It’s kind of comforting that the plot of every “Final Destination” movie is pretty much the same: Someone has a vivid, ultra-realistic vision of a horrific disaster occurring at their specific location (an airplane, a freeway, a bridge, etc.), then is able to warn a group of people who escape the disaster, which occurs just as the person had envisioned it. Afterward, the survivors start dying in horrific, improbably elaborate accidents.
There’s no traditional villain along the lines of Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees. Instead, death itself is a sort of elemental force, bending the world to its will so it can take out the people who were meant to die in the initial accident. Within that framework, the films present clever, gruesome horror stories.
With the new “Final Destination Bloodlines” now in theaters, here’s my ranking of one of my favorite horror franchises, which is remarkably consistent across almost every film.
6. ‘The Final Destination’
The definitive article in the title of this fourth entry may be meant to give it some added significance, but instead it marks a franchise low point, with annoying, unlikeable characters and underwhelming kill scenes.
Director David R. Ellis returns from the second movie, but he relies far too heavily on janky CGI over the practical effects that made his earlier franchise effort so effective. The opening disaster, a racetrack accident that spills over into the stands, is the weakest of the series as well.
The characters targeted by death include an aggressive racist and a sleazy womanizer, but even the less reprehensible characters are mostly irritating. There are lengthy fakeouts that diminish the impact of the initial vision, and the actual death scenes lack creativity. More than any other “Final Destination” movie, this one feels like it’s just going through the motions.
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5. ‘Final Destination 5’
The fifth film is a substantial improvement over the fourth, although it still suffers from some questionable special effects. The opening disaster feels epic, with an entire bridge collapsing as dozens of people fall to their deaths. Obviously, a handful of main characters make it off the bridge, all employees of a paper company headed to a corporate retreat.
As in the fourth movie, there are a couple of loathsome characters, but the filmmakers find amusing ways to kill them off without becoming a distraction.
Recurring co-star Tony Todd makes a welcome return after not appearing onscreen in the third or fourth movies, and his creepy coroner takes a more active role in the story, popping up multiple times to warn the characters about their impending doom.
The fun twist ending brings the franchise full circle, although of course it’s never actually over.
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4. ‘Final Destination’
While it establishes the template for the series, the first movie is slightly subdued compared to subsequent entries.
“Subdued” is a relative term for a “Final Destination” movie, though, and there are still plenty of ridiculously elaborate deaths, although director James Wong spends a bit more time on character development and exposition. That allows for greater audience investment, and Devon Sawa and Ali Larter bring some genuine emotion to their roles.
Tony Todd makes his first appearance as the coroner with an understanding of death’s design, and the rules that Wong and his co-writers come up with have continued to carry the franchise.
Both Wong and co-writer Glen Morgan are veterans of “The X-Files,” and this movie has the spooky campfire-story feel of a vintage “X-Files” episode. It’s less outlandish, but still engaging.
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3. ‘Final Destination Bloodlines’
After a 14-year break, the sixth movie reinvigorates the franchise by expanding on the mythology and taking the concept to its extreme logical endpoint. If death itself comes after people who escaped their intended demise, then what happens if those people live long enough to reproduce?
Thanks to a resourceful grandmother who has eluded death’s grip for decades, college student Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) and her family are all living on borrowed time.
The opening disaster at a Space Needle-like attraction is impressively detailed, and the filmmakers make an admirable effort to bring some thematic depth to the story. That slows things down too much between kills, though, even if the eventual payoffs are entertainingly gnarly.
The most affecting moment comes from Tony Todd in his final onscreen role, giving his minor but pivotal character a worthy send-off.
Now in theaters
2. ‘Final Destination 3’
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is by far the best actor across the entire franchise, and she elevates this installment by bringing urgency and vulnerability to her role as the now-standard prophet of doom.
James Wong returns as director, and he doesn’t scale back the intricate death traps, including the opening scene of a rollercoaster derailment. Wong understands how to work within the formula to give viewers what they expect, but he also gives the characters their own unique approach to their predicament.
Winstead’s Wendy Christensen becomes fixated on controlling a situation that is beyond her control, and of course, the more she thinks she can cheat death’s plan, the worse off she and her friends become. That grounded anguish balances out the over-the-top elements, including one of the series’ most notorious moments, a match cut from a pair of tanning beds to a pair of coffins.
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1. ‘Final Destination 2’
Even people who've never seen a “Final Destination” movie are probably familiar with the opening set piece from this movie, which is the best stunt in the entire series and one of the best movie stunts of all time.
David R. Ellis had a long career as a stunt coordinator before moving into directing, and he puts that experience to use right away, in the multi-car highway pile-up that begins with an out-of-control logging truck.
In addition to making an entire generation of viewers terrified of driving behind logging trucks, “Final Destination 2” expands on the format of the first movie, bringing back both Ali Larter and Tony Todd to advise a new group of potential victims as death starts picking them off following the highway crash. It’s the most entertaining variation on the franchise’s central narrative.
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