It’s been more than a decade since Final Destination 5 (2011) came out. Adding to the sludge of fatal pile-ons, explosions, beheadings and jump scares, the sixth instalment in the horror series, Final Destination Bloodlines, arrives in IMAX and other special formats on the 16th as part of Cineworld's slate of May movie releases.
What better time than now, then, to take a trip down memory lane and put a knife in all the most iconic, bloody scenes that came before?
1. The first Final Destination movie set the precedent for the series' premonition scenes
It’s inevitable that we mention at least one premonition scene in the Final Destination series, considering it sets the tone for the franchise’s winning formula. Maybe it’s a cop-out, but in this instance we think the best one can only ever go to the original.
Back in 2000 when the first film came out, it was unexpected, both the onslaught of gory destruction and the fact, for a short-lived moment, we could kid ourselves into thinking it wouldn’t actually happen. As the event itself actually unfolds, though, you better believe the likes of Devon Sawa as Alex Browning and the rest of his classmates gave the performance of their lives, witnessing as Alex is wrenched from the lethal grips of the plane cabin, trying to warn everyone they’re about to die, only to watch, from the terminal, as his vision plays out and sends the remaining passengers up in flames.
2. The Final Destination didn’t need vampires to introduce stakes
With each new addition to the franchise, the Final Destination movies really came into their own as a series of slashers with countless depictions of untimely, and at times absurdly comical, deaths. The special effects got better, our ability to both flinch and snort simultaneously more impressive still.
The Final Destination (2009) managed one such conflicting reaction. Taking place at a racing track, a sharp tool on the course sees a car veering off and sending debris into the stands. Fiery alloys slice a couple straight through their middle, while a car’s engine defies gravity to crush one woman caught in the stampede.
Unexpected – and incredibly revolting – is the way in which the wooden stands collapse beneath the frantic footfall, turning into the kinds of pointed stakes. Oh yeah, and people subsequently manage to get impaled by them. Through the mouth if you’re Andrew Fiscella’s character, Andy Kewzer.
3. The Final Destination 5 plot twist was scream-worthy
For anyone who's dedicated their time to a franchise, there's nothing like little Easter eggs to feel like all that time sitting on your backside watching these movies was worth it. Final Destination 5 (2011) gives us just that, making for an incredibly iconic scene.
Sam and Emma survive the crumbling bridge and the rest, boarding a plane at the end of the film. The destination? Well, it’s Paris, but it’s also death. Why? Because the flight number is the very same as the original Final Destination movie Alex clawed his way off of. On Flight 180, Molly is sliced in half by the plane’s wing, while Sam is burned alive as the aircraft explodes.
4. Tony Todd’s best line overall in the Final Destination franchise
We can’t talk about Final Destination without talking about Tony Todd, who will make a posthumous appearance in Final Destination Bloodlines. While he didn’t appear in the fourth movie, he has starred in every other film in the franchise in some capacity, and delivered some of the more thought-provoking lines (take that with a pinch of salt).
While the cat and mouse analogy used in the first film is pretty great, let’s give some praise to Final Destination 2 (2003), in which an exasperated Clear Rivers asks Bludworth how to cheat death, only to be met with his wistful ruminations on the matter. As he rips a nipple piercing from the corpse of Evan Lewis, he says, “People are always most alive just before they die. Don’t you think?” before plunging Evan’s body into the incinerator.
5. Candice’s death in Final Destination 5 is scary because it could happen (maybe)
Sometimes, the scariest depictions of death are those that feel the most likely. Yes, the Final Destination movies find their charm in being a bit convoluted and ridiculous, but some of the death scenes are more spine-chilling and effective when they're a little more realistic. Playing into everyday irrational fears like lifts and flying is a perfect gateway to tapping into that sense of dread.
You know what else is scary? Sports. And Candice’s death in Final Destination 5 (2011) leaves a particularly visceral mental image in its wake. A gymnast that defies many forces working against her, the scene in question lulls you into a false sense of knowing what is about to happen, only to pull the rug out from under you. A screw on the balance beam, a faulty wire next to a spillage of water… But no, the thing that actually sees Candice volt to her death is another fellow gymnast stepping on said screw and sending a bowl of chalk flying, blinding Candice so she falls funny and, body flailed in half, breaks her spine.
6. Final Destination 3 single-handedly stopped us ever using sunbeds
Speaking of true-to-life dangers, how about them sunbeds? In between death and destruction, Ashley and Ashlyn decide they can’t be taken out without looking suitably sun-kissed in the third movie.
They head to the tanning salon where, of course, the sunbeds begin to malfunction, the temperature increasing, shelving above collapsing with a piece of wood fall just so so neither can open and escape from being fried alive. That’s one way to discourage the use of sunbeds.
7. Sometimes a simple jump scare will suffice
Our expectation from a Final Destination film is for there to be some pretty drawn-out deaths that are far-fetched, but also disturbingly entertaining. However, sometimes getting ploughed down by a bus is just as effective. This happens early on in the franchise in the original 2000 movie.
As the survivors argue towards the end of the film, you’d think after spending nearly an hour and a half on screen trying to outrun death, you wouldn’t be so foolish as to cross the road without looking both ways, let alone have your back to it. But that's Terry’s downfall, hit by a bus à la Regina George in Mean Girls (2004), but with far more blood spatters.
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