Final Destination 3 (novel)

Final Destination 3 (novel)
Author	Christa Faust
Publication date	January 3, 2006
Published by	Black Flame
ISBN	1844163199
Publication Order
Preceded by Final Destination 2	Followed by

Final Destination 3 is Black Flame's novelization of the film of the same name, written by Christa Faust.

Official Summary

Third time lucky?

The chilling Final Destination series continues with the awesome new movie Final Destination 3. Young photographer Wendy Christensen has a gruesome vision of a disaster at an amusement park. As a result, she manages to escape from a thrill ride just before it crashes, killing her boyfriend and best friend.

But the nightmare is far from over. To her dismay, she discovers the photographs she took before the accident foretell the deaths of others who escaped the disaster. Now Death wants to reclaim each victim in the order they were meant to die.

Death is back and you better pray you're not on his list...

An extract from the book.

Differences from the film

Author Christa Faust was commissioned to write the novel, based off the original movie script. There are several differences between the novel and the movie:

• The opening scene has Wendy confessing to Jason in front of their school that she wants to give him her virginity after the fair. Wendy planned on losing her virginity to Jason just before breaking it off with him, because she felt their two very different lives were going two very different places. She later concedes this was mistaken thinking on her part. She then meets Carrie for the first time, changing the part in the movie where they were "best friends".
• The novelization ends differently than the movie, with the entire Train 081 sequence being cut.
• The theme park was called "Red River Adventure Park", instead of McKinley Park in the movie.
• In the book, Carrie is described as a red haired girl who constantly wore skimpy clothes, and isn't mentioned to be Wendy's best friend. Unlike the movie, Carrie is not set to go to college, but is instead going into business with her father.
• In the book, there is a scene when Wendy is walking out of the school after grabbing her diploma. Ian and Erin reveal themselves to be rationalist atheists who practice Wiccan rituals for medical purposes. Lewis is revealed to be a Christian with strong superstitious background. All the survivors argue amongst themselves about whether or not Wendy saw a vision or a hallucination, and whether or not Ian and Erin "invited the demons" of death.

  

  Back cover of Final Destination III The Movie

• Ashlyn and Ashley's stories are explained. Ashlyn was a poor girl with a single father who dream of being Ashley's twin. Ashley, meanwhile, was well off and had two fitness obsessed parents. The two girls met purely by chance and became so close of friends that Ashley was jealous of Ashlyn's boyfriend, afraid that he was going to tear them apart. Also both of them are blondes but not natural ones.
• Frankie Cheek's story was expanded in a scene introducing his roommate. Frankie is shown here as being sexually anxious. He puts up his roommate's photo on an online dating site and comes up with a bad story about how he had cancer to explain the difference in appearances. He tries bleaching his hair to make the story more believable, but it comes out a bright orange instead of blonde. He then "borrows" his roommate's car without proper permission. His name is altered from the movie: Frank Cheek instead of Frankie Cheeks.
• In the book, the fan-blade that comes out of Kevin's truck flies off and completely decapitates Frank.
• We learn the story of the driver of the EZ Haul truck that eventually kills Frankie. He's been kicked out by his wife who was "perfect in every way" because of his alcoholism. Everything he owns is in the truck, and he calls an alcoholic friend to help him move when the truck dies on him. It is because the friend is drunk that they make a mistake and cause the EZ Haul to roll down the hill.
• The officers are revealed to be an asexual but very intelligent young man, and a creepy pervert who tries, unsuccessfully, to flirt with Wendy.
• Wendy and Kevin realize they have romantic feelings for each other and kiss in the scene where they're viewing the photographs on her computer.
• Wendy and Julie are much kinder to each other, as Julie has a heart condition that could take her life at any moment.
• Wendy's perfectionism is expanded upon, as she is obsessive compulsive to the point of organizing her travel case.
• Lewis Romero's background story was introduced in a scene where he is working out just before his death. It is revealed that Lewis' family changed his name from Luis Romero when they moved from Cuba, and that he takes steroids. He also is strongly loyal to his family.
• Lewis Romero's death scene was vastly different in both versions of the film and the script. In the novel, Wendy and Kevin have to go through two coaches in order to be allowed in the gym where Lewis is working out. Wendy is alarmed to discover that they were right beside Lewis when she "felt" Death approaching. Lewis, meanwhile, is working out alone. Because of his obsession over his strength, he leaves his weights on the weight bench without properly strapping them in so that the next person to use it may see how much he pressed. He spills his chocolate protein-drink, and, without noticing it, goes on to use the dumbbells. When Kevin enters the room, Lewis shifts his footing to stand up. Instead, he slips on the spilled drink and lands face first on the weight bench he'd just been using. One of the weights slides from his hand and strikes the foot of the bench, causing the unstrapped weights - all of them, and not just those Lewis was showing off with - to strike his head.
• Wendy realizes that Death waited until she was there to witness it, and concludes that Death is a malicious entity.
• She and Kevin then run into the bathroom to wash off the blood. Hearing some boys approach, Kevin makes it look like him and Wendy are having sex. The other boys leave. Wendy and Kevin then dress in stolen sweatsuits and run away. The coach on the field notices them and the entire team chases them. Wendy and Kevin get to the car and escape.
• In the novel, the hardware store that Ian and Erin worked in was called "Homeland Warehouse" but in the movie it was changed to "Build It!"
• Ian McKinley and Erin Ulmer's backgrounds are also expanded on. Erin, dressed in her Homeland Tools uniform, goes to greet Ian as his mansion. Ian is descended from the McKinley's that founded the town and is thus very well to do. Erin explains to the audience that Ian was raised to have "proper work ethic" with his father giving him a measly allowance and forcing him to get a real job and go to public school. Ian learns, instead, to hate money and dreams of being a starving poet. Erin, meanwhile, had a vampire fetish and was introduced to the "gothic underground" after meeting Ian in grade school. She has decided to move on and grow up, but only after she gets enough money from her job to move to California and leave Ian behind.
• When the sawdust bag pops, Erin falls back against the forklift and hits the abandoned nailgun head first. The only difference in this scene is that one of the nails spears right out of her open eye, slowly deflating it as the picture of her and Ian lands on her chest. Ian blames Wendy because she took a picture of Erin.
• Ian and Erin physical characteristics are slightly different: Ian has charcoal black-died hair and has glasses, and has a wiry frame, and Erin is described as heavy set with black and blue dread-locked hair and piercings in her nose, left eyebrow, and lower lip.
• Julie's friend Perry is a blonde Caucasian girl; in the movie she is Asian.
• Amber is described as a tall Caucasian girl with natural red hair, lanky limbs, and big feet.
• When Ian begins trying to intimidate Wendy at the Tricentennial, a milar balloon passes in front of her face, and in the reflection of its surface, she realizes that the way Kevin is hanging on to her is identical to her picture with Jason, and she drops to the ground as the fireworks blast at her from behind.
• It is revealed at the end that the order of the deaths were mistaken at first. Instead of going by where they were sitting, Death chased them through their deaths. Thus, the correct order is as follows:
  • Jason, Carrie, Ashley, Ashlyn, and Frankie all died in that order as their portion of the coaster falls over the edge and crushes all the passengers.
  • Lewis Romero falls out of his seat since he is too big. He hangs on to the side of the coaster until the siding peels off and severs his hand, sending him flying into the roller coaster beams. He dies from blunt force trauma.
  • Ian falls out of his seat while hanging upside down when he tries to save Erin Ulmer. Erin sees him falling and catches his hand. However, the force of the catch causes her to lose her grip and they both fall. She hits the ground and dies immediately.
  • Julie falls and dies immediately.
  • Perry, who fell before Julie, manages to hit the ground after Julie. She dies immediately.
  • Ian McKinley lives after hitting the ground. He dies of blood loss sometime after Perry hits the ground.
  • Kevin is torn in two by the drop on the coaster.
  • Wendy is crushed when her portion of the coast folds in on itself.
• The photographs in the novel also have some small changes:
  • In the picture of Jason, he is standing next to a devil statue with his arm around it.
  • In Ashley and Ashlyn's picture, the two of them are still playing the water-gun game and have not yet one the prize. One of the other rides, the One-Eighty, begins flashing, causing the picture to show a red wave washing over Ashley and Ashlyn.
  • In Frankie's picture, he is standing under a ceiling fan, but at the angle of the photo, it looks as if the blades are tearing into his neck.
  • In Lewis' picture, the weight looks as if it's coming down on his head. His head isn't visible as he is bent down. There is no sign the crying teddy-bear.
  • In Ian and Erin's picture, Erin is holding an air-rifle with one hand and is blocking her face with the other. Ian has his hands crossed in front of his face, with his arms forming an X.
  • In Julie and Perry's picture, Julie is fingering the camera with both hands and sticking her tongue out, and is wearing a shirt with a silhouette of a rearing horse on it and Perry (Barely visible) is wearing a shirt with the American flag and a bald eagle on it.
  • In Wendy's picture, Jason has his arm draped around her shoulder, and his hand is pointing down at the word "McKinley".
• There were some differences in the pictures Wendy got from the internet:
  • The first is one of Keith Moon of The Who's sitting on a chair with the words "Not to be taken away"; he died 20 days later after the album was produced.
  • The second one was of Abraham Lincoln, showing a crack in the picture that revealed where John Wilkes Booth shot him.
  • The third was of the World Trade Centre explosions; smoke was pouring from the buildings, and a demonic face is shown in the smoke.