YMMV / Final Destination

Works in this franchise with their own pages:

• Final Destination
• Final Destination 2
• Final Destination 3
• Final Destination 4
• Final Destination 5

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YMMVs for the film series:

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Are the lapses in logic Acceptable Breaks from Reality or is Death a Reality Warper?
  • Is Death really as evil as the series goes out of its way to suggest, or are the survivors picked off in creative ways simply because Death is angered by their unwillingness to accept what will inevitably happen some day, somehow? Does Death orchestrate the initial incidents because it's bored, or because they're convenient? Does Death even orchestrate them willingly at all?
• Angst? What Angst?: So you've just seen your best friend die. Some bizarre freak accident not only killed him, but smeared the contents of his body across a 200 foot radius. The most horrific thing ever has just happened to your best friend. Your response? "OH MY GOD! I'M NEXT!" Most of the main characters of every film just seem to be acquaintances at best, but you'd think watching somebody get smashed into bloody paste in front of you would be a horrific shock even if they were a complete stranger. This is part of the reason why the third film's Wendy is one of the most popular characters in the series, as she spends most of the film going through a long downward spiral at both losing her friends and the existential horror of knowing that Death will come for her too eventually.
• Awesome Music:
  • General:
    • Shirley Walker composed the music for the first three movies, and Brian Tyler took over for the fourth and fifth films upon Walker's untimely death.
  • The Final Destination
    • War's Why Can't We Be Friends? reaches new levels of awesome when it plays as a racist dies a horrible, fiery death.
    • The Raceway, which plays during, well, the raceway premonition.
    • Raceway Trespass is pretty good as well.
    • Memorial is a surprisingly sadder than expected tune that plays during the memorial held for the McKinley Speedway victims.
  • Final Destination 5
    • AC/DC's "If You Want Blood" playing over a montage of the series' death scenes at the end of 5.
    • The main theme of the fifth movie is pure win, being a rock/orchestral hybrid of the first movie's theme and playing over the opening credits.
    • The opening theme's Dark Reprise Infinite Finale playing during Sam and Molly's demise on Flight 180.
    • Death's Work serves as a perfect theme for Death itself.
    • Olivia and Bludworth got some nice themes of their own.
    • Every theme that plays during the death scenes: Eye Can't See So Good, Bend Over Backwards, and Hook In Mouth.
• Base-Breaking Character: Quite a few:
  • Ian and Erin from the third film are by far the biggest. For awhile they were HUGE ensemble darkhorses, particularly Erin, for their Deadpan Snarker tendencies. However, as time goes on, more and more haters have arisen on account of them being utter assholes and thinly written stereotypes.
  • Kimberly Corman and Thomas Burke from the second film. Some people thought they were likable, friendly people who did the best they could in a bad situation. Others hate them for being bland, poorly acted, and inhumanly stupid.
  • Janet from The Final Destination. Some fans find her bitchy tendencies annoying, while others enjoy her narmy one liners and find her to be so bad she's good, and/or feel that she has a point to complain about being dragged to an event she didn't want to go to or being kept from putting a traumatic experience behind her with the claims about Death's list (even if she was wrong to try and ignore that). Being one of the more developed characters of the movie also helps.
• Broken Base: The later films are debated whether they're good or not. The second and third film are still entertaining and such and still have a rather big fan base, especially the second film. The Final Destination however is considered the biggest flop and the Franchise Killer of the series due to it's bad story telling, and leading to the fifth film to be largely ignored, which is a shame since it's a Surprisingly Improved Sequel
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Bludworth for the entire series. Being played by Tony Todd definitely helps.
  • Billy Hitchcock and Carter Horton from Part 1 are both very popular. The former is seen as endearing for being a Nice Guy who provides some much-needed comic relief, while the latter is loved for his Jerk with a Heart of Gold status along with his Character Development (as well as being one of the few Final Destination characters to really have a change of heart by the end of the film).
    • This is especially ironic in the case of Carter, as he was originally set to survive the first film, but died because test audiences regarded him as The Scrappy. Uh, woops?
  • Kat Jennings and Rory Peters from Part 2, for providing a lot of much needed comic relief and being more competent than the lead characters.
  • Wendy Christensen and Kevin Fischer from Part 3. While obviously, as the leads, they were meant to be somewhat likeable, their popularity far exceeds expectations, often being held up as two of the best characters in the whole series despite being in a movie where all the creators cared about was how to kill everyone and the installment they're in was considered the start of the franchise's decline or became a little more detached than the previous connected storylines (5 followed by 1 followed by 2). No wonder many fans keep hoping that they and Wendy's sister Julie survived their death scene in the movie's ending and became protagonists / supporting characters in later installment, even if their film wasn't exactly as well-praised as their predecessors (and 5), the two are often considered 'the best parts within the bad (to some) movie'.
  • Perry from Part 3 for having absolutely no lines whatsoever. The fact that she's not an Asshole Victim helps a lot.
  • Funny Lovable Alpha Bitch duo Ashley and Ashlyn from 3 are pretty endearing.
  • From Part 4, there's George and Hunt among the major characters. The fromer for being played by an actor who's been in other films you may recognize and being one of the few well developed characters in Part 4. The latter is popular for providing much-needed comic relief from his unrepentant douchebaggery.
    • Additionally,Dee Dee the goth salon stylist from Part 4 for her Deadpan Snarker tendencies and being actually kinda funny.
  • Olivia Castle from Part 5 was one before the movie even aired. Not hard to guess why. With the movie's release, Candice and Isaac joined her. The former for being an endearing and lovable Nice Girl, the latter for being an absolutely hysterical Asshole Victim.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: The Bittersweet Ending that was originally scripted and filmed before a negative test audience reaction has been Vindicated by History following the Too Bleak, Stopped Caring nature of the series as a whole. Many fans prefer that alternate ending where the survivors are Carter, Clear, and Alex's unborn baby and they're safe from future attacks.
• He's Just Hiding:
  • Julie, Wendy and Kevin, the three final survivors from the third movie due to the latter two's immense popularity. It helps that a lot of alternative endings and the novel adaptation of the movie support this theory and their death was never confirmed in-universe unlike the other final survivors.
  • Speaking of the other final survivors, while unlikely and almost certainly not what the creators intended, it's not impossible that their deaths in the fourth and fifth movies were just additional visions that they could have survived. The fact that Nathan is killed by a falling engine from Flight 180 when the first movie said there were no casualties on the ground could mean this if Sam and Molly never got on the plane because of a vision and potentially warned him, while Nick, Lori and Janet's death getting a Gory Discretion Shot in the form of only showing the scene in slow-motion X_ray format, could be a way of indicating it's not a real death scene.
• It Was His Sled: Everyone dies in the end.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Most people come simply for the gruesome deaths, since Death being invincible means there's really no tension anyhow.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • A Running Gag on the internet is to state the reasons behind all of the bizarre deaths in the movie is due to "Kira being very bored".
  • The film having the same name as the Super Smash Bros. stage have led to mutations of the "No items! Fox only! Final Destination!" meme involving the film.
  • It’s now commonplace to put Wii music or SpongeBob music over the death scenes.
  • Alternatively, Ed, Ed n’ Eddy sound effects.
  • In Real Life, cars often avoid tailing behind log trucks, presumably they've seen Final Destination 2.
  • Describing any Disaster Dominoes scene in another show or movie as "some Final Destination shit" or anything to that effect due to the absurd chain of events that led to the chaos.
• Narm: The over-the-top and gratuitous deaths combined with the often stilted acting, shallow characters, and the rather absurd premise of the Grim Reaper conspiring to cause a bunch of insane coincidences to kill people when it could simply cause them to drop dead of a heart attack or the like has caused much unintentional hilarity for viewers (though at least in some of the later entries, the series itself seems to be self-aware regarding how goofy it is).
• Obvious Crossover Method: Take any piece of media with an ensemble of characters. Give one of them a premonition of a horrible accident that kills them all. Have them save the others. Then Death comes for them. Presto, you have the majority of Final Destination crossover fics.
• Paranoia Fuel: The series thrives off this, taking everyday situations and making them deadly. Remember, the smallest action can create a chain reaction which ends with you getting your head cut off or your house exploding.
• The Scrappy:
  • Nick due to his frequent Dull Surprise and limited competence (especially compared to Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 3). That said, he does manage to prevent the fourth movie's second disaster.
  • Lewis Romero from the third film due to his overly cocky and obnoxious personality, and being the one indirectly responsible for Nice Guy Jason's death when he starts a fight that ends up keeping everyone else on the roller coaster.
  • Frankie Cheeks, also from the third film, for his obnoxious, creepy, pervy personality (to the point that he got on Death's list simply because the targets of his disturbing crush happened to be on the roller coaster Death was going to crash).
• Seasonal Rot/Sequelitis: The second is arguably better than the original, but while the third film still has a considerably large fanbase, it's generally agreed to be worse than its predecessors (even though it has a good cast and the second-highest rating in the series on Rotten Tomatoes). And many fans seem to outright hate the fourth one. The fifth one, however, completely averts this and is usually seen as a rival to the first two that sent the series out on a high note.
• Signature Scene: Serving as one for the entire series, the crash of Flight 180 from the first film for being a sheer spectacle to watch, along with its relatively unsettling realism. Though in terms of the individual death scenes, Terry's surprise demise and the Ash twins burning in their tanning beds are both close.
• Spiritual Licensee: Many filmgoers prefer these films as a true rebooted series or reimagining of The Omen franchise over the 2006 remake.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Plenty of times an interesting character dies too close to the beginning, with too little fanfare for the tastes of some fans, or just doesn't quite do enough for the plot. Although it could be argued that someone does have to die first and/or abruptly for pacing.
  • In the first movie Todd and Terry are the first two survivors to die when more could have been gotten out of Todd dealing with the death of his brother and being Alex's confidant and Terry's relationship with Carter being damaged by the fallout of the accident.
  • In the second movie Evan the "lucky" lottery winner never even interacts with the other survivors.
  • in the third movie Ashley and Ashlyn could have lasted longer especially given the number of unpopular characters among some who survived longer. This is especially disappointing after how they show hints of becoming Fire-Forged Friends with Wendy and could have made decent sidekicks to her and Kevin if they had lasted long enough.
  • From the fourth movie, while his arc and development are appreciated, George died rather abruptly when he could have gotten a more meaningful fate in the climax.
  • In the fifth movie Molly being a member of the group who survived the premonition disaster feels like it could have been weaponized to help the others survive some tricky situations instead of just making her a subject of an attempt to steal the years of someone who wasn't doomed by killing her.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • As much as they enjoy the whole idea of the series and the creative ways characters are killed off, many fans of the series still want to know how and why everything goes the way it does in the universe of the franchise. They want to know why some people suddenly have premonitions of initial disasters. Are there other forces at work that combat Death by, perhaps, sending the protagonists the premonitions or "visions" they have and, if so, why are THEY chosen? Was it really Death all along toying with them as implied in the fourth movie? Is there a deep, hidden connection to the protagonists and characters of each film or novel that mark them for the "180 Curse"? Also, what's with the number 180 and the origins thereof? Is there a way Death can actually be "beaten" and the characters could at least have a chance at a "full life"?
  • The fifth movie suggests there were countless instances of groups of people cheating deaths they were supposed to have prior to the events of the series. How far back does that go?
  • Another mystery is Bludworth and his seemingly strong connection with Death given his vast knowledgeability of Death's M.O.. Is it possibly he who sends people visions? Is he a major "representative" of Death?. Was he a target on Death list from a disaster that he survived?
• The Woobie:
  • A lot of the final survivors in the movies can be counted as this as they are the ones that witnessed people around them died while scrambling to figure out what's going on and struggle to survive. A stand out example would be Wendy from the third movie — she watched both her boyfriend and best friend die in her vision, she has a personal connection to one of the survivors (her sister Julie), she's competent and nice enough that we can sympathize with her, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead's performance made her into an Ensemble Dark Horse.
  • Kevin from the third movie also qualifies. He lost both his best friend Jason (Wendy's boyfriend), and his girlfriend Carrie in a single horrific night. And even worse? He had been planning to propose to Carrie. But this becomes even more gutwrenching when you remember the fact that before she died, Carrie had confided in Wendy that she was going to break up with him. No wonder Wendy didn't have the heart to tell Kevin the truth. He had already been through enough in such a short amount of time, and if this had been added on top of it, it would've destroyed him.

YMMVs for the books and comic books:

• Complete Monster:
  • Destination Zero: Sean Reilly is one of the three masterminds behind the South Hill Metroline bombing. A former Irish terrorist exiled from his country, Reilly met up with freelance terrorists Dan Hoffman and Leon Khalid and conspired to force the American government to give them $100 million. After setting off a bomb on a subway train that killed almost forty people, Reilly gave false demands for the FBI to release various imprisoned terrorists around the world and to deposit the $100 million into offshore bank accounts. When Reilly and his allies are caught, Reilly leaves his allies to die in a shootout, and later kills multiple civilians and police officers in his attempts to flee from the police.
  • Looks Could Kill: Delbert Davis is the long-deceased father and grandfather of William "Brut" Simms, and a hideously mundane evil in contrast with Death itself. A controlling and predatory family man, Davis would try to isolate his family for years, growing obsessed with his oldest daughter, Becky. Regularly raping Becky until she became pregnant with William, when she escaped, Davis would prey on his next daughter, impregnating her as well. When Becky becomes engaged and has a reunion with her family, Davis would furiously slaughter his family, including children and infants. Davis would then go on a shooting spree, killing several people before being killed by police. While William was the sole survivor of his family, Delbert's actions were the initial catalyst for William growing up into the sociopath he is in the present day.
• Jerkass Woobie: Brut in Looks Could Kill. Sure, he's an asshole, but he's an inbred whose entire family was slaughtered when he was only a baby, and he spent the first six years of his life in a foster home being raped and abused. Yeah.
• Narm: In Looks Could Kill, Stephanie has a premonition of a ship sinking and prevents multiple deaths, though she loses her looks in the process. Rather than their usual agenda of elaborately murdering every survivor, Death actually calls the protagonist and meets up with them to cut a deal to get Stephanie's friends murdered in exchange for her looks and career back. When she finds herself unable to murder the last one, they drive a bus into her. No seriously, Death drives a bus into someone for "betraying" them.
• The Woobie:
  • Arlen from the book Dead Man's Hand.
  • Chardonnay from Looks Could Kill.

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