Talk about a dead reckoning. For 25 years now, the Final Destination franchise has been dealing out elaborate demises with maximum splatter – depicting some of the greatest disaster sequences in cinema history, before teeing up playful Rube Goldberg-style kills for the seemingly lucky survivors. And capital-‘d’ Death isn’t done yet – the series has returned with Final Destination Bloodlines, dishing up a fresh batch of murderous mayhem. So what better time to look over the gore-strewn entrails of one of the most entertaining horror series around, and see which comes in at the top of the pile-up?
6) The Final Destination (2009)
As its definite-article title suggests, this fourth entry was intended as a grand finale – except, it’s the only real dud in the series, fumbling the bag to the extent that a fifth instalment was confirmed soon after. There are many reasons why it doesn’t hit – for one, it was produced at the peak of ‘00s 3D, and is rife with weirdly-constructed shots to aid that process. Fun as it might have been on the big screen, at home it simply looks bad. The opening slaughter – a race car crash – is less satisfying, and less broadly relatable, than any of the other films, and the death sequences are largely unmemorable with too much CGI. Even a pool-based disembowelling (remarkably similar to Chuck Palahniuk’s short story Guts) doesn’t impact like it should. Still, the cinema-set finale is fun, and it zips by at barely 80 minutes.
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5) Final Destination 5 (2011)
It might be low down this list, but Final Destination 5 marked a return to form for the series – not as iconic as the earlier films, but boasting gnarly and memorable kills. The premonition here – a super-sized blockbuster bridge-breaking sequence – isn’t the series’ best, nor are the characters memorable in the slightest, but Death’s revenge in its wake packs extra punch. There’s that glorious extended gynmastics sequence (don’t land on the nail!), the wince-worthy trip to a massage parlour (acupuncture needles through the chest!), and a cornea-sizzling laser eye surgery scene, all ranking among the best across the saga. Thrilling, too, is that final twist (SPOILER WARNING!) – that this has been a prequel all along, and our seeming survivors end up as passengers on Flight 180 in the original film. Brace positions!
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4) Final Destination 3 (2006)
If the second film really set the tone for what Final Destination could be, part three dialled it all up. More colourful, gorier, nastier; it’s a real thrill-ride entry. Which is fitting, since its opening set piece is a rollercoaster ride gone wrong – a top idea, tapping into an obvious fear, rendered slightly muddy in its CGI execution. Still, this one features many of the series’ most memorable deaths – the excruciating tanning bed mishap, the B&Q nightmare nail gun scene, and the head-crushing gym machine accident among them. It gets slightly too convoluted, though, in Wendy’s (a young Mary Elizabeth Winstead) quest to solve the murder-puzzle via a series of photos, complicating the mythology somewhat. And that closing-reel NYC crash makes for a bit of a downer ending after a handful of hopefuls thought they’d truly escaped. Not quite series-best, but ultra-rewatchable.
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3) Final Destination Bloodlines (2025)
Boom! Straight in at #3 is this comeback from the saga, nearly 15 years after Final Destination 5. If some FD movies are barely-stitched-together kill-fests, Bloodlines is an actual movie, with actual characters – and more of a plot, too, as it finds new twists on the formula. The 1960s aerial restaurant implosion is one of the best premonitions in the franchise’s history – experienced not by its attendee Iris, but her granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) two familial generations later, as Death starts hunting down Iris’ entire family line. Bloodlines delivers fun twists with that set-up, good deaths (the MRI machine is an all-timer; the glass-shard barbecue is more thrilling in build-up than its final moment), and plenty of easter eggs nodding to the rest of the series – as well as a touching farewell for Tony Todd’s recurring William Bludworth. FD is back, back, back!
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2) Final Destination (2000)
Right from the very beginning, the core idea of Final Destination is strong – originally devised as a possible X-Files episode, but clearly capable of anchoring an entire movie (and six-film franchise). For those with a fear of flying, the initial plane crash sequence is real nightmare-fuel, and what follows set the template for how FD would dish up death going forward. There are quick ones (watch that bus!), unexpected ones (the train-induced decapitation), and drawn-out ones (the poor teacher, eventually stabbed by falling knives in her kitchen). Future films would prove more playful with the kill scenes, but Final Destination is confident in the conceit from the beginning, and lingers longer with its characters before slicing them down. 25 years later, it still holds up.
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1) Final Destination 2 (2003)
Yes, the one with the logs. It had to be. Final Destination 2 has – hands down – the best opening disaster; one that means you can never drive near a logging truck without thinking of that horrific crash scene. It injects an extra dose of glee to the more serious aspects of the original. And it has great deaths – the glass-pane splatter, the bisecting fence, the airbag inflation – all topped off with a laugh-out-loud ending. Sure, the characters are paper-thin archetypes, but the breeziness with which they’re dispatched makes for pure entertainment. It’s everything a sequel should be – a souped-up second chapter that escalates the formula (new life might reset Death’s plan!), refines the tone, and delivers more mayhem. If you load up just one Final Destination film, get yourself on the ‘Highway To Hell’.
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