Remember When the ‘Final Destination 5’ Cast Spoofed ‘Saved by the Bell’ for a Murder Musical?

A buried viral hit gives the ‘Final Destination’ franchise a musical makeover that riffs on a ‘90s sitcom classic and proves the slasher series’ versatility.

When iconic horror franchises are under discussion, it’s typically Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play, Saw, and The Conjuring Universe that come to mind. That being said, Final Destination has a wildly consistent track record and surprisingly continuity across its five films that gives the franchise far more depth than one would expect. Final Destination may be popcorn movie fun, but there’s no denying that it’s made an entire generation of horror fans scared to drive behind a log truck, walk under a fire escape, or get in a tanning bed. It’s created just as much terror and apprehension around these innocuous items as Psycho did for the shower. Final Destination doesn’t always get the respect that it deserves as an A+ horror franchise. That being said, it’s grossed over $657 million worldwide and is sure to add quite a bit to that total after Final Destination Bloodlines’ release this year.

Final Destination is a franchise that’s all about how underestimating the power of death will always end poorly, whether that’s by the characters in the films or the movies’ general audience. Death hits back even harder when people think it’s down for the count. The Final Destination was designed to be the franchise’s swan song, but it ended up being its highest-grossing entry and spawning more sequels. Five films deep with a sixth on the way, Final Destination is a series that will never be dismissed. It’s a series that will always subvert expectations, right down to a bizarre viral marketing stunt from 2011 that briefly turned Final Destination into a Saved by the Bell-spoofing murder musical.

In conjunction with Final Destination 5’s release, Miles Fisher – who plays Peter Friedman in the film – released a genre-bridging music video titled “New Romance.” Fisher, who also had a budding music career in addition to his growing credits as an actor, took this opportunity to collide worlds in the most entertaining way possible. “New Romance” is set at “Final Destination High,” where a cast of hapless teenagers all meet vicious, “random” deaths, all while this massacre is set to pop music. “New Romance” was conceived by Fisher, director Dave Green, and producer Jake Avnet, but the music video embraces its inner Crypt Keeper with farcical credits that are full of gag names like Graham Reaper, Lou Sifer, Ina Kaskett, and Ura Gonner. It’s another playful, economical way to pack more content into these four minutes.

An effective marketing tool is a great way for a film to connect with mainstream audiences and generate a little extra juice. What’s so fascinating about Final Destination’s “New Romance” stunt is that it still became a temporary viral sensation, despite how much it limited its range. It was only posted to actor Miles Fisher’s personal YouTube and Vimeo channels, rather than any official acknowledgement by New Line Cinema or Final Destination proper. Furthermore, the video is uploaded as “Miles Fisher as Zack Morris,” which completely obscures any Final Destination association. It’s a viral stunt that feels more akin to the unconventional marketing techniques that are used for modern horror movies, like what Paramount Pictures did with Smile. Final Destination is no stranger to outside the box special features and supplemental promotional materials, such as Final Destination 3’s “Choose Their Fate” choose-your-own-adventure experiment or the many Final Destination novels that exist. “New Romance” works as well as it does because it comes across as this bizarre fever dream that shouldn’t exist.

Admittedly, this isn’t the first time that Fisher has spoofed a major horror film for music video inspiration. His cover of the Talking Heads’ “This Must be the Place” turns to American Psycho for inspiration (also directed by Dave Green). In fact, it was this original American Psycho homage that was used as a proof of concept of sorts to pitch Warner Bros.’ marketing team on the idea of using Final Destination 5’s cast and concept as the subject matter for Fisher’s new music video. 

It may initially feel rather random to throw Final Destination in a blender with a sitcom like Saved by the Bell, but there’s actually a method to this madness. The ways in which characters perish in Final Destination – while grisly and macabre – are designed to be the ultimate punchlines. The sequences play out with the same comedic language that tell a story, seed suspense, and then hit hard with a surprising conclusion. Green attempts to merge Final Destination’s more dynamic cinematography with Saved by the Bell’s less-dimensional camerawork and forge this synthesis that simultaneously feels authentic to both shows. 

Green initially wanted to go one step further with all this and really sell the ’90s TV atmosphere. Green’s DP exported the footage to VHS and then recaptured it, so there’s a genuine videocassette quality to the footage and not just some filter, but it looked too authentically shoddy and lo-fi that this plan wasn’t implemented in the final product. It’s this level of commitment and professionalism to the craft that has helped Green jump from directing music videos to helming Coyote vs. Acme, one of 2025’s most highly-anticipated feature films.

Horror films just seem to be a cultural reference point that Fisher loves to riff on, but “New Romance” is unique in the sense that it brings together the whole Final Destination 5 crew so that they can all be executed — again — in an equally morbid fashion. It’s as if Fisher’s Peter Friedkin and the rest of Final Destination 5’s victims are caught in some form of purgatory where they’re repeatedly killed in morbid manners for eternity as the ultimate punishment for trying to disrupt Death’s plan. The haunting laugh track that plays over the music video’s massacre really hammers in this idea. It’s like this Lynchian, abnormal nightmare that pretends to be jubilant and like everything is fine while the world burns down around it. While “New Romance” isn’t technically part of the Final Destination universe, it’s still easy to picture it fitting into the franchise and highlighting its horrifying sense of humor.

There’s definitely a novelty to watching Final Destination 5’s cast getting killed quickly in succession over the course of four minutes, all while they’re dressed as certain Saved by the Bell archetypes. “New Romance” really thrives here and features a slew of kills that manage to be surprising, gross, comical, and also beautifully homage some of Saved by the Bell’s biggest moments. One of the music video’s most inside baseball moments is when Emma Bell’s Jessie Spano analogue overdoses on caffeine pills, which references an iconic Saved by the Bell meme. “New Romance” will satisfy Final Destination fans, but it’s also guaranteed to resonate with Saved by the Bell fans who have never even seen a horror movie.

“New Romance” tested the waters on just how far the Final Destination franchise can push its boundaries. A musical sitcom satire sequel may not be in the cards for Final Destination, but “New Romance” distills the ambitious idea to four perfect minutes of genre-breaking bliss. Fortunately, Final Destination Bloodlines seems to have found just as effective of an angle that copiously celebrates karmic carnage, even if it’s lacking a musical refrain or a sitcom-style montage.

‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ arrives in theaters on May 16.

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