in the wrong direction. There was too much premonition going on. I suspect they were trying to make it a little different to shake things up, but they shouldn’t have. It’s okay, but not as good.
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