David’s Final Destination Movie Rankings
Many of our Raw Riders know that my favorite horror franchise of all time is Scream, but the Final Destination series is a close second. Thus, it should come as no surprise that I am over the moon about the new legacy prequel/sequel, Final Destination: Bloodlines, hitting theaters this week. To prepare for the new installment, I recently rewatched all five previous movies, and they definitely hold up!
What I love most about this franchise is that the characters aren’t being chased by a masked killer. Rather, death itself stalks the cast and picks them off in the most surprising, creative ways. A household object like a clothesline or a routine activity like tanning can suddenly become a death trap. Now that could turn anybody into an agoraphobe!
Keep reading for my rankings of the Final Destination movies (so far) as well as my rankings of the inciting disasters in each one.
5. The Final Destination
It’s unclear why the fourth installment was given a “The” before “Final Destination” because frankly, it doesn’t deserve the pomp and circumstance, nor did it conclude the series.
Not that I expect Oscar-worthy acting in a horror flick centered on teens, but The Final Destination features the weakest performances and least memorable kills. The one exception is a woman’s demise on an escalator as patrons flee the mall. Escalators, with their elaborate machinery underneath the surface, have always freaked me out a bit.
Unfortunately, No. 4 doesn’t do anything to expand the Final Destination mythology and barely connects to the other films that came before and after. Despite hitting theaters in 2009, this third sequel has the cheapest-looking visual effects, which could be a product of the 3D craze that rocked cinema in the late 2000’s.
4. Final Destination
Each installment we’ll discuss from here I believe is genuinely good, and none of these movies would have been possible without the groundbreaking original from 2000.
Final Destination is a generation-defining horror movie, reinventing the slasher genre with a grim twist. Rewatching the film in 2025, the airplane crash that kicks off the story is ominously topical and the deaths that follow feel somewhat plausible. (Except for the part when a puddle of toilet water recedes after a character slips in it.)
Devon Sawa and Ali Larter give solid performances as the film’s leads, and horror legend Tony Todd brings gravitas, making his first appearance as one of the franchise’s only recurring characters, William Bludworth.
3. Final Destination 3
There’s a reason this sequel is a fan favorite! In my opinion, it features the most inventive kills and one of the best inciting disasters with a rollercoaster malfunction. No. 3 has more of a sense of humor compared to its predecessors, dialing up the camp factor with some fun characters. The tanning booth and weight room scenes are forever etched in my brain.
While the story doesn’t really connect with the first two Final Destinations, the foreshadowing of characters’ deaths in photos taken at the amusement park is a cool plot device unique to this entry.
2. Final Destination 2
This is an example of a sequel that took what made the original great and cranked it all up to 11 with some new ingredients! The writers introduce a clever twist about bringing “new life” into the world to circumvent death’s design, and the ways that the characters are linked to those from the original make for some gripping revelations.
It’s nice to see Ali Larter and Tony Todd reprising their roles from the first movie as well - always a plus for a series in which recurring characters barely exist.
Most notably - countless millennials, including myself, have PTSD from the log truck and highway disaster that trigger the events of the film. The final 30 minutes are also rip-roaring, with shocking deaths right and left!
Final Destination 5
Usually by the fifth movie in a horror franchise, studios are scraping the bottom of the barrel. However, just like Final Destination characters cheat death, Final Destination 5 cheats the quinary slump.
The energy of this sequel hearkens back to that of Final Destination 1 & 2, and the ultimate reveal before the credits roll makes this an instant classic for fans. I wouldn’t be so excited for Bloodlines if it weren’t for the way No. 5 wrapped things up!
I also have to assume that Warner Brothers allotted this one a higher budget than the previous entry because the visual effects look shockingly good. The bridge collapse looks better than most of the CGI you see in Marvel movies today. Several of the deaths in this installment made me gasp out loud, particularly the gymnastics scene, and I’m petrified to get LASIK eye surgery after watching a character in this movie go under the laser.
As for the inciting disasters…
These can truly make or break a Final Destination movie! Here’s how I would rank them from weakest to strongest:
5. The racetrack tragedy from The Final Destination
4. The airplane explosion from Final Destination
3. The bridge collapse from Final Destination 5
2. The rollercoaster bloodbath from Final Destination 3
and drumroll please…
1. The highway crash from Final Destination 2
Looking forward to seeing how Bloodlines stacks up to the rest of the series! Make sure you check out our upcoming review on The Drive Home.