If there’s one major aspect that sets theFinal Destinationfranchise apart from other horror films, it’s how the kills are presented. It’s the invisible hand of death itself that is the villain after all. This isn’t some standard slasher about a guy with a knife, but an unstoppable force that will stop at nothing to kill those who slipped through its grasp. The five films loved to toy with the audience, winding up the tension with each death. Our poor victims are often placed in a scenario where they can die in countless ways, butit’s not until giving us every unnerving red herringthat the Grim Reaper catches up with some cleverly disgusting demise. That has become so popular that theteaser trailer forFinal Destination: Bloodlinesis nothing but a drawn-out death scene. Still, as effective as this approach has been,the best death in the franchise is a jump scare no one saw coming.
The ‘Final Destination’ Films Have Some of Horror’s Most Memorable Deaths
EveryFinal Destinationfilm follows the same plot and fans wouldn’t have it any other way.The inciting incidentshave a group of friends getting on a plane, going to a racetrack, riding a roller coaster, etc., only for one of them to have a vision of impending doom.They escape just before disaster strikes, their lives spared as others die. The Grim Reaper doesn’t like that they managed to wriggle free, so it comes for each survivor, killing them, and setting things right.
Fate comes for these poor souls in a multitude of well-thought-out ways. InFinal Destination 2, after the fake-out of nearly choking to death, all Tim (Jim Kirk) wants to do is chase pigeons, only to get squished by a falling pane of glass. InFinal Destination 3,the death scene of Ms. Lewton(Kristen Cloke) is excruciatingly long, until a series of small moments, like dominoes falling, lead to first a knife impaling her, then her house blowing up.The most disgusting death scene of all goes toFinal Destination 5. We follow Candice (Ellen Wroe) at a gymnastics practice. The film torments us, giving us several possible outcomes to her demise, until she misses the parallel bars she’s practicing on,causing her to fall hard to the floor and break her body in half. If you didn’t cringe when that happened, there’s something wrong with you. Still, as gnarly as that one was, it’s notFinal Destination’s most shocking death.
The Bus Scene in the First ‘Final Destination’ Came Out of Nowhere
In the original 2000 film, directed and co-written byJames Wong,Devon Sawastars as Alex Browning, a high school kid who is supposed to be going on a senior trip to Paris. However, as they board the flight, Alex has a vision of the plane exploding so realistic that he panics, causing him and several others to get kicked off the plane. Everyone else is upset with him until they watch in horror from the airport as the plane blows up overhead, killing everyone on board.The rest ofFinal Destinationis all about death coming for those that got away as they try to find a way to escape their fate.
This Is the Most Traumatizing Death in the Final Destination Franchise
This death may not be the goriest but it’s definitely the saddest.
The most memorable death by far goes to Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer). Death has already come for their friend Tod (Chad Donella), with several fake-out moments in his bathroom until he is hung in the shower in a freak accident.After a mortician (Tony Todd) explains how death is tracking downthose that escaped it, Alex and Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) talk about death omens at an outdoor café. Is Alex seeing one when he spots the reflection of a bus in a window that’s not there? A minute later, the other survivors show up and get into an argument. Terry tries to get everyone to stop fighting. She tells them she’s moving on with her life as she backs away into the street.It’s then that a city bus plows into Terry, killing her instantly.
Director James Wong Watched Moviegoers Jump at the Bus Death
Terry’s death isn’t a gory one. Outside some blood being splattered on her friends, there’s not much to it at all.It’s not the blood and guts that make it so effective, but how it comes out of nowhere. Tod’s death started a formula that the franchise would follow, showing us who would die, then slowly winding up the suspense. However, with Terry, she’s there one second, then gone the next in one of horror’s best jump scares. It works so well because it’s not like the rest.
In an interview with Yahoo,James Wong said the scene was done without any visual effects. They simply filled up a dummy with fake blood and guts, “And then we ran a bus through it. And then the dummy exploded.” Wong and his crew also went to movie theaters whenFinal Destinationwas released to watch audience reactions. They would see ushers coming down to the front of the theater at a certain point during the runtime. Why? “They’re waiting to see the audience reaction to the bus set because people like — popcorn is flying,” Wong explained. So many otherFinal Destinationdeaths have been bloodier and more suspenseful, but none had the visceral reaction of the bus scene. There’s a reason why so many movies have copied it in the quarter-century since.
Final Destination
