In the late ’90s and early 2000s, horror was going through a time of change.The post-Screamslasher era was over, and the genre needed something new. EnterFinal Destination. That first 2000 film, starringDevon Sawa, felt like a slasher formula, with a teen cast of different tropes (the jock, the mean girl, the nice guy, the final girl or boy) and a killer on the loose. However,Final Destination(and the many sequels it spawned) completely twisted the slasher premise. Instead of a man in a mask being the villain, it’s death itself which our heroes are fleeing from. The films also had the gross-out gore seen in the burgeoning “torture porn” subgenrebut without all the doom and gloom.Final Destinationwas literally about life and death, but you could have fun with it too.Final Destination: Bloodlines, whichcomes out in May, is sure to continue the trend, but the five movies before — which are now all streaming on Max — showed us how to do it.
The ‘Final Destination’ Films Have Horror’s Most Unique Villains
One of the most overused tropes of horror is the killer. If you’re a slasher fan, it’s almost alwaysthe usual silent guy in a mask, fromHalloweenandFriday the 13thtoThanksgivingand the newHeart Eyes. That can be fun, but it’s also overdone. In more supernatural films, such asInsidiousorTalk to Me, the big bad becomes something more sinister and harder to comprehend.
What makes theFinal Destinationfilms work is that they are a combination of both. It follows the beats of a slasher, with an inciting incident, supporting characters killed off, and one or two leads left standing to fight back in the third act, butwe don’t see the face of our killer, because our villain isn’t human but death itself. In horror, less is more.Not seeing the shark inJawsand never seeing the witch inThe Blair Witch Projectis terrifying. That’s what madeFinal Destinationso scary as well. You can never see the villain coming. It’s an invisible force we know is coming for us, but we don’t have the psychical form to tell us when — or how.
The Shocking Deaths Are at the Center of ‘Final Destination’
We’re all afraid of death more than any made-up boogeyman. In theFinal Destinationfilms, we are put in the shoes of the characters and made to stare down death through their eyes. Instead of being super dark though,Final Destinationis countered by its over-the-top kills. Unlike a slasher, where the deaths seemingly come out of nowhereand jump scares are prevalent, we — but not the victims — can feel the increasing tension with each death inFinal Destination. This isn’t going to be something simple, but an elaborate work of gory art.
You Probably Didn’t Notice That ‘Final Destination’ Movies Are Stuffed With Classic Horror Easter Eggs
Even the most observant horror fan might miss this.
The fiveFinal Destinationfilms are nothing but brutality.Every single character who escapes death in the opening scene is doomed. That might be predictable, but it’s countered by the suspense of their final moments. Take, for example, the death of Tod (Chad Donella) in the first movie. His last minutes in the bathroom are the winding of a jack-in-the-box. We see water leaking on the floor, he cuts himself shaving, tick, tick, and after we think we’ve guessed how he’ll die, the scene waits a bit longer, and BAM! This was done best inFinal Destination 5withthe extremely gory death of Candice (Ellen Wroe), a gymnast doing her routine.
The movie gives us so many possible scenarios (watch out for that loose screw!) so that when her death — one of the most gruesome in the franchise — does happen, we have been driven to the edge of our seats by the torturous build-up. Andseeing how the movies will come up with these deaths is a huge part of the draw.Thanks to this franchise, things like tanning beds,log trucks, rollercoasters, gymnastics uneven bars, and school trips are now synonymous with bloody death.
‘Final Destination’s Formula Creates The Ideal Scares
If you’ve never seen the Final Destination movies, this description might not sound so appealing. A synopsis of any of the movies reads asmore depressing thanA Serbian Film, but rather than throwing us into a pit of despair, Final Destination is actually a lot of fun. This is because the deaths are made to be so over-the-top, and offset by the gloss of Hollywood, that, right after we cringe, we laugh to release the tension.We literally laugh in the face of death as a way of accepting it. That’s simple, effective, easy-to-chew horror.
Every singleFinal Destinationhas the same process. It’s a simple formula that doesn’t need to be overthought with wild subplots and world-building. It’s the ideal horror. It’s terrifying, it’s safe, but it still stays with us after the credits are over. The quality never truly dips either.The most shocking, gut-wrenching moment in the whole franchisecomes at the very end ofFinal Destination 5. The filmmakers are certainly not phoning it in. That’s exactly why the next movie will be a big hit too. The trailer forFinal Destination: Bloodlines, which splatters into theaters on May 16,promises more buckets of blood, more death, and audiences will continue to love it.
