The Final Destination (2009) (aka Final Destination 4)

This was the fourth installment (and third sequel) of the long-running franchise, noted for its very violent, freakish, and gruesome lethal accidents. It was supposed to be the last of the series, but was followed by a prequel two years later, Final Destination 5 (2011).

It was remarkable as the first film of the slasher/thrillers to be filmed in HD 3-D, to enhance the spectacular death scenes.

This formulaic film began when college student Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) had a premonition at the McKinley Speedway that there would be a devastating partial collapse of the stadium structure after a crash. His visionary fears were realized, after he was able to persuade a number of friends (and others) to escape the tragedy. The ten survivors that later suffered horrible fates were:

1. Nadia Monroy (Stephanie Honore), Andy's girlfriend - her left arm and head were amputated by a flying stray tire outside the speedway
2. Carter Daniels (Justin Welborn), drunken and racist - he was dragged down the street by his own tow truck, then his body was set on fire and explosively blown apart (his severed head flew through the air)
3. Samantha Lane (Krista Allen) - her right eye was perforated by a rock propelled by a lawn mower
4. Andy Kewser (Andrew Fiscella), a mechanic - he was crushed/diced into a chain-link fence by a CO2 tank
5. Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano) - his internal organs were disemboweled by a pool vacuum system
6. Jonathan Groves (Jackson Walker), a cowboy and hospital patient, died after being crushed from an overflowing and overfilled bathtub which fell through the floor above him
7. George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson), a suicidal security guard, collided with a speeding ambulance
   
   (visionary only) Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), Nick's girlfriend, was crushed by a malfunctioning escalator
   
   
8. the remaining trio of survivors was killed by a truck crashing through a coffee shop cafe window, seen in a skeletal image
   

• Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb) - 8th, (crushed by truck)
• Lori Milligan 9th, (decapitated)
• Nick O'Bannon 10th, (hit by truck)

Jonathan Groves

George Lanter

Janet, Lori and Nick

Survival of the Dead (2009)

This sixth installment of writer/director George A. Romero's zombie films contained some spectacular, entertaining and creative zombie deaths (CGI-enhanced) - one of the most entertaining parts of the sequel.

The horror film gave names to various zombies based upon their demises.

'Undead' Cheek-Biting guardsman (Dru Viergever), who took off a large chunk of the side of another's face, had his own head blown off with a shotgun by Kenny (Eric Woolfe). His scalp (or skullcap) neatly plopped down onto his neck stump.

Another threatening zombie, Fire-Extinguisher Zombie (Jerry Schaefer) had flame retardant shot down his throat to explode his head, with his eyes popping out of their sockets.

And Flaming Zombie (Chad Camilleri) had a flare shot into his chest, causing his head to catch fire. The Sarge (Alan Van Sprang) lit his cigarette on the zombies' burning head before its body was kicked over the side.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

In the conclusion of director McG's action sequel (the fourth film of the series) set in the year 2018, T-RIP (Resistance Infiltration Prototype) cyborg Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) altered the mission he was programmed to complete by ripping a main cortex control chip from his brain in a conscious choice to be human (and fight against the machines).

[Note: His main mission was to bring back Kyle Reese (with John Connor trailing after) to Skynet, so they could be killed.]

Marcus sacrificially offered his own 'human' heart for a transplant operation to save the life of mortally-wounded Resistance leader John Connor (Christian Bale). The two of them had just successfully destroyed Skynet Central together. Marcus offered:

"Take mine...Everybody deserves a second chance. This is mine."

He bid goodbye to everyone (with a heartfelt farewell from Resistance pilot Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood)) and laid down on a table opposite John Connor.

In voice-over, he spoke as the medical operation commenced and he lost consciousness:

"What is it that makes us human? It's not something you can program. You can't put it into a chip. It's the strength of the human heart. The difference between us and machines."

His death bookended his earlier "death" in the film's opening set in the year 2003, when convicted death-row Texas prisoner Marcus Wright, one hour away from death by lethal injection, gave his permission to donate his organs for a "noble cause." In exchange for his donation, he received a single kiss from terminally-ill researcher Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter). His last memory would be of sitting on death row and awaiting execution.

He would receive a "second chance" at life - believing wrongly that it would help save the "human race." He 'sold' himself to Cyberdyne Systems Genetics Division (in San Francisco) for a single kiss (after the kiss, he mused: "So that's what death tastes like"), to be made into a cyborg (he didn't know that he would be programmed to find and kill resistance leader John Connor).

He eventually became an advanced Infiltration Prototype machine (but with a human heart and brain). Wright was wracked with guilt over the three murders he had committed (his brother and two police officers), and bitterly told her: "Just cut me up until there's nothing left." He was then executed, without offering any final words - his last view was Dr. Kogan standing over him.