Death's Design: A Final Destination Franchise Autopsy
- Viktoria
- Aug 18
- 8 min read
Today's review is going to be a bit different. Final Destination is one of the franchises that shaped modern horror. It started with a formula 26 years ago, and it didn't change until Bloodlines. Some would say they are extremely repetitive, yet somehow, they are still considered cult films. Is that because of the level of gore, dark humor, and the generational trauma it caused? Or maybe it runs deeper than that?
Let's dive into this bloody mess and find out.
Final Destination
Jeffrey Reddick read about an airline passenger who gave up their seat, thereby avoiding a fatal accident. This gave Reddick the idea for an X-Files episode. I think we can all agree we're lucky it didn't work out the way he intended, because this way we got to have 6 movies that are more or less the same. What a joy.
The first movie in the franchise follows a group of teenagers who, thanks to Alex's (played by Devon Sawa) premonition, manage to get out of the plane before it takes off and explodes. At first, this might seem like divine intervention, but soon we learn that some curses come wrapped up as a present.
See, this movie doesn't have a visible monster. It has one that's invisible and very real, therefore very scary. After they miraculously survive the explosion, Death decides to go after them one by one. First it's Tod (played by Chad Donella), then Terry (played by Amanda Detmer). A pattern is starting to form, and it doesn't take Alex long to realize what's happening. Death is coming for them in the exact order they were meant to die on the plane.
Destiny is a frequent motif in literature, songs, and even movies. Everyone is trying to avoid it, fulfill it, or find it. Humankind is wired to control everything; it's a side effect of how we evolved. Our ancestors lived in a very harsh world, so their only way to survive was to solve the problems and adapt. This then turned into a deep wish to control life. This is the topic the movie dives into: the wish, and inevitable failure, to control something uncontrollable. You can't stop Death; you can only delay it.
Play your hunch, Alex. If you think you can get away with it. But remember: the risk of cheating the plan, of disrespecting the design, could incite a fury that could terrorize even the Grim Reaper. And you don't even wanna fuck with that Mack Daddy!
–Bludworth's (played by Tony Todd) advice and warning to Alex.
Final Destination 2 - 5
The next four movies play with the same idea, but we slowly realize that there's a way out. In the second movie, we get a very important piece of information. You can cheat Death, but it's not easy. Bludworth says only new life can defeat Death. He's pretty stingy with the details, but he explains that there's a balance to everything, and that the life that wasn't meant to be can give them a fresh start. In the end, it's revealed that the person who dies and comes back to life can reset Death's design, and the remaining people from its list get a new start. Somehow, this knowledge is lost until the last movie. How or why, I have no idea. The survivors from the other movies can gather information on the freak accidents and the inevitable deaths of the survivors, but the fact that there are two survivors and a solution escapes their attention. But movies don't always have to be logical to be entertaining. The Final Destination franchise is living proof of that.
Let's move on to the second solution that's mentioned in Final Destination 5. Once the survivors start dropping, Bludworth shows up again, but this time he has a completely different answer.
You were supposed to die on that bridge. You're not supposed to be here. You shorted death. So you let death have somebody else in your place, and you take their spot in the realm of the living. All the days and years that they have yet to live. And they take your place in death. Then the books are balanced.
–Bludworth on cheating Death
In short, a person must kill someone, and they will get the time the deceased would've had. The one rule is that the person they kill can't be one from the list. Now, as we find out at the end of Final Destination 5, the plot is set to end with the start of the first movie. This mind-bending full-circle moment definitely deserves an award, because I did not see it coming. BUT. This means that Bludworth had all the answers all along, yet he refused to give them to the ones who needed them most.
After my 3-day FD marathon, I keep circling back to the same questions. Why didn't he help them? Why didn't he explain? Why was he so cryptic? Why was he so loyal to Death?
And then I watched Bloodlines.
Final Destination: Bloodlines
As I wrote earlier, the franchise is pretty repetitive up until Bloodlines. This is where the story shifts. Suddenly, we get someone who's having another person's premonition. How? Well, Stefani (played by Kaitlyn Santa Juana) keeps having these recurring nightmares about a young woman named Iris (played by Brec Bassinger) who falls to her death in a tragic skyscraper accident. After two months of sleep deprivation, she decides to look into her grandmother (played by Gabrielle Rose), who shares her name with the woman from her nightmares. As it turns out, they are the same person.
Iris had a premonition of the skyscraper collapsing and prevented it right there and then. She saved countless lives that day, not knowing what it would mean in the long run. As a direct consequence of her actions, families grew. Women gave birth to children who were never supposed to be born in the first place. It started a butterfly effect of great magnitude. It took Death decades to clean up this "mess", and once it was nearing the end, Stefani started having her premonition nightmares.
Through all those decades, Iris was hiding away in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. She was studying all the patterns, Death's traps, and everything else she could get her hands on. She learned everything she could so she would be able to fend off Death. And that, to me, is completely illogical. She wasn't the first one to come to the conclusion that the patterns can be studied. How is she the only one who managed to put together intricate case studies on the matter? Why didn't she reach out to any of the survivors in the previous movies to share her knowledge and help them out? We know she was in contact with Bludworth, who was in contact with the kids who asked him for help. He would always answer that Death doesn't appreciate being meddled with. All those cryptic things he said while being a survivor himself AND having direct access to someone who could actually help those kids. It's infuriating.
One could argue that Bludworth was scared to interfere because he knew the consequences. Let's look at what happened to Erik (played by Richard Harmon) when he tried to help his brother cheat Death. He died one of the most gruesome deaths in the franchise because he didn't listen to Bludworth. In Death's eyes, he was just collateral damage. I bet Bludworth knew of cases like this, so he didn't want to rock the boat. Nevertheless, that still raises the question. Does giving someone the right directions still count as meddling with Death? Would that make his death that much more gruesome? That's yet to be seen, because yes, another sequel's been announced.
Final Destination 7
Rejoice, because Final Destination continues. On August 8th, 2025, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema announced that the franchise is getting a new installment. What we know so far is that Lori Evans Taylor is returning as the writer, and Michiel Blanchart has been confirmed as the director. The cast and plotline haven't been confirmed yet, but let's theorize a bit about possibilities.
My first thought was that it would be interesting to see a movie about Bludworth. A prequel from his point of view would've been cool, but considering the unfortunate fact that Tony Todd passed away on November 6th, 2024, I don't think they are going to go in that direction.
Another possibility could be a sinking ship. Because they've already done a plane crash and we've seen incidents involving cars in two separate movies, I think it's time to explore the possibility of a ship that's going to sink and, of course, thanks to a premonition, a bunch of people are saved. It could be a nice callback to the original movie with some modern twists.
Another option would be a water park. Since the plot of Final Destination 3 was set on a roller coaster, we could theorize that the writers could circle back to that idea and put a twist on it. They already touched on a similar topic in Final Destination 4, when Hunt got sucked into the pipes in the pool. It would be a bit repetitive, but considering the whole franchise consists of the same story told from different perspectives, that's a very possible option.
Now, this is purely my personal wish. Considering that they took a bit of a different direction with Bloodlines, they may continue in that direction. What I'd like to see is a person who's not on Death's list have a premonition about, perhaps, someone they care about. The movie would then dive into this anomaly and the person trying to save their loved one(s). It would be a fresh take on a cult classic that could give it momentum. Considering how repetitive the previous movies are, I think it's necessary to move at least a bit away from the "good old formula" and try something different for a change.
Final Thoughts
The franchise has been the same for too long. Back in the day, when the first movie came out, it was riding high on the success of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The movie was definitely different and entertaining, but the fact that teen-focused horror was on the rise definitely helped.
There's something so unmistakably 2000s about these movies. They are nostalgic, and even though they are repetitive and full of plot holes, they are still extremely entertaining. And I think that's the essence of horror. You sit down and watch something entertaining that has some dark twists, which will pull your attention away from whatever's happening in your life at the moment. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be accurate. It just needs to be entertaining, and with all its gore and dark humor, Final Destination does exactly that. So even though I hope the new installment brings some fresh ideas, I also hope it keeps its nostalgic vibe and entertainment value.
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