Death's Design Returns: Examining the Final Destination Franchise

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When Final Destination: Bloodlines shattered box office expectations with a $100 million worldwide haul, it proved that even after 14 years, Death's design still captivates audiences hungry for creative kills and nail-biting tension. But how does this sixth installment stack up against its predecessors?

Join hosts Alex, Max, and Erica as they journey through the entire Final Destination franchise, ranking all six films and dissecting what makes these movies uniquely addictive despite their often schlocky nature. From the high-concept original that launched the series in 2000 to the roller coaster thrills of Final Destination 3 and beyond, we explore how each film contributes to the franchise's legacy.

The conversation dives deep into the franchise's most memorable moments – that infamous highway log truck scene from the second film, the tanning bed sequence that made an entire generation claustrophobic, and the MRI machine magnetic catastrophe in the latest installment. We examine how these films function as perfect time capsules of their respective eras, particularly Final Destination 3's pitch-perfect capture of mid-2000s teen culture complete with low-rise jeans, flip phones, and digital cameras.

Beyond the kills, we appreciate the connective tissue binding these films together – Tony Todd's ominous presence, recurring motifs like Heist Pale Ale appearances, and the number 180 popping up throughout. We also explore the franchise's possible origins in a specific Twilight Zone episode and debate whether Bloodlines' hereditary curse concept successfully evolves the series.

Whether you're a long-time fan who's seen every installment or someone curious about this enduring horror phenomenon, our ranking provides the perfect roadmap through Death's design. Listen now, and remember – you can't cheat death, but you can enjoy watching others try.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
How's it?
I'm Alex McCauley.
I'm Max Fosberg.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
And I'm Erica Kraus.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
And this is Excuse the Intermission a discussion
show surrounding death's design,final Destination Bloodlines,
is killing it at the domesticand international box office,
far surpassing any expectationsthat anyone could have had for
the film's financial success.
Where does it rank among thestoried franchise's best?
That will be for us to decideon this rankings episode as we

(00:36):
dive into the Final Destinationseries and talk about our
favorite kills, our favoriteperformances and whether or not
this collection of horror filmsharbors a hidden gem of a lost
horror sequel.
All that up next on the otherside of this break.
All right, gang, here we stand,we're putting the pieces
together.
After seeing the premonitionthat Final Destination

(00:57):
Bloodlines would rip, we plannedfor a few weeks that we would
do this episode, but there is somuch more to understand and
unpack now that the film hasopened at over a hundred million
dollars worldwide.
So how did we get here?
Can death be stopped?
Why did this horror franchisepop off?
What's going on?
How are you guys doing today?

Speaker 3 (01:19):
I'm good, I'm crazy news about this new final
destination.
I know, but it wasn't pullingin that much.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
But it did.
It did five million yesterdayon a monday.
Like it is, it's killing, it'skicking ass interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
yeah, when I told my dad I was seeing it the other
day he was.
He was like oh yeah, I want tosee it, I want, I've heard it's
good reviews and so I don't know, I'm excited to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, you know, I think it kind of goes back.
Something we always talk abouton this podcast is that horror
is evergreen.
Horror is it brings the peopleout.
It's a genre that usuallyalways works.
Somehow we found FinalDestination as its only big
release here on a weekend in May, and I think it's just good

(02:16):
timing.
I also think when was the lasttime a Final Destination movie
came out?
Was it 14 years?

Speaker 3 (02:25):
ago 2011.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, so yeah, 14 years ago was the last Final
Destination and I remember thatone.
I believe that one did okay andis kind of revered as one of
the better of the six.
As far as, like, the kills go,I remember a really um,
memorable escalator kill in inthat one.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
uh, I think that's in four.
Is that in four you're thinkingof?

Speaker 2 (02:55):
okay, well yeah, uh, it's, it's pretty wild, uh, to
see that, but also like veryencouraging.
Right, it's pretty wild to seethat, but also like very
encouraging right, We've is thisanother?
I think this is another WBproperty as well Actually, I, in
fact I'm pretty sure it isbecause all the other movies are
on HBO max.
So now Minecraft centers, finaldestination bloodlines.

(03:20):
Wb is having a hell of a year.
Hell of a year.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
That is a great start and, yeah, I think you hit on
something with the timing,because across a lot of the USA,
at least, where this film didover 50 million dollars
domestically, you had a lot ofhigh school seniors graduating
this past weekend, so you had alot of young people, I think,
out looking for things to do,which don't always, doesn't

(03:47):
always mean that you're going togo to the movies like you did
maybe back when we were in highschool in the early 2000s.
Of course, you're going furtherback in the 90s or something
like that.
But still, young people needsomething to do, and this new
generation has not had a finaldestination movie yet.
And so whether they havewatched the previous films on

(04:09):
HBO max and I love that we'reback to HBO max, I never called
it max, I know we joked aroundwith our own max.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
I finally won my, my uh my suit.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Defamation clause, um .
So, yeah, it's whether or notpeople have come to the
franchise um through it beinglike passed down to them.
Older siblings, maybe you'rejust watching um on streamers.
I think that it was the timingwas right for for this, and now
we can maybe get into, at theend of this conversation, what

(04:40):
franchise we think might try tohop on the the train, the gravy
train of.
Hey, it's been 10 years, hey,it's been 15 years.
Is it time for us to bringsomething back?
But this did just feel like theperfect time, with us right on
the precipice of summer.
There's some huge releasescoming down the pike as far as

(05:02):
this next weekend and theweekends to come, and so I do
think that, with it being kindof a quiet week, we're still
post centers.
You know that the teenage datenight crowd needed something
like this in between all thefamily activity that's been
happening at the box office thisspring, uh, between the
Minecraft movie, and Lilo andStitch is coming out this week,

(05:24):
which will be another big draw,I think, for families.
So so this was kind of one forus, this was one for the younger
generation, the younger crowd,and you just love to see it like
a hundred million dollarsworldwide.
Never could have, never couldhave predicted this.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, and and kind of .
I mean you know I these moviesFinal Destination movies, if we
want to start, you know, talkingabout the franchise and the
films as a whole uh and, yeah,let's do it right, like they are

(06:01):
.
What they are about is how, how,uh, wild or um, uh, creative,
creative or shocking.
The kills are right.
It's all about the killsopposed from like maybe one or
two actors that have been inthese movies.
No one ever really is like a, astar right of the silver screen

(06:26):
or or even like goes on toreally do a whole lot, um, but
they are somehow like, just like, perfectly bad.
Uh is kind of how I candescribe it.
Like Like they are while you'rewatching it, you sometimes
grown, but you're also likelaughing your head off or you're

(06:50):
, you're just locked in.
You can't, you can't turn away.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
I mean, I was asking myself a lot this past week when
going back and watching this islike watching these different
movies, like is this a?
Is this a real?
Is this a real movie?
Like do watching thesedifferent movies like, is this a
?
Is this a real film?
Is this a real movie?
Like, do are these real peoplein these movies?
Um, because, you're right, youreally don't have any like

(07:16):
household recognition as far asnames or faces go.
Nobody from this franchise hasreally gone on to do much
outside of, like you said, ahandful of actors, and so you
can just kind of watch them in avacuum.
Now I do think it's going to beinteresting to talk about the
extended universe that the finaldestination movies have created
within themselves, becausethere are a lot of through lines

(07:37):
that connect the differentmovies, just like random things,
like the brand of a beer, likeheist pale ale I don't know if
you guys have noticed that, butheist h-i-c-e, heist pale ale is
in every single movie peopledrinking that.
The number 180 comes up a lotin all of these movies, and that
goes back to the first one.
It's flight 180, right?

Speaker 2 (07:58):
right isn't the end of final destination,
destination five isn't it.
Doesn't it lead into FinalDestination?

Speaker 1 (08:06):
the first one.
That's what it implies.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
That's insane yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
You just gave away like a huge spoiler alert to
number five by the way.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
That's like a huge plot twist which came out in
what 14 years ago?
14 years ago.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
I just watched five for the first time, just like
two hours ago, and everyone waslike the ending is so good and I
had no idea.
And then I was like, oh no shit.
I thought that was kind of cool.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
So you can air your grievances out with Max on this
one.
No, it's fine, no, not you, butanyone who who then turns to
final destination, finaldestination five, um, okay, so
what is sort of the two of you?
What is your history with thefinal destination movies?
Is there any certain one thatmeans something specific to you?

(09:01):
Where do they kind of live inyour, in your estimation?

Speaker 3 (09:07):
I.
I mean this is like ourgeneration's horror too.
I mean this.
The first three came out well,the first one came out when we
were it was 2000, um and thenthe second and third one were
probably like middle school,high school years and I feel

(09:32):
like it.
I do remember very vividlyseeing the second and third one
and like renting those at homeand probably came to the first
one maybe later, just amongstrenting on a weekend.
But, um, you know myrelationship with them.
I I never really liked thesemovies, to be totally honest.

(09:54):
It's just not really my, it'snot my type of horror and you
know, I think even from thebeginning I didn't really take
them too seriously.
However, I would say the secondand third one had such an
impact on not only me but ourentire generation of just very
infamous scenes right and um,especially the second one with

(10:18):
probably arguably the mostimpactful opening scene, slash
kill of them all with the logtruck.
I think that is something thathas lasted in most of like
millennials brains for sincewe've seen it the first time.
So, while I don't personallyhave like much of an interest in

(10:45):
these films, I think that I dohave like a pretty long history,
just because I can rememberwatching them for the first time
and being like you know, I justthought it was just over the
top and just a fun time, youknow time, you know, yeah, yeah,

(11:09):
you know, the log truck is isdeath's truck, right?

Speaker 2 (11:11):
I mean, that thing keeps coming back almost in all
the movies after number two.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Uh, it pops up, um I I would argue that the truck is
the log truck.
From that, from the premonition.
Opening in in number two is notonly the most, I think it's
easily the most iconic piece ofimagery from this franchise, but
I would put it up there withalmost any opening in any horror
film.
Yeah, from the last 25 years,from this century really yeah,

(11:37):
it's, it's.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
It's a fantastic, uh way to start off your film again
, just like such a creative andiconic imagery with those with
that log truck, and especiallyfor people like us who grew up
in Washington right, you know, Ialways think about that Like
there are probably, there'sprobably a whole part of the

(11:58):
country that's never even seen alog truck in real life and
maybe he doesn't even thinkthose are real.
But those are definitely thingswe, you know, grew up seeing
all the time um, and you'vedefinitely driven behind one too
and moved out of the lane yeah,for

Speaker 1 (12:14):
a hot day from it max on your drive down to los
angeles.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
You sent erica and I uh you said the first final
destination truck of the tripyep, yeah, yeah, um, yeah, these
movies, you know they remind meof of like my hot, hot topic
era, right, like I mean they are, they're nostalgic just in,

(12:38):
like the font on the poster, um,they remind me so much of of
like a 12, 13 year old, 14 yearold, great gateway horror right
For for any young person who whowants to get into horror.
Because, again, these arethey're, they're almost like

(12:59):
disaster movies, but then withsaw, you know, mixed in, right.
Or torture movies mixed in right, or torture movies, um, mixed
in um.
So, yeah, I, I've, I know I'veseen, well, I've definitely have
seen all six of them, at leastonce you know, the first, like
two or three I've seen multipletimes.

(13:21):
Uh, four and five I'm a littleless uh, familiar with, but, um,
I mean four's got a greatopening too with the nascar and
and like just a ridiculous hokeylike that is, I think, also
known as like the worst one inthe series and the cgi is
horrendous, but like the runaway, the amount of runaway tires

(13:45):
that fly into the stands andjust like bounce and bounce
people's heads off it's, it'ssimply amazing, uh, it's, it's
like looney tunes, it's likerated r looney tunes and, um, I
find them, I find them againjust like perfectly bad.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
They're endlessly entertaining.
I think One and two, as theyhave lived on HBO Max for a long
time now, are perfectbackground movies that I love to
just pop on if I'm working fromhome or cleaning the house,
whatever it may be.
So I really hold those two nearand dear.
I kind of watch them as onemovie.
I think that those are theeasiest of the two to sort of

(14:26):
sandwich together, and that'sobviously thanks in large part
to the ally larder character andand also just how that second
film is connected with the firstfilm, because that's another
thing that that the extendeduniverse does a really good job
of.
It's not like these events,these these death, death,
defying circumstances of evadingyour, your fate, happen in a

(14:51):
vacuum and there isn't someshared history among the
characters, like it always comesback to like oh well, this is a
lot like what happened withthose students that were on
their trip to Paris, and sothere there is that connection.
And then of course, you havethe Tony Todd character, who is
kind of the stand in for death.
But he's also always the one whois helping our characters along

(15:16):
their way at least kind ofrealize the reality of their
situation.
And he plays someone who'salways working in the coroner's
office, who's surrounded bydeath.
For for um.
For the extent of his time inthese films, I think four is the
only movie that he does notshow up in um in bloodlines, and
I guess we should maybe startwith just sort of our

(15:38):
impressions of bloodlines andthen we can work our way into
our rankings here.
But Tony didn't look great inBloodlines.
I almost wasn't sure if it washim at first.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Well, it was his last performance.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah and so yeah, because RIP, of course, but like
you can just tell that, like Idon't know, I'm not saying that
there was maybe some you knowTET or.
Cgi look there, but he justlooks very thin Maybe some, you
know CGI.
He just looks great.
He looked very thin.
You could tell that this was Iactually didn't know that it was
his last performance, so thatmakes a lot of sense now.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yeah, he had cancer.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, because he's such a big hulking presence.
You think about him as Candyman, or his presence his
performances, I should say, inthese other films.
But so it was good to see himkind of pop back up in in
bloodlines.
But, um, let's talk about thatmovie.
It's obviously was a hugesuccess at the box office.
I think that people are veryentertained by it.
Once again, I'm not seeinganybody say that it is the

(16:38):
number one film within thefranchise or one of the best
horror films of the 2020s oranything like that.
Um, but, but what did you guysthink about the story that we
got here in bloodlines?

Speaker 2 (16:50):
max, you could go first I mean I, I cackled and
howled all the way through,right from just from the
beginning the, the openingsequence where we're on a
knockoff space needle, uh, Iwrite.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
The whole movie feels a little.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
It feels very pacific , northwest oh so, yes,
absolutely, they're definitelyin washington state.
They filmed it in vancouver,yeah, uh, yeah, man, it it was.
It was bad, but like, again,like incredibly fun, like there
are.
There are moments that are just, you know, spellbindingly

(17:32):
stupid, um, or like charactersthat just like disappear, or, uh
, you know weird scenarios.
You know this, this family thatwe're following around all of a
sudden has, like, we've gone tolike three funerals in a row
and we're still just all hangingout in the living room, you

(17:56):
know, with, with, with thestrings, lines of string on the
on the wall, trying to be likeno, this is the order death.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
You know, like there's, there's and half the
people are like this this isn'treally happening.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
You're crazy and then you know I, but I thought there
were some great kills, uh,throughout the uh, there's a hot
, there's a sequence in ahospital with, like an MRI
machine that goes to researchlevel and like becomes a huge

(18:32):
magnet, which you know, again,like this isn't science, we're
not here for science, this isn'texact science, but and then I
don't want to spoil anything,but like the ending, the very
end sequence, right, and, andyou know, all these movies

(18:53):
definitely end a certain way andlike this was ridiculous,
absolutely ridiculous, that youknow this happened in this
little suburban neighborhood.
So, I don't know, I had, I had areally good time.
Uh, I don't know, it seemedlike there was like one other

(19:13):
couple in the theater that washaving a really good time with
me, uh, and laughing a lot andclapping, and um, there's always
a little bit of.
You know, some of these skillscan can get always a little bit
of.
You know some of these killscan can get you a little bit,
like you know, give you theshivers, but uh, yeah, I I
enjoyed myself.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Erica.
What did you make of thebloodlines approach to it, I
guess, would be a good place tostart and and how the story
tried to now make death's cursealmost a hereditary thing.
Did that?
Did that work for you?

Speaker 3 (19:46):
no, no, no, it didn't .
I'm sorry.
I I mean it.
Like I said, these are, thesemovies really are not my cup of
tea, and it's just because ofhow bad the acting is it's like
it I'm I mean, I've said this somany times on here like I.
really you'd think I'm a likewannabe acting coach or

(20:09):
something, considering how muchI pick apart everyone's acting.
But it will make or break amovie for me and obviously the
acting has never been the wholepoint of any of these movies.
But it's just it had been solong since I'd seen one of these
and I the bloodline thing justmade it cringier.

(20:30):
I think like I just, I don'tknow, I just didn't really love
that aspect.
I thought like the wholegrandma thing was kind of odd
and I don't know, I don't know,I didn't really care for it.
I guess I didn't really like Idon't know, I didn't really care
for it.
I guess I I didn't really likethe movie.
To be totally honest, like itfelt really really bad, like I

(20:54):
don't know, sorry I think theacting doesn't.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
The acting never helps these movies.
It can certainly.
It can certainly provide thatawesomely bad, perfectly bad
quality that I think max isreferring to.
But, like I was just trying tolook up, whoever plays the dad,
the, the father to to our maingirl, um, the girl played by
caitlin santa juana in this film, um, he's terrible he's so bad

(21:24):
like sir yeah, the youngerbrother professional you are a
professional actor, I need these, this line reading, to feel
less wooden, um.
But but then, on the other hand,you know what?
What we do have are just likesome insane kills, and the kills
have good effects tied to them.

(21:45):
I will say, and I mentionedthis to max, that I thought a
lot of the movie, a lot of thebackground of the movie, a lot
of the green screen, looked likesky captain in the world of
tomorrow.
It looked like and I I thinkthat like the wachowski speed
racer is like far and awaybetter than this, but it just
looks like hyper real.

(22:06):
It looked too, too fake to evenbe considered something that
would be in our world or anyother world.
And Max made the good pointwhen we were talking off mic
about this that maybe that wasfor adding that hyper realism to
the premonition at thebeginning.
But but also we talked aboutit's probably just a budgetary

(22:29):
but also it's just bad.
Yeah, you don't have.
You know, you don't have thevisual effects.
Crew from oppenheimer working onsure, working on final
destination bloodlines and six,yeah, and, and that's to be
expected, right, but, but, butno, I mean, I thought that I
thought that there weredefinitely some good kills.
Once we get to the rankings forthese, this film, I'll kind of

(22:52):
unveil what I think is myfavorite kill from this movie.
But some good tension.
You're right, that MRI scenewas crazy, and every single time
we get a new Final Destinationmovie, I'm excited to see the
settings in which we're going tohave a death scene, because
these moves are very digestibleFor, as poor as they may be in

(23:15):
certain aspects, the creativity,I feel like, is never lacking.
And here we are in number sixand I'm watching it in my
theater, thinking how have wenot done a tattoo piercing
parlor, you know like, and howhave we never involved, you know
, in one of the films we havelike an eye exam room where we

(23:36):
start to dabble in some medicalequipment.
But then again, yeah, like Isee that MRI machine in this one
.
I'm like how have we neverreally had like a big hospital
scene?
Yet?
I guess in final destinationtoo, there's a hospital scene as
well.
But but just anytime theyinvolve a new something to
assist in death's design, I'malways like this is great.

(23:57):
Have we not done this before?
Can't wait to see where thisgoes wrong.
And these movies always have inin final destination bloodlines
is no exception.
They always have a reallyperverse sense of humor about
them.
I don't think it's too big of aspoiler to say that when this
MRI machine does turn into agiant magnet in this film, we

(24:20):
find out that one of ourcharacters has his privates
pierced, and that is a very,very funny moment.
And so just when things likethat happen in these movies, I
can't help but just think likeonly in a final destination
movie, you know it's, it'sschlock man, it's, it's, it is.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
it is a good old fashioned schlock man.
It is good old-fashionedschlock.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
I think what would make these movies better for me
is that if they were a littlebit more self-aware, and I kind
of assumed that this new onewould be a little bit like that,
because there's a trailer forthis movie that pretty much
shows the entire tattoo studioscene and you're watching it and

(25:09):
then you know our, our guy,he's like, he puts on it's it's
like Eric's sad playlist and youstart tattooing dad on him and
I thought that that was likethey're so, not like this is
very campy and I I loved that.
That.
That was like they're so, notlike this is very campy and I I
loved that and I was like thatseems like I would like to keep

(25:31):
that tone more of like almostlike cabin in the woods type of
feel, where they're like in onthe joke, in on the joke in on
the like.
All the actors are in on thejoke and I, yeah, and more of
like we're we're being over thetop on purpose and it's more of

(25:51):
like this, like humor that youknow you got to really pay
attention to, kind of thing, andit's I don't know.
I just was thinking about thatwatching a lot of these movies
because they're they're allpretty pretty bad.
Um, except for, I would say,the second and third one, are
really um, like really on parwith the time that they came out

(26:15):
with that.
They came out in um, but I waslike just thinking about that
with this new one, I'm like itwould just be so much.
I.
I almost I just assumed that itwas almost going to be a little
bit like, more like making funof itself, because these movies
are known for being pretty corny.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Um, and I was that that whole the tattoo scene, I
did really like that I do thinkyou're right, though, because if
they would have stuck with thetone of that tattoo scene
throughout the film and even,like I'm thinking of, when the
sister has her encounter withdeath, the female cousin to our

(26:52):
main character that's a veryfunny campy scene where they are
almost being self-aware andsaying, oh no, watch out for
this thing over here, watch outfor this guy with the leaf
blower, and and be in there inon the joke.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
But then 10 minutes later we're back in that living
room and it's like kramer versusthey're trying to be kramer
versus kramer again or somethingand have this real intense
family drama and it's like I'msorry it's not merritt's story
it's not like that, it's notthat deep yeah, and I just I
think it would be such a likemore exciting franchise if it

(27:26):
was a little bit, or at least ifthey could have turned the
corner, you know, almost 15years later with this new movie
and been like, hey, look likeour movies Destination is let's
bring this back all the wayaround and let's make a joke out

(27:50):
of it, because it already iskind of jokey, and let's just
make it wild.
The monkey has a lot of Finaldestination tones, and it has,
but it has that like almost overthe top jokey feeling to it.
Where you're like, it just itfeels smarter.

(28:12):
Um, but yeah, I would haveliked to see them do something
like that with this, with thisone.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah, I think the one thing that you have to be
careful with with parody once,once you get to parody and and
especially when you're parodyingyourself or any sort of
franchise, you know that thatkind of signals, the the end
right, like that is like we have.
We have kind of run, run out ofeverything we want to do, so

(28:45):
we're going to make a joke ofourselves and yeah, so I I'd
rather see.
I feel like everyone theaudience and the movies are are
in on the joke, like there'sunintentional comedy, but it's
almost like to.
At this point it's like veryintentional.

(29:06):
Um, but yes, these movies arevery stupid.
They're so stupid and and again, I, I, I just hope they keep,
if they're going to continue to,to pump these out, which I'm
sure they will after thisweekend.
Uh, you know, I like theseriousness.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Well, I was just going to say there's something
to be said about the directionthat we have ended up going and
where the franchise currentlysits, because the first film is
very high concept it is.
It's taken very serious and thekills are made to be more of

(29:50):
this, this very intricate,unfortunate circumstance.
That really makes you then.
I feel like all these moviescan do this.
But it was really after thatfirst movie where I think I
think people started to secondguess themselves every time they
turned on their oven and hearda strange noise or like walk out

(30:11):
into a crosswalk withoutlooking both ways, like there's.
There was all of a sudden somuch to be said about how every
little thing that we do duringour daily routine could
ultimately have an impact on ourfate, and I think that that is
still such a high concept for afilm and it's interesting that

(30:35):
we've gone away from that.
And I think it's great to havethis balance, because we need to
have we can't just haveeverything be elevated right In
the horror genre, and so I thinkit's great to have this camp
and this schlock sort of likereserved for this franchise.
I think the Saw franchise wasreally good at that for for a
while too, but that was anotherone that almost had this real

(30:56):
high concept start of like whatif death became a game?

Speaker 2 (31:01):
And I don't know if I ever got funny.
Did I ever get?

Speaker 1 (31:05):
funny really.
Saw never got funny, but youdid start to go to those movies
just to see how intricate andhow advanced the games would
become.
That's true, and the traps, thedeath traps, and so I think
there's some similarities there.
But it will be interesting,because I don't think it's never
too late, right to change, andso you could.

(31:27):
I think you could return tothis franchise at some point and
strip it down, dial it back alot and turn it back into like a
real dark version of people whohave cheated death and now
death is coming back for them.
And it's not crazy cgi and it'snot people getting ran over by

(31:50):
lawnmowers, but it's like realgnarly, real gruesome and can
still be a lot of fun, but justhas that different tone,
something more similar to thefirst film.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, I could have.
I could have uh tolerated thefifth one a lot, or the new
sixth one um a lot more, if thatcgi was not so bad it was like
really bad and and I don't knowanything about that kind of
stuff, but I just that first,even the first scene in the
space needle, I was like, ah,this is so bad already I would

(32:26):
like I don't expect the actingto be great in any of these
movies, like I said, but evenwatching, like going back to the
second one, um, and that firstthe log scene, I mean it looks
amazing and it's not like it'sit.
I mean it looks like an early2000s movie and I'm like I want
that again.
I like I don't need this, likejust, oh, it just was too much

(32:51):
in this new one.
I'm like it took me out of itso much, whereas, like I would
rather see like maybe a lessintricate death, but still like
maybe look a little bit morerealistic or something.
But, like you know, that logscene is so badass because

(33:12):
there's like real car I'm prettysure they are cars crashing, I
mean there's like real practicaleffects happening, um, and even
this, the cgi that there is,does not look too like.
It just doesn't look too much.
And without sacrificing areally iconic death scene where

(33:33):
you're just and it's gory andit's just over the top, even the
opening of the third one too,the roller coaster, is just
great I I couldn't agree morewith you, erica, and I'm excited
to get to start to talk aboutall of these films.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
So what?
In a little bit more detailhere.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to rank these movies
.
We'll go through each, say whatwe have at six, work our way to
number one.
I have so many other lists togo with my list for these movies
.
This is a franchise that I dojust have a real soft spot for,

(34:12):
like this this would have.
Some of these movies would havefit perfectly into our guilty
pleasure discussion that we hadon erica's episode a few weeks
ago.
So I also have, like, myfavorite kills within each movie
.
Um, I, I have these ranked bywhat I think my favorite
premonitions are, because Ithink that there are some bad

(34:33):
movies in this franchise thatstart with a great premonition.
Max already alluded to theNASCAR scene at the beginning of
the fourth one.
Not a good movie, but I lovethat premonition.
So a lot of different things tosort of recommend and to
highlight from these differentmovies.
We'll start, though, with ageneral ranking.
So, max, let's go to you.
What do you have as your numbersix, final destination film?

Speaker 2 (34:57):
I have the final destination, which is final
destination four at number sixjust as as do I, yeah, as do I
okay great, just a week kind ofa weak movie.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Overall the worst cgi and this wasn't 3d, wasn't it
this?
That was like the gimmick yesone yeah yeah, it was very.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, yeah, and it's only like 73 minutes something
like that.
It very short.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
It's a very short film and it's funny because
these films all do followbasically the same.
They have to write by design,no pun intended.
They have to follow the sameformula, movie after movie,
where X amount of people evadedeath, cheat death at the
beginning and then you know,once that person then has their

(35:47):
standalone scene, that scene isgoing to be their death scene,
and I think there's somethinggenius about that.
Really, like, these filmscannot be that hard to write, if
I'm being honest, and thatprobably has led to some
laziness in the script and thedifferent scripts plural, I
should say.
However, there are some.
I think there's some realhighlights in Final Destination

(36:09):
4.
I do think that that NASCARtrack opening scene is really
good and in 2009, these moviesare an amazing snapshot of the
year and the political climatein which they came out.
In which they came out becausefor 2009, this movie, in in a

(36:35):
few different ways, is aged sointerestingly and so poorly.
Like there is just some overtracism.
And in this fourth film oh yeah, that that makes no sense.
One of the characters juststarts out he's got a swastika
tattoo on his arm, he's at theracetrack, he's getting called a
redneck, he is spewing racistremarks left and right, um, just

(36:55):
something that would never bein a movie as sort of like not
necessarily a joke, but youwould just never have that
archetype, that type ofcharacter, in a movie right now.
Um, so that that's not the best.
As I mentioned, it's the onlymovie without Tony Todd.
Another thing that these moviesdo interesting is that they
exist without the trope ofhaving a finals girl or, in some

(37:21):
cases, a finals guy, becauseit's not always a girl or a guy
that has the premonition.
You really never know who it'sgoing to be.
So our lead actor in this movie, his name is bobby campo and
he's the one who has thepremonition that a car is going
to blow a tire after a series ofunfortunate random occurrences,
um, and and create this giantcrash that leads to yes, I love

(37:46):
the way you said that, max islike very looney tunes, esque
collapse of this entire umracetrack really earthquake
happens where cement is fallingon people and it's just like
everything is just on it's.
It might as well be animated,some of those sequences, um, of
these giant blocks flatteningpeople like pancakes.

(38:07):
This movie does have a fundouble premonition at the end
and that's where you do get thatescalator scene that you were
mentioning, max.
So I do want to give it creditfor that.
And then I will say I thinkthis movie has, even though I
have it at six, I have thepremonition ranked as the fourth
best premonition in the series.

(38:27):
But I think it has a top threekill this movie.
This movie has a top threefinal destination killing it for
me.
Do you want to guess which one?
I think that is.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Is it the?
Is this the tanning beds?
No, it's not the tanning beds,that is also a top three, maybe
top five.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Yeah, kill for me this.
I'm talking about the pooldrain.
Oh yes, yeah, in this oneIncredible stuff, incredible

(39:06):
stuff where a character goesswimming in a public pool that
has had its drain turned on bydeath and my guy is ass down on
the pool drain as it sucks outhis insides, which we then see
erupt out of the, the watersystem, the pipes of this pool.
Incredible stuff in one ofthose moments where, when you're

(39:27):
watching these films, not everydeath can you feel, but that's
one where, like, your bodywinces Yep.
And so I do have to give thefinal destination, the fourth
film, some credit.
All right, erica, what's yournumber?

Speaker 2 (39:50):
five, since we're all in agreement on six.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
Oh you're, you're muted sorry, I was muted um.
I have final destination six asmy number five I also have
bloodlines as my number five.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
I also have bloodlines.
As my number five, I also havebloodlines as my number five.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
So so, Erica, what was your favorite kill in
bloodlines?

Speaker 3 (40:16):
My favorite kill was not even a kill Like it's the
tattoo scene.
That really was like.
That was what.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
It's a good fake out.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
It is a good fake out .
I thought that that was themost well done, but I'm trying
to like.
I did really like the MRI scene.
I thought that that one waslike kind of like, oh, like, um,
you know, the one that I reallywanted to be true, I guess.

(40:55):
I mean, I don't know, like, Ijust that whole thing, it flowed
really well.
I thought like the thecampiness of the whole thing was
fun, but, um, I don't know ifthat counts because it's not
really a kill, but yeah, the MRIscene, I guess too, was pretty
good.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
I want to give some love to the trash compactor
sequence, where our maincharacter is like calling out
exactly how the death is goingto happen.
Right Like the, the uh treetrimmer that's leaning up
against the tree, the leafblower, the kids with the soccer

(41:35):
ball, and they think it's goingto happen to, uh, our the older
cousin.
Yeah, our piercing bud, andinstead and that's, and then,
and then it doesn't happen,right.
And then the sister, theyounger sister, goes out for a
run and exactly that happens andshe's stuck in this trash

(41:57):
compactor and her head, like awatermelon, just gets squished
and they show it to you.
I mean they stay on her andit's bad, cgigi.
But at the same time I I waslike, oh my god, we're squishing
heads we're squishing heads andand pulling off limbs.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
I I did love that prosthetic again, it looked very
rubber and totally yeah, um,but gnarly at the same time.
I want to give.
I want to give a shout out tothe barbecue scene and, and
specifically like the tease ofthe shard of glass, because that
was that was really well doneand created a lot of anxiety and

(42:41):
tension for me when I waswatching, where I was sitting up
in my seat, because I wasthinking if someone, without
giving away too many spoilers, ashard of glass is incognito
amongst a big tub of ice and yousee it get scooped up into a
drink, you don't know who getsthe drink that has the shard of

(43:02):
glass in it yet.
So there's some real mystery asto how this shard of glass is
going to play a role insomeone's death and there's a
lot of other things going on,and that's another calling card
for this franchise is that therewill be so many tiny little
things introduced into a sceneand so you're not ever sure

(43:22):
what's actually going to be themain trigger that leads to
someone's death.
But this shard of glass I'm justthinking of someone swallowing
that with their drink and itlanding, or maybe not landing
but in it, traveling down yourthroat, and how gruesome that
could be.
It doesn't end up playing outthat way.
There is still a scene thatinvolves a moment that involves

(43:47):
the shard of glass at thisbarbecue.
That then leads to, um, someonemeeting their demise via
another tool.
Uh, but, but that was that.
That whole scene.
Um, I thought was pretty welldone.
It kind of the family barbecueyeah, there's also like a
trampoline, uh involved whichagain just like a great uh, you

(44:10):
know anxiety inducing momentwith like a rusty rake
underneath and the camera keepscutting to the trampoline fabric
, stretching and ripping andgetting um closer and closer to
snapping.
So so some good stuff there, um, but okay, sounds like we're.
So we're in agreement with sixand five.

(44:30):
I'll go first here with numbertwo, with number four, and this
is where I have finaldestination to this.
This hurts me because Iactually have this is my
favorite premonition and this is, of course, the log truck
premonition.
It's the whole highway crash atthe beginning.
I love ali larder coming back inthis franchise and really tying

(44:54):
it to the first one.
Like I said, aj cook, who's mygirl from criminal minds.
She's one of the only actorsthat has actually continued on
and had quite a bit of successpost appearing in a Final
Destination movie.
So got to give AJ Cook a shoutout, ali Larder, of course.

(45:15):
However, this movie, once youget past, I think it's just
because the high of thatpremonition scene is so great
Once you get past that the othercharacters just really aren't
that interesting.
You have the mother, teenage sonthat have a really odd dynamic
together.
I do love the son gettingflattened by the plate glass

(45:37):
window.
That's, I think, my favoritekill from this movie.
But like the pregnant woman,the woman who's like the you
know, 30 year old, kind of likego get, go get her business
woman type, and then you havethe the stoner kind of metal
head guy.
There's just like nobody that Ireally get attached to in this

(46:01):
movie, whereas I think some ofthe other movies to come have a
little bit more meat on the boneas far as as far as story goes
and character development, foras silly as that sounds in a
final destination movie.
But for those reasons, althoughI love the premonition, like I
said, have it rated number oneand shout out to AJ cook and
Allie Larder, but I have finaldestination two in my four spot.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
In my sports four spot I have final destination
five uh, and part of the reasonis that I think I've only seen
this movie once, so therewatches aren't there for me
yet.
I don't know it as well as someof the as as these next three
uh on my list, but I justremember it being again kind of

(46:51):
like similar to four, where someof the effects and the CGI is
overdone.
I believe this was anotherattempt at 3D glasses in a Final
Destination movie and a littlemelodramatic, which is kind of

(47:12):
funny Again, funny to likenitpick in a Final Destination
movie.
But whereas, alex, you werejust saying you can't really get
behind any one and two or getconnected to any one and two, I
feel that with with five,whereas two, three or you know,
three, two and one, I'm, I'malong for the ride with, with

(47:36):
all of those characters and canget behind them.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
What's in your four spot, Erica?

Speaker 3 (47:42):
I also have final destination five Okay.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
So final destination five is my three.
I'm happy.
Or, excuse me, finaldestination five is in my three
spot, yeah, so I'm happy slidingthat down to four.
Um, and in aligning with youguys, I I do want to give five
some credit for the, themelodramatics of it, and I think

(48:05):
that there was a real becausethere's a real attempt to have a
few scenes in this movie thataren't just segues into another
character's death, like I dothink that it's really smart to
show all of the characters intheir office after our like, uh,
you know, our cell phone guysat the acupuncture, uh, massage

(48:27):
parlor or whatever, and, yeah,he's having his death scene.
Um, you know that that couldjust be sort of by itself, but
but they intercut it witheveryone else, like getting
drunk at work, because they'reall grieving and they don't know
how to handle it, and I'm likethis is kind of solid, and once
again they're drinking the highspale ale.

(48:47):
So I love it.
It's a moment to like connectthe extended universe, and so I
I do like that they just likeshow us a few scenes like that,
that that, um, the best friendof our main guy, uh, played by
nicholas diosco, he, he, who'sthe one that kind of has the
double crossing, and I like thatas well.
Like there's, there's kind ofthe double crossing, like
someone sort of goes to the darkside and really buys into this

(49:09):
idea of like what happens if Ikill someone else, to take a
life and take their place, andso I feel like the, the expanded
community and everything elsein five just makes a little bit
more sense than it does like intwo.
Like I appreciate the policeinvestigation that's going on in
five a lot and how the onedetective is like this is all so

(49:32):
fucking weird.
Like in none of these othermovies do we have a police
officer who is really like no,there's something like that
needs to be investigated here.
I need to continue to talk tothese young people about these
deaths that keep occurringwithin their friend group and to
these people who were involvedin this action at the beginning.
So I just like all of thatstuff.

(49:53):
I do like, too, that he'strying you know he's trying to
get his ratatouille on and go toParis and become a chef and the
dinner scene that he has withhis girlfriend is actually like
pretty endearing.
Like again, it's funny to thinkthat a final destination movie
can, aside from maybe the firstone, like pull off some
character development, but Ifeel like this movie really does
have it, actually, um, more sothan a lot of the others.

(50:14):
So that's why I give I givefive a top three spot but, like
I said, happy to move it down tothe four spot to hang there
with you guys.
I do love the gymnasticsaccident, um, and this movie a
lot, because that is anothergreat like pull the rug out from
underneath you kill scene,where we have become so

(50:36):
conditioned to to think that theraising temperature in the room
which leads to some waterdripping out of a pipe, which
leads to a spark on anelectrical cord, is going to
have something to do with thischaracter's death, when really
all it is is like a big bowl oflike rosin chalk that gymnasts
would use to help their gripgets blown into a fan blinds, a

(50:58):
girl who's on the bars and whenher body snaps when she hits the
mat, it's incredible stuff.
Like great, great stuff.
And also ol Olivia's eye examand this one Olivia, who's kind
of like the edgy, hot chick inthis movie, she decides to go in
to get like LASIK surgery done,which again, just like a great
snapshot of the time in 2011 forsomeone to go in to have like

(51:19):
laser correction surgery done ontheir on their eye.
And I mean, like Max, I knowthis for you, you're a big eye
person in horror movies when itcomes to like grotesquery, and
so I love that scene becauseit's so gnarly.
Yeah, I don't know, like I'm ateam player, I will move five
down to four, but I think fiveis really, really solid.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Yeah, you're making me want to go back and rewatch
it now, just because, again,that's the one I've seen the
least and david kochner.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
David kochner is so goddamn funny in everything he's
in, of course, but especiallyin, like the, the cold open, if
you will, the premonition scene,where he's looking at our main
character.
He goes look at me, what's myname?
And he's like dennis.
And he's like now, look away,like he is just the biggest
asshole boss and he's so good atit, he plays that kind of

(52:14):
character so well.
So yeah, I final destinationfive.
I would almost make the casefor this as being the lost horse
sequel.
Sequel within the franchise,because I think it is.
It has a lot to appreciate andoutside of the trappings of the
franchise.
To begin with, you know, justlike spotty cgi and bad acting

(52:37):
here and there, like I thinkit's pretty flawless, to be
honest well, that, yeah, thatthen that sounds like it
deserves a re-examination on mypart for sure.
So then, what is at your threespot?
The two of you.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
So this is where I have Final Destination 2 at.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
Interesting.
I have the first FinalDestination on this one.
That is personal preference,but yeah, I like it like you
even with the devin saw of itall you guys need to let that go
, because that was just we didnot we did not start this fire

(53:20):
well, that was a different time.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
I was three and also he was much younger.
We can't hold what she said atthree years old against her once
.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
Devin reached puberty .
I mean, I didn't even knowfirst of all, I didn't even know
what his name was.
When I first saw Casper, justmind you, he was like a little
bit older crowd, like the girlswere loving Devin.
I didn't know any better.
I didn't pay attention to himafter Casper.

(53:49):
So let's just let's just setthe record straight.
But no, I um the first one.
Yeah, the.
I mean it's good.
This is not a movie that I sawlike when it came out.
You know this, I was eightyears old when this movie came
out and I'm sure I didn't.
I watch this movie until youknow, many years later watching

(54:11):
it.
The second and third one aremuch more impactful to me, just
culturally.
But yeah, I think that it's.
It's obviously a really greatmovie.
It's what sets the entirefranchise up.
Obviously it's.
It deserves recognition.
It's just not my favorite one.
But some really solid kills.

(54:32):
The airplane sequence doesn'treally do a whole lot for me.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Well it's.
It's a really interestingsequence, because this comes out
in 2000,.
Right Like literally a yearlater.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
This part of why I think this movie is so important
.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Yeah, it doesn't.
It would never exist because,as we all know, a year later was
2001, in which the life in theUS what happened, Max?
Took a turn.
There was a terrible, terribleattack on New York City.
So yeah, I think the first oneis really important and kind of,

(55:10):
you know, I liked what alex wassaying earlier about it, how it
is high concept and very likestripped down and and compared
to where we go with thefranchise right, even though,
like a lot of the zany and wackyand fun of final destination,
especially in the later movies,is from again these looney tune
kills.

(55:30):
The first one is is such a it'salmost more of a thriller
rather than like one of these.
Like you know, it's almost likewhat kill, kill porn, uh, which
is like its own kind of genreor whatever.
So I have two here because,again two, you know, I think a

(55:55):
lot of what helps to get intothe top three is that opening
sequence.
However, a lot of it after that, as opposed to actually there's
one kill in two that I think isprobably my favorite kill,
which is the hot rod guy in hiskitchen getting the hand stuck

(56:17):
in his garbage disposal, becauseA that has been just like a
major fear of mine, since I wasa child, since I knew what a
garbage disposal was, and also,again, just like a great fake
out right as soon as he gets hishand stuck in there, you're
like, oh, we're gonna have, youknow, finger linguine here in a

(56:40):
little bit.
He ends up getting it out, thenhis apartment gets on fire, so
now you're thinking he's goingto be charred.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
He ends up getting out and we, we get down to the
bottom of the alleyway and thena ladder comes down and smashes
fire escape ladder yeah, also,another amazing sequence too,
because it involves it heavily,heavily involves the usage of an
answering machine, which is sogreat.

(57:11):
This character has recently wona small fortune in the local
lottery and so he has all thesepeople hitting him up, all these
chicks specifically, yeah, whoare hitting him up, and he is
like making I don't know.
He's making like instant macand cheese or something in his
kitchen.
I forget what it is, but he'sjust like, yeah, what?

Speaker 2 (57:31):
did you call him a hot rod guy?
Yeah, uh.
So yeah, I really really lovethat kill and and again.
Two is like, I believe, whattwo came out in 2000, 2003, 2003
.
So yeah, I'm 13 years old whenthis comes out, so it it does

(57:52):
have a bit of more of anostalgic feel to it for me,
which is why which is why it'sahead of something maybe like
five that sounds like needs tobe.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Um, I need to go back and rewatch, cause it could be
just a better movie overall, Imean the biggest indictment
really that I have on five,aside from how I said that you
know it has the typical badacting and spotty CGI, as as
most of the films within thefranchise do.
For me, even though I hadnumber five ranked at three, I
stand by that personal ranking.

(58:24):
But I do have thepremonitionition scene the
suspension bridge collapse, aslike the fifth, the fifth best
premonition out of six.
I do feel like that.
That opening sequence is prettyweak and you know it's
interesting enough that actuallytwo of these six premonitions
involve things that we're veryfamiliar with one, a suspension

(58:46):
bridge and the collapse of asuspension bridge, and then also
this sky view, space tower, um,so I don't know what that says
about life here in the pacificnorthwest and, uh, and even
logging trucks, you know, really, but but I do think that that
that premonition scene in inthis second final patient, final
destination film is the bestpremonition scene, right, um, of

(59:09):
them all yeah, so, um, yeah,but but I have.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
So I have final destination, the first one at my
two spot, okay, uh, and andthen I have, yeah, final
destination two at three erica,I'm guessing you have.
Do you have final destinationtwo at 1 or at 2?

Speaker 3 (59:29):
I have it at 1.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
I have it at 1.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
And I have 3 at number 2.
At 2.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
And Alex.
So my top 3 goes.
I'll just start with 1.
I have the original at number 1.
And I feel like that's almostas default, and I came in here
willing to flex that out becauseI have final destination three
as my two, and that's the onethat I think is the real hidden

(59:55):
gem of this franchise, and soI'm totally here to entertain a
conversation surrounding threeas potentially the best film in
the franchise, and then, andthen I do have five as my number
three, with two on the outsidelooking in as far as the top
three goes.
So this is messy all of asudden.
We're just saying numbers, ifyou like.

Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
Yeah, I know who knew .

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
With F3.
So yeah, I mean I guess we needto figure out where we are
going to place maybe FinalDestination one here, because it
sounds to me like there's mayberoom to put Final Destination,
the first film in the series, inthe three spot.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
Yeah, I think it could easily wait.
Max, where did you say you havethe first one?

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
I have the first one at two.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
So I think it going at two makes sense Right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Well, but then that, what, what goes, what goes,
we're, we're working on numberthree, right?
We need to place.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
we need to place one, two and three yeah.
That's we need to place one, twoand three, yeah, what we need
to do, yeah, and and now I,although I love the cold open
that we get on that highway inthe second film, I just think
that number one overall is justsuch a better, well executed and
original story, and so that'swhy, almost by default, I have

(01:01:28):
it in the number one spot.
But really when it, when it'slooked at in comparison to
number two, I just feel like twois two is really just like a
sequel.
Right, it is just running itback and and we're playing the
hits, and I just think that youknow everything that we get with
the teacher and sean williamsscott's, or, um, who is it?

(01:01:50):
What's his name?
Yeah, sean williams scott,right, he's in the first one.
Yeah, he's in the first one, hischaracter in the first one, the
teacher in the first one, um,the survivor's guilt, like
there's a lot again like reallyhigh concept and really
emotionally aware.
Um, that first one, that firstmovie is, there's just so many
different things.
I think Ali Larder's characterdoes a decent job in the second

(01:02:10):
film and kind of exhibiting someof those emotions, but like
everything that happens in thatfirst film I just think is like
really exciting and unlikeanything we had really ever seen
before, except for like thisone really old Twilight Zone
episode that we can get to maybehere.
If you guys had a chance towatch that, I don't know, I put

(01:02:30):
it in our little show outline,our little notes in the text
message.
So I don't know if you guys gota chance to look at that, but
this whole idea of like having apremonition of death, it was
just so, so cool in in 2000.
So that's why I'm, I'm, I'mwilling to have a conversation
around.
Three is potentially goingnumber one, but I don't think I.

(01:02:50):
I mean, well, let's talk aboutit.
Putting two above one feelsweird to me though.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
I think I'm admittedly putting number two at
my number one because of thelogs.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
That's fine, Like I'm not attached to this series at
all.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
So, um, I think that makes sense.
I mean listening to two peoplewho obviously are more excited
about this entire franchise thanI am.
I'm like I mean I just I,you're, you're making great
cases for them, so I do I.
I think that the third, thirdone I had trouble deciding which

(01:03:29):
one I liked better, the secondor the third one, yeah, it's
because those are the two that Iwatched as a kid and you know
those were the most impactfullike jarring ones to me, whereas
the first one just doesn't.
Really I don't have any kind ofhistory with that at all yeah,
so I think the, the, the secondone could go at three, and then

(01:03:53):
number two, the first one andthen number one, third, three.
Is that what?

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
we're talking about.
Totally fine with this yeahyeah, I mean that's that's.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
I have three at number one, I, I three.
I think is is kind ofeverything working on every
level right and it has probablythe best performance in any sort
of final destination movie maryelizabeth winstead.
Yeah uh, she's wonderful andshe's leagues above anyone else.
Plus it's got the fucking kidfrom all those disney original

(01:04:25):
movies and look of the irishlook at the irish and the?
Uh wasn't a smart house and uhuh wasn't he the mermaid boy too
, or something?

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
like that, the other me or something, maybe something
like that that's one of thelawrence brothers um was.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
No, he was not in the 13th year 13th year.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
13th year, okay yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
Same same timeline, the same year, like era.
I guess the third one has myfavorite kill which is the
tanning bed scene.
Yeah, it's my favoritefranchise, yeah, um, I think
especially watching that too.
Uh, growing up in an era whereus girls were going tanning a

(01:05:11):
lot too, um, and I'm veryclaustrophobic- listen.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
Final destination three.
Okay, before we just get tofinal destination three, which
we're putting at our number one,final destination two we've
talked about the logs.
We've talked about ali larder.
We've talked about the logs.
We've talked about Ali Larder.
We've talked about AJ Cook Rocksolid.
Final Destination 1, theoriginal is in our two spot
Devin a king, everything elsethat happens in the film Really

(01:05:40):
exciting, really fun, reallycreative.
The ingenuity, just like younever really see anything, like
it are we are.
Can we close the book?

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
yes on, yes, okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
So here we go for three I think that three you can
make the argument because 2006,my god, we.
I cannot wait till we hit the2006 movie draft.
But like we just did this witho5 there, there could be the
case that, like house of wax, isthe most 2005 movie ever made,
because you have Paris Hiltonand you have Chad Michael Murray

(01:06:13):
and just a perfectencapsulation of what was
popular and hip and trendy in2005.
I think the movie that youcould maybe make the case for,
that is like the most 2006 movieever made is Final Destination
3.
When I think of life as a 16year old, it is everything that
you see in Final Destinationthree.

(01:06:34):
I love what Erica is sayingabout, like the tanning beds.
Like I don't think that thathits now, that there's no way
that that would hit now the waythat it did nearly 20 years ago
when everyone was obsessed withtanning beds.
The Hollister, abercrombie lowrise jeans.

(01:06:54):
I got got, you know, listen,mary elizabeth winstead is
amazing in this.
I have to give a shout out toher sister, amanda crew.
Amanda crew, she flew too closeto the sun.
She could have been something.
Um, I love.
I love her as an actor fromthis, from this era, this beg
this begotten era.
You know the hardware storelike the drive through window,

(01:07:16):
so much of this movie just works.
They have razor flip phones,just like.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Ryan, miriam in hair.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
Yes, exactly Just the styles, the digital cameras
Like.

Speaker 3 (01:07:28):
I have this digital camera on loan from the yearbook
.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
like teacher, I guess Like, and I'm taking pictures
for the school yearbook.
Incredible time capsule from2006.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's amazing, and the roller coaster
premonition is again like topthree.
It's my second and the you knowthe.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
The roller coaster premonition is again like it's
my second favorite behind behindthe logs.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
Yeah it's, it's fantastic, it's really good and
always a like a thing you thinkabout.
Uh, you know I actuallyrecently got onto a roller
coaster for the first time inlike I don't know, probably 15
years.
And you know you still thinkabout Final Destination and like
, oh, I hope everything's likereal screwed, real tight on this

(01:08:19):
on this track here, because Idon't want to go flying off into
the nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
It's the perfect vehicle to for what we now know
has been the sequential order inwhich death is going to come
back to take the, the lives thatwere promised to him, and so I
love, whereas, like, everythingelse is sort of like it's
chaotic, it's a bridgecollapsing, it's a highway crash
, it's a plane crash, and andyou have to go back and figure

(01:08:50):
out, at least as an audiencemember.
The characters obviously dothemselves if they're going to
try and solve um kind of death'smystery puzzle here.
But, like, the roller coasteris such a great ladder almost
for like who was in front of meand then who was behind me and
who was behind me, for them toto go ahead and figure it out.
So I do love that.

(01:09:10):
And also, too, just like in2006 that's how you shot and and
made a movie with a ton ofextras like that opening
carnival sequence is reallyexciting to go back and watch
now because there is so muchgoing on, like there is a ton of
production that goes into thatopening sequence, and not that

(01:09:33):
some of the other films um don'thave that as well, but except
for like the train, the, theroller coaster cart actually
going off the tracks, of course,um, very little, very little.
Cgi, as I think erica pointedout at beginning, like to see
the amusement park.
The lights, the noise, therides, everything, all the

(01:09:54):
extras, as I mentioned, is justlike really endearing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
Yeah, yeah it's, it's great.
We used to.
We used to go on location, weused to go find amusement parks
and we take teenagers there andshoot.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
I I would also say too that take teenagers there
and shoot.
I would also say, too that, asmuch as I do love the tanning
bed sequence and it's great, itis so, so good I think it's so
strong that it overshadows thehardware store kill sequence as
well.
Is that the?

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
nail gun.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
That's the nail gun, it ends with the nail gun.
And that's another justincredible location that when
you're watching a finaldestination movie, and then the
way that you go about the restof your life, every time you
step into a lowes or a homedepot, you're thinking, oh my
god, there are a thousanddifferent ways for me to die in

(01:10:47):
this giant hardware store, youknow, just like hundreds of
pounds of wood and concrete andeverything just stacked on shelf
upon shelf above you.
That just is like towering overyour head.
And so I, I love that sequenceas well, and so, yeah, I'm, I'm

(01:11:08):
totally happy with, with threeas our number one.
I think this, I, I think we'reall in agreement, sort of that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
this is the one that is the most well-rounded yeah, I
, I think it's from head to toe,the most complete and and again
like that, probably the.
Is it the hidden gem or is, orwould you consider something
like five, the hidden, hiddengem?
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:11:30):
well, I I mean I the way that we've sort of defined
this in the past right is oncepeople have maybe thought that
the franchise was like dead andgone.
Then something comes back andand breathes new life into it,
right, but but we've alsomentioned in the past that, like
, usually this happens with, andso that's when I think of, like

(01:11:52):
maybe the Paranormal Activityfranchise and I love Next of Kin
and I believe Next of Kin islike the seventh film in that
franchise of the ParanormalActivity movies and so that
makes me more inclined to thinklike, well, find a destination.
Five after four was a stinkerreally comes back and surprises
people.
Or or maybe when you go backand revisit it you'll be

(01:12:14):
surprised because you're like,oh, I thought this was done,
like I thought we were kind ofdead after 2 and maybe 3, some
people have said it's good orwhatever.
but then I see 4 and 4 has likea you know, 2.1 rating on
Letterboxd or something likethat, but to follow suit with
how things have happened in thepast, it's always that third
movie in the franchise thatbrings it back.

(01:12:36):
It's Nightmare on Elm Street,dream Warriors, it's Halloween,
season of the Witch, and so itmakes sense for Final
Destination 3, I feel like to bethe one that can be considered
as good, if not better, than theoriginal.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree, I think.
I mean obviously I had finaldestination, three at one, it's
just.
It's just an iconic, iconicfilm and the poster, the poster
too iconic film, and the poster,the poster too, I think also
plays into it.
You know where the kids are allupside down on the roller

(01:13:20):
coaster.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Turning more ghoulish as they go, back, as they go
further back.
I mean, I can just as Ericamentioned, like renting it from
the video store.
That is just kind of a corememory is seeing that box on the
shelf and taking it home.
So, OK, is there any room totalk about?

(01:13:42):
What was it?
Season two, episode 17 of theTwilight Zone in the episode 22.
Did you get?
I did not get to this,unfortunately I didn't either so
I I will just briefly explainfor people who maybe want to
check it out.
It's, I, I believe, right nownot only on paramount plus but,

(01:14:03):
uh, I think, on pluto tv and afew other free subscription type
of streaming apps.
You can find a lot of thetwilight zone episodes right now
.
So check Pluto TV first.
Um, but this is.
This is a a short, you know 20minute long twilight zone
episode about a woman who hasbeen committed to.

(01:14:24):
She's a performer, she's adancer is how they phrase it,
and she has been committed to ahospital for fatigue and like
concerns surrounding her mentalhealth and she keeps having this
reoccurring dream, this visionof sorts, that she will uh wake
up and head down to the, themorgue of this hospital that

(01:14:48):
she's staying in, and it's avery disturbing, very scary
episode of the twilight zone.
You know, a lot of them can besort of supernatural, they can
be almost like fiction.

Speaker 2 (01:15:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
This is a scary episode of the twilight zone.
This woman goes down to thebasement and after walking down
this long hallway with somereally long takes and long holds
, going around corners andapproaching doorways and things
like that, a woman opens up thedoor to the morgue and says room
for one more, and then shesnaps out of her nightmare.
So she's having this, thisdream of of sort of like death

(01:15:28):
and death coming for her.
So then at the end of thisTwilight Zone episode, she is
released from the hospital andshe's going to get on an
airplane so that she can returnto her life.
And as she's walking up this isan old airplane where you walk
out onto the runway and you goup the staircase that they wheel

(01:15:49):
out there for you to board theplane in that way and as she's
doing that, she's starting tosee a lot of signs that she's
seen from this dream that she'shad when she's been staying in
the hospital all the way upuntil the point where she gets
to the top of the staircaseleading to the airplane and the
flight attendant welcomes her onthe plane by saying room for

(01:16:09):
one more.
She freaks out and she decidesI'm not getting on this plane
and she runs back into theairport and she's having this
panic attack.
The plane still takes off andas she is in the middle of this
panic attack, at the gate of herwhere her plane's departing,
her plane explodes in the skybehind you.

(01:16:30):
Great, just great stuff.
And I've never quite seen, likeyou know, an IMDb trivia fact
or anything like that writtenabout how the, the creators, the
writers, the director of finaldestination was ever influenced
by this episode of the twilightzone.
But like what are we talking?

Speaker 3 (01:16:49):
about here.

Speaker 1 (01:16:50):
It's so similar um, and so you know not to say that
final destination is adaptedfrom this episode of the
twilight zone, but, um, thereare definitely worse ways that
you could go and spend 20minutes after you're done
listening to this podcast.
So I would definitely adviseanyone who's interested to go
search up episode the episode ofthe twilight zone that's titled

(01:17:12):
22, 22.
Yeah, it's good stuff.
Okay, so that'll do it for aconversation on the final
destination franchise.
As for what's next, here on thepod we have a little movie from
another sort of excitingfranchise that's coming out this
weekend.
Um, are you?

Speaker 3 (01:17:32):
guys familiar with the mission impossible.

Speaker 1 (01:17:33):
Yeah, a little indie, uh, are you familiar with the
mission impossible movies bychance?
Uh, we have the final reckoning, which hits theaters this
friday, and of course, I gave usa chance to return to the
wonderful world of Ethan Hunt.
Espionage, death, defying stunts, the survival of cinema, the

(01:17:55):
rabbits out the what, therabbits foot, the rabbits foot,
all the great things.
So I don't know what do weexpect out of this.
We thought we would be gettingthis movie last year.
It was, of course, delayed.
We're now back.
This, I assume, is going to beour last time spending um any
amount, with our last timespending time with tom cruise in

(01:18:18):
the role of ethan hunt.
So where, where are we at?

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
it's.
It's gonna be reallyinteresting.
I've I've got my ticket set, uh, for friday morning 10 30 the
morning.
Thank God, bless the theaterworkers.
I will be there.
I'm excited to see it.
I know that the runtime isquite long and it'll be really

(01:18:47):
interesting.
I think.
To compare it to I was thinkingabout this today no Time to Die
, which was Daniel Craig's lastouting as Bond, and how actually
well that was handled andelegantly ended and kind of
wrapped up is, does Tom Cruisehave the wherewithal to do that

(01:19:08):
with Ethan Hunt?

Speaker 1 (01:19:10):
Or will we be left?
Can he walk away from thischaracter, can he?

Speaker 2 (01:19:14):
actually walk away.

Speaker 1 (01:19:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
And you know, I know he's got a.
His next project is with a WithInuratu, inuritu, inuritu, and
supposedly he's coming back toacting and he's really going to
kind of go for it again as faras like awards and whatnot.

(01:19:36):
But can Ethan Hunt die?
I think is my biggest question,and I'm going to be really.
You know, I love MissionImpossible movies.
I love them.
I wasn't as high on DeadReckoning as I was Fallout right
, I feel like three through six.

(01:20:00):
We were going up the rollercoaster in Final Destination 3,
if you will, and now we are kindof on the downtrend.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
So it will be really interesting to see how they wrap
this up, and I hope it's goodif, if you could just pick like
gut check here before beforegoing out to the movie theater,
before maybe thinking about ittoo much, before revisiting any
of the other films, would yourather this end the way that,
say, the Dark Knight Rises endswith Christian Bale's Batman, or

(01:20:32):
would you rather it end with ano time to die, daniel Craig,
blaze of glory.

Speaker 2 (01:20:38):
I want blaze of glory .
Okay, that's what I think,that's what I want, because I
don't want, I don't want an opendoor.
I don't, I don't want there tobe able to, to go back.
You know, I don't want to see70 year old crews jumping out of
a goddamn plane yeah, okay,that's fair.

Speaker 1 (01:20:58):
Uh, erica, mission impossible.
What do those two words mean toyou?

Speaker 3 (01:21:06):
I had no idea it was coming out so soon.
I thought it was coming outthis summer for some reason.

Speaker 1 (01:21:11):
This is our Memorial Day weekend movie this year.

Speaker 3 (01:21:15):
Summer's here.
I had no idea I have not seenany of the Mission Impossible
movies except for Fallout andDead Reckoning.
I loved Fallout, um, deadreckoning was fun, I was.
I mean, fallout was myintroduction to the series, um,

(01:21:40):
and so of course I was like thisfucking rocks.
But then dead reckoning was itwas, it was good.
I was already like, okay, I'm,I'm in um, but that's, I don't
know I I'm excited for thismovie.
I mean because I'm I'm hopingthat this is the last one,
because I I'm always a bigadvocate for like let's just end

(01:22:05):
it while you're already on top,kind of thing, like don't just
don't overkill.
So I hope that this one goesout with a bang.
I'm really excited.
I've seen, you know, some ofthe stuff that tom has done for
this and um, you know I I I haveno doubt that I'll be very

(01:22:25):
entertained yeah, it's gonna beagain.

Speaker 2 (01:22:28):
It's gonna be interesting.
I popped on mission impossible,the original the other day that
movie brian de palma's, depalma's mission impossible.
That movie is just so fuckinggood.

Speaker 1 (01:22:41):
It is so masterfully made like it's just one of the
best movies of the decade, thebest movies of the 90s.
It's just wild.
The nineties.

Speaker 2 (01:22:49):
It's just wild.
It's so incredibly entertaining.

Speaker 1 (01:22:54):
I do believe that when dead reckoning came out, we
did a rankings episode, so Idon't think it's helpful to go
back and do a whole seriescollective type of episode.
So I'm not sure exactly howwe'll quantify our discussion
surrounding the film, but I'msure there'll be as Tom always

(01:23:14):
gives us, there'll be plenty ofmeat on the bone here for us to
stew over next week.
So until next time, pleasefollow Excuse the Intermission
on Instagram the three of us onLetterboxd to track what we are
watching between shows, andwe'll talk to you next time on
ETI, where, of course, the moviestill matters.
Thank you.