‘Final Destination 5’ Closed the Loop on Death’s Cycle with a Shocking Twist

The success of The Final Destination at the box office not only meant an inevitable sequel, despite its more maligned reception, but also that it would feature 3D. While that instilled an expectation for the weakest entry yet, Final Destination 5 wound up one of the strongest.

Director Steven Quale (Into the Storm) and writer Eric Heisserer (Bird Box, Arrival), newcomers to the franchise, maintain the formula and standard for unforgettable kills while building toward a surprise conclusion that brings the films full circle. Quale and Heisserer use the standout kills and a likable new cast as a fun distraction from the foreshadowing hiding the twist in plain sight, all making for one of the strongest fifth entries in any horror franchise.

With the arrival of the sixth installment, Final Destination Bloodlines, we’re retracing Death’s steps to examine the established lore, formula, and, of course, the standout kills from the series, with Final Destination 5 getting the solo spotlight today.

The Inciting Disaster

In terms of the most memorable opening catastrophes of the franchise, Final Destination 5 hovers somewhere in the middle. By this stage, the formula is well-established and doesn’t offer any surprises as it introduces protagonist Sam Lawton (Nicholas D’Agosto) at a crossroads. He’s just been dumped by girlfriend Molly Harper (Emma Bell) and is dealing with job pressure to relocate to Paris to further his career. That subtle little detail quickly becomes overshadowed when Sam and Molly head out on a company retreat with their colleagues, just as high winds lead to the collapse of the North Bay Bridge with them on it.

The collapse itself does lead to some inspired deaths, like Dennis Lapman (David Koechner) getting melted by a vat of scalding asphalt, but nothing that stands out outside of the implication that Molly would’ve been the sole survivor had Sam’s premonition not effectively removed her and a small group of followers from the fray when the collapse begins in earnest. The idea of Molly surviving plays a crucial role in Death’s order and how the characters process this detail from Sam’s vision.

It’s the emphasis on story building that makes this a worthy but not particularly showy opening disaster. The real showstopper, at least in terms of the franchise’s mass casualty survivors, comes during the closing moments with the shocking twist reveal.

The Standout Kills

1) Lasik Freakout

Two words: eye trauma. In a franchise that excels at exploiting real-life “what if” fears, the Lasik freak death of Olivia (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) stands out. It’s not just the procedure itself, with metal contraptions forcing her eyes wide to stare down the burning laser meant to correct her vision. It’s the way that Quale slowly builds anticipation; Olivia knows she’s in dire trouble but is helpless to stop it. Most characters in this franchise don’t realize how close they are to Death until it’s too late. Like the Lasik procedure itself, poor Olivia is forced to witness her impending doom.

2) Gymnastics Contortion

There’s an unspoken rule of the franchise that the first to fall in the premonition frequently gets a strong, suspense-filled Rube Goldberg machine-style death. That falls to Candice (Ellen Wroe), who perishes at gymnastics practice in a rather gnarly way. It’s played like a grisly punchline that arrives at the tail end of an excruciating build-up that presents a myriad of ways Death can arrive. And that punchline is absolutely brutal, ending on a shocking image that easily ranks this death as one of the best among the films.

3) Surprise 360 on Flight 180 

The franchise has never been shy about ensuring Death’s success in reclaiming all that evaded its grasp, meaning that not even protagonists tend to survive their films. The inciting premonition that indicates Molly was never destined to die at all instills hope that Final Destination 5 could break the loop.

Instead, it doubles down on Death’s cycle with the reveal that this sequel was actually a prequel all along, as Sam and Molly board their plane to Paris, on Flight 180. They witness the freakout and brawl that gets Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) ejected from the plane with a handful of peers in the original Final Destination, mere moments before the ill-fated flight takes off. Sam barely has time to register what’s happening when he and Molly are brutally dispatched.

For more on Death’s designs in this sequel and beyond, read our franchise kills ranking here.

Death’s Expert

“I don’t make the rules. I just clean up… after the game is over.”

Final Destination 5 compensates for the egregious lack of Tony Todd and his fan-favorite character William Bludworth by bringing Bludworth back and giving him more do to. Here, Bludworth appears frequently, first at the memorial service for the bridge collapse, then in the aftermath of Candice’s death, then finally after Isaac Palmer (P.J. Byrne) succumbs to a brutal spa day. Through it all, the mysterious expert on Death’s design guides Sam through the latest cycle with gravitas.

It’s Bludworth who gets the final line of the film once the credits roll: “You all just be careful now.”

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