Horror aficionados were caught aback when the first Final Destination film was released in 2000. For the first time in a slasher film, the opponent was not a psychopath or an undead entity! It was death itself, and even though death is never physically personified in the “Final Destination” films, its presence is palpable. The most terrifying aspect of the story is that there is no way out of death’s clutches!
You might be able to avoid terrible horror monsters like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers, but death is an aspect of life that will eventually catch up with you! The first several films soared to the top of the box office because of this strategy. The franchise is noted for some classic death sequences and low production costs. The five-film franchise has a few missteps, but it is still a fun horror series to watch.
The majority of films follow a formula. The heroes manage to avoid death, but it turns out that they have only been able to prolong their lives for a short time before death hits. Many people have questioned how death works in movies because there are rarely any survivors. In this video, we will walk you through the entire franchise while also attempting to answer some of the more difficult questions that arise throughout the story. We also have some news on the impending “Final Destination” film, which will be a delight for horror enthusiasts!
Death Doesn’t Take No For An Answer – Final Destination (2000)
The first “Final Destination” movie had one of the most action-packed and dramatic opening sequences that you will ever see. A group of high school students is all set to board a flight for their senior year trip. Just as they board the aircraft, Alex has a premonition about the aircraft exploding mid-air, killing everyone on board. He starts to panic after his vivid visions, and his behavior causes a fight between him and Carter. They are both removed from the aircraft along with Alex’s best friend Tod, Carter’s girlfriend Terry, a couple of other students named Billy and Clear, and one of their teachers Valerie.
Much to everyone’s shock, the plane explodes in a giant fireball immediately after take-off. Those who were previously removed from the aircraft are stunned, and the FBI suspects some foul play by Alex. However, just as Alex and his friends start to believe that they got saved by some divine intervention, death starts setting the records straight! Tod dies by accidentally hanging himself in the shower, and it is assumed to be a suicide. The mortician tells the group that there is no cheating death, and the inevitable is now claiming the lives of those who were meant to die in the plane accident before.
Terry soon becomes the next victim after a speeding bus runs her over, and Alex figures out that people are dying in the same order as they died in his vision. Their teacher Valerie is the next to follow after a short circuit causes her computer monitor to explode and impale her with glass shards. Carter is next in line, and he decides to die on his own terms and parks his car on a level crossing.
However, he changes his mind and Alex saves him just in time before a train smashes into the car. One of the sharp edges from the wreckage decapitates Billy, and it seems like death has skipped an entry because of the intervention. Alex realizes that Clear is the next in line. He saves her from a near-death situation where she was locked up in her car with a gasoline leak, surrounded by loose cables.
The trio manages to survive six months before death strikes again. A neon sign is dislodged after the bus rams into it, and just as it is about to fall on Alex, Carter pushes him out of the way. Thus, it seems like the three have cheated death once again! The joy is only momentary because the sign swings back and kills Carter instead. It turns out that death has gone back to the order in which they were supposed to die in the first place. The movie ends on this ominous note that death cannot be cheated, and eventually, it is bound to catch up!
The only thing certain is death and sequels
One of the things that attracted horror fans the most was the concept, which brought in something they had never seen before. This wasn’t an antagonist that you could kill or get away with because it doesn’t really exist in the physical world! You simply cannot cheat the Grim Reaper, and the destination to death is the ultimate constant of life. This was the feature film directorial debut of James Wong, who previously impressed us with his work in “The X Files”. In fact, the story of this movie was going to be an episode in the “X-Files” and it was inspired by “Sole Survivor”.
The narrative starts off with an interesting premise and there is never a dull moment in the movie. You will keep wondering where the next mishap will stem from, and it will come when you least suspect. Even though the movie was made for a modest budget, the visuals were fantastic, and most of the scenes captured the atmosphere quite nicely. The flight scenes, in particular, will leave you in awe, and the music score has a suitable eeriness to it. They used music by John Denver, an artist who lost his life in a plane crash.
The acting performances are not exactly breathtaking, but it does the job effectively. There are some cheesy bits in the script and a few awkward moments because the makers weren’t really trying to create a classic here. The narrative moves forward through some of the victims and some characters make irrational logic jumps, which make little sense. You might feel like the storyline is a bit too reliant on coincidences, but that is precisely what keeps the suspense alive. Overall, it was a decent start to a franchise, and easily one of the best in the series.
You can’t cheat death twice – Final Destination 2 (2003)
The story is premised one year after the events of the first movie, and it is revealed that the only survivor from the previous event was Clear Rivers. We then see Kimberly setting off for a road trip with friends, and suddenly she has a vivid vision of an accident on the highway that kills a lot of people. After snapping out of this vision, she immediately pulls over and stops some of the people.
Among the people saved are a pregnant woman, a mother-son duo (Nora and Tim), Eugene, a rich girl named Kat, Thomas the cop, a lottery winner named Evan and Rory a stoner. The cop demands to know what prompted her to stop the traffic, but she is soon proved right when a horrible accident takes place right in front of their eyes. She is saved by the cop, but her friends are killed by an oncoming truck.
Everyone seems amazed by what happened with Kimberly because it is so similar to the events of the previous vision that saved the day! However, another similarity awaits them all – death is going to come for them again!
The first to fall is Evan, the lottery winner. He gets impaled through his eye by a ladder, while he is trying to escape from a freakish fire accident at his place. Meanwhile, Kimberly goes to a mental institution to meet Clear Rivers to seek some clarity regarding the whole incident. She is advised to save herself instead of trying to stop the inevitable, but she isn’t too impressed with the solution.
While discussing things with the cop, Kimberly has a new vision of pigeons and she believes that Nora and Tim will be the ones to die next and their cause of death would be related to pigeons. True to her vision, Tim has a near-death experience at the dentist’s chambers, and he dies shortly afterward when a giant piece of glass falls on him after some birds break the wire holding it! With some help, they soon figured out that there was a pregnant woman among the survivors and a new life might ward off death. However, before they can act on it, Nora dies after being decapitated in a lift accident.
Eugene starts to panic and even though he tries to shoot himself the bullets simply don’t fire because it is not his turn yet! Unfortunately for them, it turns out that the pregnant woman wasn’t even supposed to die in the first place and thus, her giving birth doesn’t stop death from coming for them. Eugene and Clear die in a horrific gas explosion and Kimberly drives herself into a lake in order to drown.
She is revived just in time and it seems like she and Thomas have finally cheated death. The movie ends with a shocking revelation that they aren’t really safe because they learn that Rory had saved Brian from being killed! A barbecue explosion blows Brian to pieces, and the climax leaves us hanging about the fate of the remaining survivors.
The only thing scarier than death is death with a vengeance!
In many ways, “Final Destination 2” modifies the approach taken by the survivors. In a long line of sequels, this has to be among the best and it gave us what the series is known for – fascinating death scenes. The first movie struggled to find an effective escape route and this movie does more in this regard. The story remains the same structurally, but it is a bolder approach that is cleverly executed.
The direction shows a genuine understanding of the horror genre, and every moment is atmospheric enough to keep you engaged. One of the highlights of this movie is the opening car pile-up scene, and the highway accident sequence is truly haunting because there have been some horrible pileups over the years in real life.
The makers based this scene on one such actually highway pileup in Georgia, where 125 cars were involved in a massive accident. The use of CGI logs in the scene might be a little annoying, but the real ones did not bounce enough for them to go ahead with the filming. The acting performances have been variable, but it was fun to note that the names of many of the characters were a tribute to veteran horror directors.
The element of gore is quite strong and they don’t hold back when it comes to all the decapitations and mutilations that take place. The major issue with the narrative is that it lets the logic slip towards the end. It promises a few chances of cheating death, but they evaporate quickly and the climactic scenes are simply irrational and meaningless. If you let the poor ending slip past you, this will be a great watch. There are plenty of thrills for you, as death picks off its victims one by one.
This Ride Will Be The Death Of You – Final Destination 3 (2006)
After a plane crash and a highway pileup, we arrive at an innocent roller coaster holding the cards this time. Wendy is a high school graduate and she is photographing her friends on a roller coaster ride called ‘High Dive’. In one of the pictures, she notices that the letter v is missing, but doesn’t pay much attention. We come across various characters, such as her boyfriend Jason, her friend Carrie and Carrie’s boyfriend Kevin, and her sister Julie.
The other characters include Lewis, Ashley, Ashlyn, Frankie, and a couple of social outcasts Ian and Erin. Wendy has a fatal premonition about a disaster about to happen on the roller-coaster, and she gets herself off the ride along with a few of her friends. However, the others on the roller-coaster, including her boyfriend die in a horrible accident. Wendy soon finds out the hard way that death has a way of coming back for what it missed out on!
She is heartbroken at the loss of her best friend and her boyfriend, but Kevin makes her realize the seriousness of the event when he tells her about the previous instances of a premonition saving a few from certain death. Ashley and Ashlyn are the first ones to fall prey. They have a terrible accident in a tanning salon, where the whole place is set ablaze. They die screaming in agony as the blaze engulfs them both. Meanwhile, Wendy finds a few clues in the pictures that she captured before the accident. There are pictures that suggest the things that are about to happen and soon Wendy and Kevin find themselves in another freak accident.
They are wedged between cars in a drive-through and a driverless truck rams into their car. They manage to jump out just in time, but Frankie who was just ahead of them in line is decapitated by a loose engine blade upon impact. Kevin and Wendy start to figure out the designs of death and observe the pictures closely. They realize that Lewis is next in line, but the arrogant fellow doesn’t pay attention to their warnings. He dies a horrible death as weights smash into his head while he is working out.
Wendy and Kevin make their way to the hardware store where Erin and Ian work, but they are unable to stop Erin from accidentally getting shot by a nail gun that kills her. Perry is killed next, and Wendy survives a close shave. It seems like Wendy, Kevin, and Julie are the only survivors, but they find themselves on the same train a few months later. Wendy has a premonition about a train accident, but this time it is too late to avoid. The movie ends as they try to get out by pulling the emergency brakes, but it seems like a futile effort!
Another deadly ride worth watching
Second sequels in horror franchises don’t have a great reputation, but “Final Destination 3” is not half as bad as people make it out to be. It recreates the glory of the first sequel, and the grand death scenes are thrilling as ever. The story takes you through the same old formula, and by now the fans know the drill a bit too well. The narrative tends to overtly rely on gore, but the gore-hounds will not be complaining about that.
There is some wonderfully dark humor in the script that you will appreciate and the constant sense of dread is quite enjoyable. It is true that the opening scene is not as grand as the previous two movies, but some of the later sequences more than makeup for the loss. The tanning room scene is one of the most innovative deaths in the movie, and the roller coaster accident in the opening scene will give you a nightmare before your Disney trip! The actors had to take a ride on the roller coaster 26 times to get the scene done, and we wonder how long it took them to walk again!
Does the same idea get tedious? There is no definite answer for this because the opinions will vary. However, it has to be said that despite having the same concept, the thrill of something new keeps the spark alive. The movie doesn’t have fool-proof logic or a concrete plot, the characters have barely been explored, and the special effects are questionable at times. But you have to remember that this is not some genre-defining horror flick, and simply enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. If you don’t mind a deadly ride of teen-horror proportions, get on board and you will not be disappointed.
No mercy. No escape. No limits -The Final Destination (2009)
Spring break is supposed to be a fun time for college students – unless, of course, you are on the list of victims sought after by death! Nick watches a car race in the stands with his girlfriend Lori and two other friends Hunt and Janet. He suddenly has a vision about an accident, where the stadium collapses killing everyone. He starts to panic and it causes a scuffle that forces many to leave the stadium.
Besides Nick and his companions, a truck driver named Carter, Andy and his girlfriend Nadia, a security guard George, and Samantha are the ones to leave. His violent premonition soon becomes a reality, and the group feels like they have cheated death. Just as Nadia starts to blame the group for their actions, she is decapitated by a stray tire from the stadium.
Carter tries to burn a cross on George’s front lawn because he blames George for the death of his girlfriend in the stadium. However, his plan backfires when he ends up setting himself on fire and gets dragged down the street by a tow truck. Samantha dies the same day after her lawnmower shoots a rock in its path straight towards her. Nick and Lori realize that death is completing its unfinished business, but Janet and Hunt refuse to believe them.
Andy faces a horrible death and is diced into pieces after being accidentally thrown into a chain-link fence. Janet and Hunt are next in line, and Hunt dies a horrible death as his intestines are sucked into the pool drain. George tries to kill himself, but his suicide plans fail. Nick has another premonition that helps him save the lives of Lori and Janet, but George soon joins the death party.
After a few weeks Nick, Lori, and Janet start to believe that they have been saved, and they head off to a café to celebrate. However, Nick soon realizes that it was all an elaborate plan to lead them all into one place, and before he can do anything, a truck crashes into the café. Janet is crushed upon impact and Lori is decapitated. Nick is slammed against a wall and dies, proving that death doesn’t like to leave survivors behind!
More of the same thrill in a new cover
You shouldn’t expect something out of the ordinary because the makers have not tried to tamper with the proven formula. This time, they take a new approach for the grand opening accident, and from there onwards it is the same drill. The first accident scene at the McKinley Speedway is inspired by a real-life disaster that took place in 1955. A multi-car collision launched wreckage into a packed grandstand and 84 people were killed in the accident. The scene was well shot and it looked very impressive in 3D.
The director David R. Ellis handles the chaos with enthusiasm, and he cleverly orchestrates the freakish incidents into terrifying death scenes. There are some super bloody sequences, and the violence is not for the faint-hearted. The characters are a bit too bland, and the acting performances don’t really help their cause.
However, you wouldn’t be digging too deep for such critical analysis because the narrative has plenty of suspense to go. We certainly didn’t expect that there would be no survivors this time, and the climax is a clever twist. The CGI is iffy at times, but overall, this movie promises a generous dose of popcorn nonsense that should please the fans who loved the previous movies in the franchise.
Death has never been closer – Final Destination 5 (2011)
Sam is on his way to a company retreat along with his colleagues. Just as their bus is about to cross a bridge, he has a terrifying vision, where they are all killed by the bridge collapsing. Only his ex-girlfriend Molly is the survivor in his premonition because he manages to get her across the bridge safely.
He starts to panic and manages to persuade Molly, his friends Nathan and Peter, his boss Dennis, Peter’s girlfriend Candice, and a couple of co-workers Isaac and Olivia. After the bridge collapses and kills the others, they are caught in a death loop that is desperate to settle the scores! At the memorial service of the deceased, the coroner William Bludworth watches them closely.
Candice is the first victim and she dies after a wrong move causes her to fall off the bars during her gym practice. She snaps her spine and dies instantly. Isaac is the next to follow, and an acupuncture session turns into a session of horror for him when a Buddha statue crushes his head. The coroner takes note of these two deaths and comes up with a unique solution. He suggests the remaining survivors take the life of someone who wasn’t supposed to die in the bridge accident.
This would help them claim the remaining lifespan. However, the advice comes a bit too late as Olivia dies after falling out of a window at an eye clinic. Sam figures out the order and realizes that Nathan is next in line. But during an argument with his coworker Roy, he ends up killing him accidentally. When the others learn about this, they believe that Roy’s remaining lifespan will be awarded to Nathan as a result.
This new discovery sparks a deadly game of survival of the fittest between the survivors. After Dennis dies by getting his face split in half, Peter tries to kill Molly to get her lifespan. However, Sam manages to save her and stabs Peter with a meat spit. There is a nice climactic twist, where we watch Sam and Molly board the fateful Volee Airlines Flight 180! They watch a fight amongst a few passengers that gets some of them removed. By the time Sam hears about the vision that caused the ruckus, it is too late to leave the plane. They both die in an aircraft explosion.
There is another interesting scene, where Nathan finds out that Roy was dying from a brain aneurysm and didn’t have many days to live! He is soon crushed under the landing gear from the crashing plane, and these set off the events of the first four movies.
You either kill or you get killed
“Final Destination 4” is considered to be a bit of a letdown by many, though this movie brings the charm of the series back. For starters, watching the movie in 3D was totally worth it, and the effects are perfectly done to make it a visual delight. Most of the death scenes are shocking and impressive, and the 3D effects really push them over the edge. All the deaths are extremely sadistic and disturbing, and they stay true to their slasher origins.
The destruction of the bridge is a pretty neat opening sequence, and it starts things off in a familiar fashion. This scene terrifies and thrills in equal measures, and it is an accident that not many could have predicted. This movie has the longest opening disaster, and to be fair, many fans watch these films simply for the glamour of the opening sequences. The plot also offers a new take on cheating death, and it is ironic how it still fails to win the battle!
Now, coming to some of the problems with the movie, the dialogues seem to be written by a fourth-grader. There is no real depth in the characters, and besides the 3D carnage, the only thing enjoyable was the return of Tony Todd. He was missing in “Final Destination 4”, and this time he bags a meatier role. To sum things up, this movie takes you back to the roots of what made this franchise special, and it is actually quite a good effort that shows the promise of more movies to come.
How Does Death work In Final Destination?
“Final Destination” movies abide by a definite formula. When the death of a group of people is stalled abruptly, it boils down to their eventual execution through strange coincidences. They are all handed out gruesome deaths, and death finally catches up. However, as new movies came along in the franchise, new rules to cheat death were discovered and debunked. It has usually been shown that death works in a certain order. The victims who cheat death in the first instance die in the same order as they were supposed to die.
This also opens up a slight chance to cheat death, but we will come to that later. The most unthinkable accidents and coincidences are put together to cause these terrible deaths, and there is rarely an escape for the victim. “Final Destination 2” brought another interesting angle in this regard. It suggested that new life would stop death. For instance, if a baby is born to one of the survivors, then the others will be safe because it is a sign of new life. While this theory was not proven, it has been shown that cheating death, or drowning, and being brought back to life can effectively ward off the inevitable.
How to Defeat Death In Final Destination
This is one of the most common questions that fans ask about the franchise. If death is inevitable and it always catches up, is there any way to break the jinx and defeat death? Various movies in the series have come up with interesting ways to cheat death, and some of these are quite thought-provoking. The first movie in the franchise tried to suggest that stalling the order of death of the survivors might be enough to ward off death, but in the end, it turned out to be a failure. However, in “Final Destination 2” it seems to work even though they don’t really give much of an explanation for that.
Another unique method to cheat the Grim Reaper is by taking someone else’s life. This is supposed to be some kind of sacrifice to appease death. It fills up one’s spot in the design, and “Final Destination 5” plays around this concept. The survivors firmly believe that this might be the escape route and they are partially successful as well. When one of the survivors accidentally kills an innocent construction worker, he is saved till the end of the movie.
“Final Destination 3” possibly dropped one of the most bizarre ideas to cheat death. According to one of the survivors, if the last person on the list commits suicide, the others would be free from the fateful design. The only problem with this plan was that the last one obviously didn’t want to kill herself to save the others and we never got to see if it was a bright idea. However, none of the methods to cheat death have been flawless and death sees right through such tricks more often than not. There simply cannot be a fool-proof plan to deceive something like death!
Is There Going To Be Final Destination 6?
“Final Destination” has become a brand over the years, and even the worst movies in the franchise have done decent business. With such popularity, it is not a surprise that the sixth installment in the series has been planned for a long time now. Way back in 2011, Tony Todd had maintained that if “Final Destination 5” was successful, there would be two sequels back-to-back. It was only in 2019 that the sixth movie was announced, and Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick confirmed the same.
He suggested that work on the new movie had begun before the COVID-19 pandemic, but clearly, it got affected and delayed in the process. Reddick is advising the creative team behind the new Final Destination movie, and they are planning to make something unique that will reignite the franchise for the fans. However, don’t hope for major changes because Reddick made it clear that he believes in the theory of not fixing something until it is broken! This movie might not be a pure reboot, but it will probably still retain the same concept. What you can expect is some new innovative death sequences, and the producer of the movie, Craig Perry revealed that they were planning to include the world of first responders this time around.
The protagonists will probably be the likes of EMTs, policemen, and firemen because they deal with death all the time and they are often forced to make choices that cause people to live or die! We would have to wait to find out the final result, and as of now, it seems like the movie will be released sometime in 2022! We are intrigued and we expect nothing less than a showstopper that lives up to the legacy of the guilty pleasure that the franchise has created!