Final Destination | 2000
- Locations |
- British Columbia
- DIRECTOR |
- James Wong
Set in 'New York', specifically, 'Mt Abrahams', the first of what turned out to be a long-running franchise, was filmed entirely in British Columbia.
I'm assuming that by now, with so many sequels, you're familiar with the basic premise.
About to leave for a school field trip to Paris, Alex (Devon Sawa) has a terrible premonition as a result of which he, and a handful of friends, avoid death in a terrible air crash. But death seems to want to claim back the lives it was cheated of.
The story started out as a potential episode of TV's The X-Files but someone cannily spotted its potential. And it's chock-full of in-jokes, with the characters' surnames are derived from classic horror movies (Hitchcock, Chaney, Lewton, Waggner, etc) – the same gag used in Joe Dante's The Howling in 1981.
The setting is 'New York' but the film was made entirely in British Columbia, particularly around the Vancouver area.
'JFK Airport', from which the doomed flight leaves, is Vancouver International Airport, 3211 Grant McConachie Way, Richmond, although the Departure Lounge was recreated in the studio (I guess it would have been inconvenient to blow out the windows of a working airport)
Alex lives south of Downtown Vancouver, in the Granville district, 4688 Connaught Drive at West 32nd Avenue.
A couple of miles to the southwest in Kerrisdale is Kerrisdale Elementary School, 5555 Carnarvon Street at West 39th Street in Westside, where the memorial to the deceased classmates is unveiled.
It's no spoiler that the plot sees most of the survivors meeting their ends through seemingly everyday yet unlikely accidents.
First off is Tod (Chad Donella), who has a nasty accident in the bath at his home a couple of miles northeast of the school at 1312 Balfour Avenue at Hudson Street, a little southwest of Alex's house.
The now-gone Coffee Beanery, outside which the kids gather and discuss what's happening, stood at the junction of Delta Street and Bridge Street, in Ladner, a western suburb of Delta, south of the Fraser River. The site of the movie's biggest jump scare – with the bus – is just in front of the town clock on Bridge Street.
The Ladner Village area is a popular stand in for 'Main Street USA' or quaint coastal fishing villages. These features make the area a popular location for movie productions such as X-Men: The Last Stand, Fifty Shades of Grey, Along Came a Spider, 3000 Miles to Graceland and Josie and the Pussycats, as well as various television productions such as Smallville, The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural and Bates Motel.
The home of teacher Val Lewton (Kristen Cloke), despite its impressive appearance, was built specially for the production. Neighbours watching the five-week build were disappointed to see this apparently desirable property blown to smithereens.
The remaining three survivors finally get their trip to 'Paris'. The final scene looks so elaborate, I assumed it must have been filmed on a studio backlot but, no, it's Downtown Victoria.
British Columbia's capital, Victoria stands on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast, about 62 miles southwest of Vancouver.
'Le Cafe Miro 81', the terrace restaurant with the giant illuminated sign beneath which they sit, is currently Urban Rebar vegetarian restaurant and bar, 50 Bastion Square at Langley Street.
The apparently threatening bus careers off down Langley Street and, no spoilers, that final shot is at the northwest corner of Bastion Square and Langley Street.
Another popular filming location, Victoria has been seen in such productions as X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, the original Scary Movie, White Chicks and Bird on a Wire, as well as TV series including Smallville, The Dead Zone and Poltergeist: The Legacy.
