Flight 666 – 2 Movies and a Friday the 13th Flight into HEL(SINKI)

Fun fact: There are 2 movies called “Flight 666” (one starring Iron Maiden). Also, Finnair flight 666 traveled to HEL on Friday the 13th 21 times!

This was originally going to be a boring review of a 2018 movie called Flight 666, which is about ghosts on a plane. However, plans sometimes change. When I did a quick search for various facts on that movie (cast, crew, trivia, etc.), I found more than I expected. Now this article will (hopefully) be a slightly less boring glimpse into various occurrences of the words “flight 666.”

1. The 2018 Film – Flight 666

Regarding the 2018 film, it got mostly bad reviews. That being said, I thought it was reasonably well done for what it was. It faces the usual critiques (or condemnations, if you will): Bad acting, not well written, not scary, etc. However, is there a single horror movie ever made that doesn’t get accused of such things? Sometimes it’s true, but it’s sort of tiring how people attribute “bad acting” to performances that aren’t even that bad. I think that was the case here. I thought the acting here was competent to well done.

For better or worse, it didn’t have Samuel L. Jackson to retread his well-known line from a different plane-related horror movie. However, there was the standard action hero alpha male, who seemed specifically on board to save the day.  In fact, I kind of remember this film having almost a glut of such heroes (maybe like 2 or 3 of them).  At the very least, this film has memorable scenes involving the in-flight meals going bad, which is subtle yet interesting.

Anyway, here are the specs:
Director: Rob Pallatina
Writers: Jacob Cooney (screenplay), Brandon Stroud (screenplay)
Stars: Liz Fenning, Jose Rosete, Joseph Michael Harris, a handful of others.

2. Iron Maiden: Flight 666

Admittedly, I have not watched this film yet, as I never listened to Iron Maiden much and wasn’t aware of this movie otherwise. My understanding is that the film simply stars Iron Maiden and their fans. Quite simply, I wouldn’t feel right about giving this a full review because I haven’t seen the dang thing. What I can say is that, over the years, I have come to appreciate Iron Maiden on a basic level. They’re  not quite my cup of tea (much like the band Kiss), and I’d prefer Judas Priest over Maiden.  Still, I can respect how influential Iron Maiden is. Plus, I’ll listen to them over Justin Bieber or Ed Sheeran any day of the week.

The specs:
Directors: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen
Writers: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen
Stars: Iron Maiden, Eddie, Vinny Appice, Pat Cash

3. Flight 666 to HEL on Friday the 13th

On October 13, 2017, a Washington Post story carried the following headline: “Flight 666 to HEL took off one last time this Friday the 13th.”

I’ve never been superstitious, but taking a flight with that many strikes against it would seem like a test, even for the biggest skeptics. Nevertheless, rather than making us more fearful of such things, this flight should make us less paranoid. In reality, according to Finnair, AY 666 took such flights over 20 times, and apparently never exploded into a giant fireball. In fact, the apparent safety of Flight 666 should make people less afraid of flying in general. Still, if you’re planning to fly soon, I would recommend not watching the first Final Destination film, or certain scenes from The Twilight Zone (or the beginning of Freddy’s Dead, the Flight of the Living Dead, Snakes on a Plane, Alive, Castaway, etc.).

Apparently, Finnair has changed Flight 666 to “Flight 954.” Boring! Granted, the airline probably didn’t change the number for the fraidy cats out there, but it’s a shame.  I mean, what better way to have people face their fears than to give an airplane (or an entire airline) a cursed sounding name?

So, other than Flight 666, what kind of cursed airplane/airline names would you suggest? Let us know in the comments!