The Final Destination series is one of the most fun and entertaining horror franchises out there. The first film was released back in 2000 and since then, the series has grown to spawn four sequels (most of which are good) and a devoted fanbase. Each film focuses on a different group of people being stalked by Death after they have narrowly managed to avoid certain doom in some sort of horrific accident. The series is massively fun – always delivering a thrilling experience, while never taking itself too seriously.
Taking a page from the slasher genre and using it to write its own rules, the series employs an ever-present, yet somewhat unconventional boogeyman – Death itself. Though never actually personified, Death is a presence throughout each of these stories, stalking around, silent and unseen by all. It influences the scene and the characters’ surroundings to build elaborate traps to ensnare its unsuspecting victims. The basis for the series revolves around Death having a very specific plan – a design. Everyone has their own appointed time to die, and if circumstances cause that plan to go awry, Death must correct the mistake.
Each film focuses on a group of people who manage to elude their own deaths as a part of a major catastrophe, only to find themselves targeted by the mysterious reaper in the weeks following the event. They are hunted down one by one and eventually succumb to a fate they thought they had avoided. Death is a tricky hunter though, and it lays traps that are not easily avoided. Red herrings, complex setups and out of nowhere turns surprise the victims in their final moments. It is these sequences that make the films such a blast to watch. As it happens, Death can be massively entertaining when it designs an elaborate mousetrap around its victims when they think they are the least vulnerable.
But as much fun as the series is, it also works on a more somber level. More than other horror franchises, there is a truth at the center of it. And that is that death is inevitable. That every single one of us will die. The characters in these films seek to escape their deaths, but really, the only victory that can be achieved is putting them off. The punchline of these films is that when you least expect it, Death will circle back around and cross you off of its list once and for all. But even if these characters were to succeed in their quest and Death were to bow and admit defeat, it would be a temporary victory. Death will always return eventually. Even if you don’t mess with death’s design, it will come for you one day. It is a certainty.
As Tony Todd’s recurring character Bludworth notes in the first entry, “In death, there are no accidents. No coincidences, no mishaps…and no escapes. What you have to realize is that we’re all just a mouse that a cat has by the tail.”
We talk a lot about how horror films allow the audience to examine and accept our own mortality in a safe environment. By seeing the deaths of characters acted out onscreen from the comfort of a theater chair or our own couch, we are able to process the fact that as mortal beings, we will one day die. The Final Destination series is perhaps the most direct application of this theory. One way or another, be it today, next month or 50 years from now, we will have to face Death. Granted, we might not all be accidentally stabbed when a knife falls from the butcher block underneath the towel we were trying to grab to stop the bleeding from a glass shard embedded in our neck when the vodka we were drinking caused our computer monitor to explode and start a fire, but we will, at some point in time, bite it. Plain and simple. Death will come for every one of us.
That inevitability is part of what makes this series so enjoyable, in a way. If death is a certainty and is ultimately unavoidable, then we are allowed to have a bit of fun with the concept. And the Final Destination films embrace that sense of fun head-on. The kill sequences are fantastic, always beginning with a slow build of suspense as Death lays its elaborate traps and then springs them in the craziest way possible. The onscreen deaths range from clever and complex to borderline ridiculous. Tanning beds, trains, weights, elevators, nail guns and lasers (among other things) are all implements of destruction at one time or another. Death has a rather twisted sense of humor, and it is clear that it enjoys its work almost as much as we do. Ultimately, this all serves not only as a means to entertain, but to keep things from getting too heavy and allow us to pull back a bit and simply enjoy ourselves in the knowledge of our own mortality.
