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I don't get scared much during most scary movies. This isn't a proud boast, just an acknowledgment that most films we consider scary or horrific are actually just gross and violent. Case in point: the Saw films. I rented the first one and thought it was okay, but have never had the desire to see any others. Watching people be tortured to death slowly in seedy motel rooms or abandoned warehouses isn't my cup of tea. I make this distinction up-front because this week's pick may seem to be just another violent, non scary horror film. While I would have to concur on the violence, I will add that these films are some of the only ones this decade that have made me queasy with dread and anticipation but not disgust. And yet, they are also quite humorous. If you like your Earl Grey with a dash of cyanide, read on.

The premise behind the Final Destination series is ridiculous in its simplicity, yes, but conversely, it is also such a genius offshoot of the Dead Teenager movie canon that I find it incredible it took a screenwriter (in this case Jeffrey Reddick) so long to dream it up. Instead of being stalked by a hockey or William Shatner-masked psycho, the not-long for-this-world leads in the FD films are hounded by "Death" itself. A slasher film without a slasher, in other words. After escaping a horrific disaster at the beginning of the film (airplane explosion, multi-car pileup, roller coaster derailing) thanks to a vision by one of the characters, those whose time was up become the victims instead of outrageously elaborate Rube-Goldberg style accidents or violent coincidences. To borrow a cue from a classic Depeche Mode tune, "I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours, but it seems that Death has a sick sense of humor."

I can appreciate black comedy when it's well done - and it so rarely is - which probably explains why I like the FD films in general and Final Destination 2 in particular. The first one sets the rules, creates the vision, and constructs the archetype, but it also suffers from too much gloom and portent, too much angst. A funereal pall (no pun intended) hangs over the proceedings. Final Destination 3 comes off as schizophrenic. It seems to recognize the strengths of the second film and incorporates them intermittently but it ultimately leaves a bad aftertaste. This is best represented by its desire to kill off all the characters by the end, even the ridiculously winsome and engaging female lead, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (who is still just one great film away from deservedly being on everyone's radar).

The fact that the first and third films were done by the same director, X-Files veteran James Hong (working in conjunction with his long-time screen writing collaborator Glen Morgan), explains their similarities in tone. He approaches the material at times like one of the (lesser) non-mythology episodes of that series. It wouldn't surprise me to see Scully and Mulder show up to begin investigating the "accidents".

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