Every Final Destination Movie Ranked
For over a quarter century the Final Destination franchise has carved out a unique corner of the horror market. Featuring some of the most memorable deaths in genre history and a (nearly) unbeatable antagonist…it’s time to rank this (almost) universally strong franchise.
Rankings, by their nature, are incredibly subjective. Unless you rank The Final Destination anywhere but last. Then you have an objectively terrible opinion. I’m (mostly) kidding. Like whatever you like. Even The Final Destination.
With this specific ranking…five of the movies sit in the same tier atop the list. You’ve probably guessed which one isn’t. The point here is that the movie ranked second to last is closer in quality to the movie ranked #1 than it is to the movie ranked #6. The Final Destination franchise is a remarkable consistent one. Ranking them comes down to personal preference more often than in any rankings list we’ve done so far.
So, if you see your favorite movie in the series sitting in the middle…or worse…it’s really not a knock. These are all quality films. Well…almost.
Now…on with the task of ranking every Final Destination movie. Ordered from worst to best…the way it should always be. Spoiler warning for everything that can be spoiled.
6. Final Destination 4
A Car Wreck You Can Look Away From
Surprise? Ok…everyone knows this sits at the bottom of the Final Destination pile. Even those who rank it elsewhere do so know that they’re arguing against the common perception. This ranking isn’t about public opinion, of course. The Final Destination earns its last place position. It features the most unmemorable characters, franchise worst story and most forgettable deaths.
Even being in 3D couldn’t save it. At least…not from a quality standpoint. Commercially, The Final Destination was wildly successful. In fact, it was the most successful film among the original five releases. Bloodlines took down its mark fairly handily…but The Final Destination stood as the commercial high point, and creative low point, of the franchise for years. The latter part remains true.
To make matter worse…The Final Destination also has the worst opening scene in the franchise. Set at a racetrack…the opening certainly has more going on than, say, the original film’s opening. But it has none of the cleverness, interesting characters or freshness of the concept working for it. So many aspects of 2009’s fourth entry in the franchise rank last…there’s nowhere else to put the finished product.
5. Final Destination 3
An Amusement Park Ride from Beginning to End
This is where the arguments can begin in earnest. Final Destination 3 is a really fun movie. Some strong characters, memorable deaths and, arguably, the entry where the franchise fully cracked the pure joy of having the audience looking for every possible means of death that can do in the next doomed victim. It’s only the second to last in the ranking because other entries do what it does just as well or better. But…as mentioned in the opening…they’re all good from here on out.
Take the opening, for example. By this point in the franchise, we know that every Final Destination movie opens with a wild set piece full of gruesome death. This one starts off with a roller coaster accident that will work for anyone who has ever ridden one. There’s nothing wrong with it by any means. But we’ve seen better, haven’t we? That’s what all of Final Destination 3 feels like. A strong version of a formula that works…but one that too often leaves you thinking about another movie that did it even better.
It does, however, have some really fun deaths. The nail gun, the weight machine and, of course, the tanning bed…Final Destination 3 fully understands how fun the concept can be. You’ll be squirming at what’s about to happen before you fully recognize what that’s even going to be. Ranking Final Destination 3 this low in the franchise speaks to how good this series really is.
4. Final Destination
A Jet Setting Trendsetter
The original Final Destination is, strangely, the toughest entry in the series to rank. It suffers from comparison to future innovations in the franchise…but it also benefits from getting to do everything first. The truth is that 2000’s original film doesn’t quite understand exactly what makes it work yet. It builds a true foundation that has lasted 25 years and counting…but it rarely gets to enjoy the true fruits of that labor. Deaths aren’t built up to in that fun, unique way that future films would get so much mileage out of. There is, however, a ton of lore building and some series best characters.
It also introduces us to Tony Todd’s William Bludworth. Is it a coincidence that the four films in which Todd physically appears on screen ranked as the top four films in the franchise? Probably not. His character was an intriguing enigma until Bloodlines lovingly filled in the gaps. The character only appears briefly in four of the six installments. It’s a credit to Todd’s work that it became as synonymous with the franchise as death itself.
Final Destination is a fully functioning film that is only reduced to prototype in retrospect. Plenty of fun…but not exactly the kind the series would become known for. Some strong lore…but not as expansive as it would later become. It sets the stage for everything that’s to come…without fully understanding what is going to make it rise to its highest peaks. But there’s still a quality movie here. One that’s driven by its characters more than its gimmick…perhaps the only time in the series that’s true.
3. Final Destination 5
The Secret Prequel that Knows the Series Greatest Secret
The ending of Final Destination 5 does a lot of heavy lifting…but it isn’t the only top-notch idea at work here. The last entry in the series for over a decade wrapped things in a perfect circle…but it also benefits from having a deep knowledge of what makes these movies work. A great opening, this time on a collapsing bridge…a good set of characters…some fresh lore (and the return of Tony Todd) …and, most importantly, how to have the most fun possible with death. More than any other movie…Final Destination 5 provides the wildly entertaining buildup to its kills in the series.
At least…a couple of them. The truth is that many of the deaths in 5 aren’t that memorable. But when they hit…they hit hard. Setting aside the sheer brilliance of the finale…the eye surgery laser and the gymnastics scenes are among the best work the franchise has ever done. By this point in the franchise…you’re looking at everything as a potential danger. Final Destination 5 knows that…and it uses everything it can against you.
But, as it always will with this secret prequel, it always comes down to the ending. A masterstroke of storytelling…the characters we’ve been watching aren’t just doomed…they died in the inciting incident of the original film. For over a decade Final Destination 5 provided pitch perfect closure for fans of the series. Closure so strong that some bristled at the idea of it coming back many years later with Bloodlines. If you’ve been paying attention to this point in the countdown…count up?…you know that those fears were unwarranted.
2. Final Destination: Bloodlines
Good Luck
Those are the final words uttered by William J. Bludsworth in the Final Destination franchise. They come at the end of the series’ most emotional scene…one that crafts a loving farewell to one of the titans of the horror genre. Tony Todd’s final role…his goodbye to the franchise, genre and fans…is the beating heart of this not-quite-legacy sequel. In fact, Bloodlines spends more time looking backwards than it does pushing forward.
The risk with Bloodlines was always in messing up that perfect loop the original five films created. As it turns out…there was nothing to worry about. Containing a story that takes place both before and after that series was a brilliant way to go about it. We learn Bludworth’s secret. The formula is shaken up with the opening vision pulling out into a modern day character instead of the character from the past it is happening to. Lore is expanded and doubled down on in major ways. And…it’s also very funny.
There’s always been some comedic elements to the series. They go hand in hand with the fun of watching death collect what’s owed to it. But Bloodlines is the first movie that feels like it’s fully in on the joke with you. It finds laughs in every aspect of the series’ tropes without ever lessening their effect. It doesn’t believe that the Final Destination franchise is there to be laughed at…but it knows that it’s a pure joy to laugh with. A giant success with both critics and ticket buyers alike…the franchise suddenly finds itself back in the spotlight…able to go in any direction it wants in the future.
Read our non-spoiler review
1. Final Destination 2
It Had to Be Two
No Final Destination movie is perfect. You can argue which has the best kills, the best characters, the best opening…probably not the best ending…5 might have that in the bag. But Final Destination 2 feels like it gets the most things right. It may not be first in every category…but it ranks highly in all of them. The result is what feels like the most complete Final Destination movie. It has enough original parts to feel fresh…while expertly building on the foundation built by the original movie.
As of the release of Bloodlines…it also, definitively, features the only character to every truly win death’s game. With some of the series best kills (falling pane of glass, barbed wire fence, an elevator, a ladder, a barbecue and an airbag all leave memorable marks) and, in my opinion, the franchises best opening…Final Destination 2 upped the bloodlust considerably from the first film. It also expanded the concept in ways that mattered going forward.
The characters aren’t as strong as some of the other entries…but they get the job done. Kimberly Corman becomes the only character to successfully cheat death…a fact that gets more interesting the longer the series goes on. Could a potential future installment see her return to carry her story forward? There’s a lot worse places the franchise could go. To a racetrack, for instance. Sorry…had to get one last shot in.
