By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Horror has been the most reliable genre in Hollywood for decades, but while every year low-budget films are able to explode and become blockbusters on a regular basis, horror franchises lack the same sort of reliability. Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and the more modern franchises Scream, Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and the Conjuring all have gone through ups and downs in quality. That’s why Final Destination stands out among the crowded genre; it’s consistently good from the first movie to the fifth, and that’s why every single film in the series has ranked on Max’s Top 10 in the last week.
Final Destination Plays By The Rules
The original Final Destination in 2000 was a breath of fresh air for horror fans, ditching the invincible slasher stalking high school students for Rube Goldberg machines of death turned every scene into a fun guessing game. Rules that the franchise still follows to this day were established early on, from the premonition that shows how everyone is supposed to die to Death pursuing the survivors of the initial accident in the order they were meant to die, and finally, if you kill someone, you get the years they would live added onto your life. Every good horror movie establishes rules for its world, though few end up following them.
It’s not just the familiar story beats that are always respected, though often twisted, that make Final Destination such a successful franchise; it’s the creative deaths and, often, characters you want to see die. The centerpiece disaster at the start of each film, the exploding plane of the first film, a highway accident in the sequel, a rollercoaster, a race track, and a bridge collapse set the tone for the film and establish the cast of characters, but it’s the smaller accidents that are truly disturbing. Even the weakest of the group, Final Destination 4 includes elaborate Rube Goldberg death scenarios, one of which involves a hair salon that you will not see coming.
Every Movie Is Someone’s Favorite
The closest comparison to Final Destination is Saw, but the signature traps of Jigsaw pale in comparison to the creativity and terror of daily activities turning deadly. Saw may also have more movies, more traps, more deaths, and significantly more gore, but it’s also a series with only four good movies, and even that is debatable. A key difference between the two is that Jigsaw is a serial killer with a twisted sense of justice, while Death comes for anyone at any time.
Death is part of life and something that everyone has to contend with at some point, which is why Final Destination has stood the test of time despite going over a decade without a new entry. It’s given fans plenty of time to debate which movie is the best, with Final Destination 3 winning most of those debates, while Final Destination 5’s gymnastic scene is considered the best death. Every film in the series, and every death, could be someone’s favorite.
All five films turned a profit at the box office as well, and though it’s considered a weak entry today, Final Destination 4, the 3D movie, is the top-grossing film in the franchise, boosted by the premium price of a 3D ticket. In a rare twist for a horror franchise, Final Destination 5 earned $157 million in theaters, making it the second most successful film of the series eleven years after it all started. A sixth film, Final Destination: Bloodlines, is finally coming to theaters on May 16, and it will include Tony Todd’s final appearance in his most iconic role, the creepy funeral director, Bludworth, who, in his distinctive baritone, always warns the survivors that they are all going to die.
You can stream every Final Destination film on Max.
