All 5 ‘Final Destination’ Movies, Ranked by Scariness

Though it only has five films to its name, Final Destination is a popular horror franchise that has made viewers and fans overly cautious while being on the road or when in suspiciously dangerous places (looking at you, dentist’s office). While it is not the most talked about franchise, it has definitely inspired and scared fans to the point that it is simply iconic in memory. The problem that Final Destination has though, as a horror film series, is that it is more gruesome and thrilling than it is scary. This is not so much a problem, as it is about death following the lives of those who were saved from their fates. And death is not willing to leave anything alone; it plans to reclaim innocent lives in horrific ways.

Despite it not aiming to be scary, at least not appearing to, Final Destination has proven that when it takes itself seriously, it can be severely frightening in the horror genre. It may not have monsters or creatures hiding in the dark, but what it does have is death lingering over one’s shoulder. It hits closer to home, where scenes that look like accidents are really targeted attacks on innocents. And what makes Final Destination most frightening is the fact that the executions are more common and realistic than expected; it is getting hit by a car or falling off a rollercoaster that scares viewers more than anything else. That is because it can happen to anyone at any point in time. It doesn’t kill to be overly cautious nowadays. With that being said, here’s to the scariest Final Destination films that keep traumatizing generations.

5 ‘Final Destination 5’ (2011)

Directed by Steven Quale

One day during a corporate retreat, Sam Lawton (Nicholas D’Agosto) has a sudden premonition that the North Bay Bridge they are driving on will collapse due to heavy winds. In this premonition, everyone on the bus ends up dying—all except for Sam’s ex-girlfriend, Molly Harper (Emma Bell). After having this premonition, Sam rightfully freaks out, and he drags Molly off the bridge, which in turn, persuades most of everyone else to get off as well. The bridge collapses as predicted, and the remaining survivors are: Nathan Sears (Arlen Escarpeta), Peter Friedkin (Miles Fisher), Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe), Dennis Lapman (David Koechner), Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), and Isaac Palmer (P. J. Byrne). Though Sam and Molly attempt to help save the remaining survivors from their impending demise, they see little to no success whatsoever, until Nathan learns that the survivors can steal another’s lifespan through the means of getting them killed. Peter uses this information to his advantage, and after losing his girlfriend Candice, he becomes incredibly unstable, plotting to kill Molly to steal her lifespan.

Final Destination 5 is undoubtedly one of the weaker films to exist in the franchise. Though it definitely created new scares—death by LASIK surgery and acupuncture, for example—it was a rather inferior film compared to the others. First of all, there are a lot of red herrings in this film; these red herrings do not necessarily elicit a sense of dread. Rather, they just prolong the inevitable, and in turn, while interesting initially, the misdirection of these death scenes only serves as filler in a way.

For example, during Candice’s death scene, when she is performing on the asymmetric bars, there are several misdirections. One, Candice first performs on the beam, where a nail is pointed upward on top of it. Though she comes close to stepping on it several times, Candice avoids the nail miraculously. However, as she performs on the asymmetric bars, another gymnast executing her walk on the beam steps directly onto the nail, causing her to topple over and knock dust into the air, hindering Candice’s view and causing her to slip and break her spine. The other red herrings included the exposed electrical wire and loose handlebars, but none of these served to play a part in Candice’s death.The prolongation of her death only takes away from the impending dread, especially since this is a common occurrence for every other execution throughout the film. It just serves to play tricks on the viewer’s mind, creating an experience that isn’t particularly frightening.

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4 ‘The Final Destination’ (2009)

Directed by David R. Ellis

Nick O’Bannon (Bobby Campo), his girlfriend Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), and his friends Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano) and Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb) go to an auto racing event. As Nick O’Bannon takes his seat, he overhears conversations between other groups of fans attending the event. A few moments later, Nick has a premonition where the race cars crash and debris kills everyone. After snapping out of his premonition, he overhears the same conversations that occurred moments prior to the accident in his premonition, and he freaks out. His sudden panic causes a fight among other fans, and all of them are escorted out of the building. In addition to Nick, Lori, Hunt, and Janet being escorted out, George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson), Carter Daniels (Justin Welborn), Samantha Lane (Krista Allen), Andy Kewzer (Andrew Fiscella), and Nadia Monroy (Stephanie Honoré) are as well. After their removal from the premises, the race track erupts in screams, and debris flies everywhere. Nadia is killed immediately, leaving the other survivors who have their own death timer.

The Final Destination, otherwise known as Final Destination 4, is another film that isn’t particularly scary. Though a much more frightening film than Final Destination 5, the CGI of The Final Destination is horrid; it feels cheesy and incredibly fake compared to the other films, including that of 5. This reduces any chance that The Final Destination has of being scary, as the cheesy films just take away any intimidation or suspense the executions may have.

The cheesy CGI is easily spotted in the opening scene of The Final Destination. Immediately, as debris flies off from a crashed car, a piece of the car flies toward a couple and splits them in half. While interesting in concept, the CGI just doesn’t do it, and the execution looks silly. The fact that The Final Destination was meant to be watched in 3D explains the silliness of these scenes, but that doesn’t change the fact that viewers will find themselves laughing instead of cowering in fear. Although not so scary in concept, what The Final Destination did right was examine other scenarios or plot holes that the first three did not explain. George Lanter, one of the last few survivors, decides to kill himself, but because he is not next on death’s list, he is unable to do so. So while The Final Destination is not the scariest, it was arguably the most innovative since the first.

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3 ‘Final Destination 2’ (2003)

Directed by David R. Ellis

One year after Alex Browning’s premonition, a young college student named Kimberly Corman (A. J. Cook) drives her friends to Daytona Beach, Florida. However, as she waits to turn onto the highway, Kimberly has a premonition of a big highway accident that kills her, her friends, and several others on the highway. After her premonition, she stalls on the highway to protect her friends and those waiting behind her vehicle. However, the state trooper pulls her out of her vehicle and aside, and as they talk about her premonition, the accident takes place. Her car is in line of danger, and she is saved by the state trooper, though her friends end up being killed. Kimberly and state trooper Thomas Burke (Michael Landes) are among the remaining survivors, which include Evan Lewis (David Paetkau), Nora Carpenter (Lynda Boyd), Tim Carpenter (James Kirk), Kat Jennings (Keegan Connor Tracy), Rory Peters (Jonathan Cherry), Isabella Hudson (Justina Machado), and Eugene Dix (T. C. Carson).

A sequel to the original Final Destination, Final Destination 2 follows in its predecessor’s footsteps, though not as successfully. The CGI is not bad, but it’s not the best, and the horror factor relies purely on the realism through the executions.

For example, Final Destination 2 features an opening where a fatal car accident occurs in the highway. While most people don’t attend NASCAR events or pick up gymnastics as a hobby, almost all people have been on a highway before. The highway alone is a frightening transition from the roads in city life, and it’s the fact that speed limits are much higher that makes it that much more terrifying, especially when driving beside larger vehicles at an increased speed.

Again, not as good as Final Destination, Final Destination 2 has successfully instilled a new kind of fear in the generation of fans who grew up on these films. Ask anyone what they remember from Final Destination, and they will likely say the truck carrying the logs on the highway. This has scared a whole generation of people, enough to cause them to be cautious and hesitant around large trucks carrying dangerous items. Thanks again to the most iconic Final Destination film of all, Final Destination 2.

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2 ‘Final Destination’ (2000)

Directed by James Wong

Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) is a high school student who boards a plane heading to Paris for a school trip. As his other classmates board the plane, Alex has a premonition of the plane crashing, but not before taking a glimpse of everyone’s deaths. As things play out according to the premonition, Alex begins to panic, which leads to him fighting with another classmate, Carter Horton (Kerr Smith). The fight then leads to security guards escorting both Carter and Alex off the plane, along with anyone else who was involved in the tussle: Tod Waggner (Chad E. Donella), Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott), and Clear Rivers (Ali Larter). Right as the fighting resumes in the airport, the flight takes off without them, and then seconds later, the plane explodes. After some time, mysterious deaths begin to occur, and Alex and Clear learn that everyone who survived the flight will soon die, and they try to save them.

The first film of the franchise, Final Destination was truly a frightening film for its time. The idea that death would come to reclaim the lives that were saved is a frightening concept for everyone; it proves that fate was inescapable. Not to mention, the executions in the first film were actually believable, as if they could be an everyday occurrence and not outright surprising.

One such example of a believable execution is getting run over by a bus. Terry, Carter’s girlfriend, was tired of the constant fighting between Carter and Alex. As she backed away into the street, she was hit by a speeding bus and killed on impact. Now, unlike other Final Destination films, being killed by accidentally getting hit by a bus is believable and not out of the ordinary.This makes the viewers feel crazy, and the characters in the film almost seem crazy, as if these patterns of death are what they seem to be: accidents. It’s the paranoia and the seriousness that gives Final Destination its serious tone and makes it one of the more frightening Final Destination films. It’s actually taking itself seriously, which can be appreciated, as the later films made it more of a joke and gorefest.

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1 ‘Final Destination 3’ (2006)

Directed by James Wong

Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a high school student, visits an amusement park with her boyfriend and classmates to celebrate their upcoming graduation. While there, she photographs memorable moments between her classmates, and all is fun and games until she gets an eerie feeling while standing in line for a roller coaster. As she boards the ride, she is seated toward the back with Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman), her best friend’s boyfriend, due to seating complications. While sitting on the ride, she has a premonition that the ride will break down, and everyone on the ride will die. She panics as soon as the handlebars are locked in place, and because of her freakout, she and various other classmates are escorted off. However, her boyfriend Jason Wise (Jesse Moss) is left locked in the ride. While she is escorted off, she watches as the rollercoaster flies off the track as predicted, and knowing Jason’s fate, she cries. After this incident, Wendy keeps to herself, avoiding most people and seemingly in a dark place. She is shaken from this trance when Kevin mentions that this same exact scenario has happened with Flight 180, and knowing this, Wendy tries to predict the deaths of the remaining survivors so that she may save them.

Final Destination 3, in terms of scariness, is the most frightening in the franchise. This is due to the atmosphere at the beginning. While the others played off so casually, the opening to Final Destination 3 definitely was building up on a dark, more eerie atmosphere, almost as if something dark were lingering beside Wendy and her classmates the entire time.

This is due to the time and place that this introduction takes place. Viewers are introduced to Wendy and her friends at an amusement park, but as opposed to it being daytime, it is instead nighttime, already giving a sense of foreboding. That, and the bright, blinding lights and claustrophobic feeling caused by the packed nature of the amusement park, all lead to a feeling of dread. Not to mention, when Wendy approaches the rollercoaster, it literally has an entrance with a satanic creature hovering over it, with the name of it being Devil’s Flight. All of this builds up a spine-chilling introduction, and since this entry is still early in the series, the film takes itself rather seriously at times. Combined with the realistic executions, Final Destination 3 has proven to be the scariest of all five films. It keeps the same dark atmosphere throughout the film, and it reminds viewers that death can occur in even the most ordinary place. Unlike the others, Final Destination 3 really knows how to spook its viewers without taking away from its formulaic yet intriguing story.

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KEEP READING:Every ‘Final Destination’ Movie, Ranked