Final Destination (25th anniversary)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Straw Hut Media.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey, movie lovers, welcome to another episode of Release Date Rewind,
a podcast that celebrates milestone anniversaries of movies. I'm your host,
Mark J. Parker, a film fan and filmmaker, and thank
you for listening to this podcast, which is part of
the straw Hut Media Network and the You Run Podcast Network,
or watching this on YouTube. You may be able to

(00:27):
tell that I'm not in my usual recording space that
I've been in for years, and that's because I'm living
in a new place right now, a different place. Life
throws twists at us, much like this movie we're about
to discuss does very well, so you're forced to adjust
and change and make moves. And I'm in a temporary

(00:47):
configuration right now until i get more set up in
my new place with some time. So thanks for sticking
with me, because we got fun things to chat about
and fun people to chat with. Today, Everyone, buddy, we
are celebrating an iconic movie that came out twenty five
years ago in March two thousand and it made us
cautious of every move we made. Death does not take

(01:11):
no for an answer in final destination of film that
is so memorable and kicked off such a successful franchise
full of very memorable deaths. How about that trailer for
the new one coming out next month, Bloodlines one hundred
and seventy eight million views in twenty four hours, which
makes it the second most popular horror trailer ever.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
So grab your friends, wear your late nineties high school outfits,
and if you'd like to watch or rewatch this movie
before continuing. It's currently streaming on Max in the US,
or you can borrow it from your local library, rent it,
et cetera. All right, Class of two thousand, Flight one
point eighty to Paris is now boarding, and it's time

(01:55):
to rewind. I am so excited to be talking about
this super fun franchise with a super fun friend of mine, writer,

(02:16):
film lover, horror lover. He's been on the show before
Everybody a few years ago. It's already been close to
I think two years ago. I think it was for
the Crush. He is back to talk Final Destination. He's
got a book coming out about this great franchise. Everybody.
Welcome back, Padrick Morony, Hello, my friend, welcome back.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Hello, Thank you for having me Mark, I appreciate.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Oh my gosh, this is a no brainer. I was like, Okay,
maybe Padrick's gonna like do something on his podcast about
the movies. I'm sure he will. He probably won't want
to come to mine. But then I like threw it
out there and I was like, hey, do you want
to come on? You're like yes.

Speaker 5 (02:52):
I was like.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yes, So I mean you're you.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I will jump at it.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
That is so sweet. Well, we and luckily we just
saw each other in person finally, which was so fun.
That dinner was so great at Monster Vegan in Philly,
where I'm where I grew up, where Patrick lives. That
was so I love that place, and you're that's a
special place for you because you're gonna have your book
launch party there right.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah, I mean having a horror themed restaurant, Like it
was a no brainer for me. As soon as like
I started looking at places to have the book party,
I was like, I told my friend, we have to
go have dinner here. I've heard great things. Let's check
it out. We had dinner one time and then I
was sold, and so like started blowing up their dms

(03:37):
being like let me let me come here and have
a party please.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh I love that and I love they seem to
like a lot of your stuff. I followed them, so
you probably follow each other, which is great when it's
great when like you know other businesses like actually like
like you back and you know it's not one side, right,
great restaurant and also just so perfect that it's like
there's fun old horror movies like playing on the screen.
It's fun colors. It's right like center City Philly, right

(04:01):
like in a great part of town. And and there's
it's monster Vegan. So I think every was everything vegan,
I think so right.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, everything's vegan.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
And they have the drinks that are named after movies
and the tiki glasses there Scream one and some of
the other ones are really cool old monster movies. So yeah,
it is such a good fun vibe and they're they're great.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, really great, and what a good I'm so happy
you're having your party there. So you got to fill
us all in your new book, Escaping Death, the Unauthorized
Story behind the Final Destination movies, comes out when April sixteen,
it is almost here, only what thirty days twenty nine
days after the twenty fifth anniversary of the first film,

(04:47):
so it's perfect timing. Of course, and how long have
you been writing the book now?

Speaker 1 (04:51):
So?

Speaker 4 (04:51):
And also it comes out one month before the new movie.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Comes out of course, yes, behind that perfect timing for real,
like like ed Ever and the new one. Perfect. It's
like Final Destination spring for you exactly because you, of
course had your screen book which we've talked about, which
is amazing, and that came out. How long ago was
that book out twenty twenty two?

Speaker 4 (05:13):
No, that actually came out August twenty twenty one.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
So we did that before the twenty fifth anniversary for that,
before the fifth movie and everything, and.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
I think I need to just have a niche now
for twenty fifth anniversary.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Love love it, do it? Yeah, keep it going right?
And so like how long once you got that book out,
when did you know Final Destination was going to be
your next focus? It took a little bit of time
or did you kind of always have that idea?

Speaker 6 (05:41):
No?

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Actually, so my publisher came to me with an idea
for another franchise before the screen book came out, and
it wasn't anything that I was super passionate about. So
I kind of a month later came to him and
I said, look, you know Scream is you know this

(06:02):
meta kind of highbrow slasher. So taking that into account,
the Found Destination movies are a high concept franchise that
have traumatized an entire generation. Uh huh, Like anyone that's
under forty knows these movies, whether they watch horror movies

(06:23):
or not, they at least know the.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
Opening scene of the second movie.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
I actually just at work, we were talking about this
and our director didn't think his kids would know, and
we were like, yes, like we guarantee it, and oh yeah.
He came in the next day He's like, yeah, they
don't watch morror, but my son knows.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
So even if you haven't seen the full movies, you
have seen clips. You know there's a plane, there's there's
a highway, the role. I mean, you know the openings
at least of those first three. I feel like the
later ones might get a little blurry for some people,
but those first few iconic.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Right exactly, Like you said, nothing else, at least the
first to the plane crash and the highway scene.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
You know, everyone knows.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Those, especially the log truck. And I love that that
is speaking of that is like the main focus of
your book cover. I love the design. Everybody, if you're
not following Patrick on Instagram. You gotta I'll put it
in the show notes. But I love the design So
who came up with that? Did you? Because it focuses
on mostly the opening of two with the logs, but

(07:32):
there's a little bit of you know, all the openings
in the background here and there on the back of
the book. So who came up with that? Were you
thinking like to have to incorporate all of them or
was that the designer?

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Because it's beautiful. So it was actually a really collaborative process.
And before I go any further, I have to say,
you know, huge shout out to Craig Perry, who is
the producer of the franchise.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
You know, they call him the Godfather of fild Destination.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
And he has been so helpful and trusting and just
really collaborative on this whole project. And so I was
talking with the designer and the issue with fil Destination
versus when we work on the screen book is there's
not really icnography with found Doestination because there's no you know, personification,

(08:26):
which I'm sure we'll we'll talk about later, but you know,
so it's what will people think of that will draw
them in to something about Fiul destination. So when the
designer first showed us the cover, and the designer is
Stevie Clark, she's amazing, And the original one was the

(08:47):
this truck with the logs falling off, and we're like,
we love the style of this and everything, but it's
a little too heavy on FD two. So we were like,
what if in the background we had each of the
opening you know, kind of alluded to, and we even
have Easter eggs for all six of the movies across

(09:07):
the front and back cover. I showed it to Craig.
I sent it to him and he was the one
that came up with the idea. Instead of having Trump
logs falling off the Trump, what if they were in
the shape of a skull. And I think that just
took the cover completely to the next level.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Having in the background all the openings and the skull.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
It was.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
It was great to begin with, but it's a whole
other level.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
I think, yeah, oh, it's so good because yeah, you're right,
this franchise, it is obviously so successful, so memorable. I mean,
if you know it, you love it, right, But yet
there's no real kind of consistent look or you know,
there's no mask, you know, there's no consistent thing except
for like the skull, just like death, you know, like

(09:53):
we see those skull eyes on a lot of the posters, right,
so yeah, might as well lean into that iconography of
some sort of skull in the shape of something.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
It's so smart, so good. And the colors. I was
telling you too, I was like, oh my god, it
like all these shades of blue. It's like creepy and
cold and deathly. I love it. I love it.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
I give all the credit. I don't even take any
credit for it. Like I made little things like about
putting the things in the background the uh for the
other openings. But STEVIEE like got us to you know,
halfway to third base before Craig and I even came
to it. So cool.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
You know, all credit goes to everyone else.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
I have no.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
Problem sharing credit.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
And plus it means I don't get any blane there
you go.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Hey, that's true in case there's something you missed, right, Well,
it was a group thing. But yeah. So the book,
of course, much like your previous book at All, began
with the Scream, which also had such an iconic cover
with the mask, and I know that was amazing and
just another franchise that, of course we have nerded out about.
Scream is the best. But so when did you start
writing this book interviewing all the different people. I'm sure

(11:02):
you reached out to you know, I know you reached
out to actors, producers, you know, So when did all
that start. It's probably been a few years.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
So the conversation I had with my publisher was in
October of twenty twenty one, and I started in Earnest
in January twenty twenty two, and over the next to
two and a half years, I interviewed fifty people from
the franchise, actors, producers. I have officially all the writers

(11:32):
from the franchise, from Glenn Morgan and James Wong, Jeffrey
Reddick in the first few movies all the way to
Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor that are doing the
new one.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
So it really.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Covers the entire franchise from in front of the camera
and behind to give people that you know, behind the
scenes sneak peek and make them feel like they were
there as these movies were being made.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, that's amazing and how cool because I mean, writers
are of course very important with any film, I mean,
they get it started right, but especially such clever, fun
twisted movies like this. That's really cool that you have
all of them, you know, involved in the book. That
is really cool because some of these ideas, I mean,
some of these deaths, I mean, I think who came

(12:22):
up with that? And it's it's these writers, right.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
It is.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
And the funny thing is they're all so different, from
Morgan and Wong to Eric Bress and Jay Mackie Gruemer
to Guide Music and Laurie Evans Taylor. You know, it's
they're all so different. And I think that's also what's
really cool about this franchise is that they have these

(12:47):
these distinct points of view that are helping to shape it.
With Craig and his producing partner Sheila, who's been with
the franchise since basically the beginning also you know, that
are guiding the But then they have these different points
of view. But it doesn't feel like it's just random
like some franchises, you know, Friday thirteenth, people come in

(13:10):
and out, there's no continuity. There's very specific continuity here
that Craig and Sheila have and the writers come in,
they all come from a place of loving the franchise
and wanting to build off of it.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, I love that. That's and that is so key
because yeah, so many franchises we see, you know, the
rights become available, a new company takes it. You know,
there might be some producers that stick around, but it
might just really be a name only you know. So
it's nice to have consistent hands on producers, you know,
much like Scream and a few other franchises that are

(13:43):
they're strong because someone's still guiding it from the start.
I'm excited for the new one. Have you seen the
new one?

Speaker 4 (13:51):
I haven't seen it yet.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
I that was the funny thing working on the book
and talk to Guy and Laurie and Craig and Sheila
and Tony Todd.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
It was you know, how do I talk? How do
I interview you? And what are you allowed to say?

Speaker 1 (14:12):
And also like not ruining the movie for myself because
that's been something with both books.

Speaker 4 (14:18):
I'm okay with knowing.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Certain things, but you don't want the entire movie to
be ruined because you come from these and want to
make these ways because you're a fan, So you want
to still be able to have that enjoyment of what
it is, and I know little things here and there
that they were allowed to share.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
And because the book.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Is coming out so close to when the movie is,
you know, there are teases in the.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
Book about it.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
But yeah, I know just enough. But I won't be ruined.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
That's great, Okay, good? Yeah, because I mean these movies,
part of I mean, the biggest part of the fun
is not knowing will be right back.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
I got this feeling, this weird feeling the.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Play blow. It had been a while since I've rewatched
this first one, although years ago I almost wore my
DVD out. I mean, I was obsessed. Friends and I
after the second one came out in theaters, I've seen
all five in theaters. I'm gonna see the sixth one
in theaters obviously. But after the second one came out,

(15:33):
I was in high school and friends and I made
we would make spoofs short of horror movies all the time.
House of Waxes coming up on their twentieth anniversary with
Paris Hilton and we made a House of Sacks with
Avenue anyway, But so we made a Dawson's Destination and
it was the characters of Dawson's Creek, going back to Kursemith,

(15:53):
all dying one by one, and it was very heavily
inspired by Final Lastination two because we had just seen that.
But yeah, I mean, these movies are such a part
of our generation and older younger. I mean, you know,
they just are such And I can't believe it's been
fourteen years since the fifth one. Oh my god, I

(16:15):
remember seeing that like it was just a few years ago. Right,
have you seen I'm sure you're a big fan. Have
you seen all of them in theaters?

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah? I saw all five of them in theaters. And
speaking of the last one, like the ending, to this day,
I still remember the reaction of everyone in the theater
freaking out when the surprise twist ending happens. And it's
been fourteen years. Are we allowed to spoil things?

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh yeah, we're gonna spoil.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Will everyone know what happened?

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Or are people gonna like hate bomb us because we
spoiled that the fifth one's actually a prequel.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Oh yeah, that blew my mind that I was not expecting.
I mean, and that's the beauty, you know, even with
the first movie, like you think it's gonna be that thing,
but actually with something else and something else, and then
it's another you know, like you know it's coming, but
you just don't. It's so clever, right, and then a
big twist on top of all the twists with that one.

(17:12):
I think the fifth one is so good. How would
you rank them?

Speaker 1 (17:15):
The way I kind of look at is for most franchise,
I like the first one always has to go first,
because that was the one that had the you know,
the new concept, yeah, kicked it all off. Yeah, So
I actually probably would go one. Two and five are

(17:35):
like this for me because five I also really like
the twist that if you kill someone, you get their
their time length that they have. Oh right, okay, So
I thought that was a really clever and fun twist
on top of that and what that does in.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
The third act.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
But the second one, that opening scene, like you really
and the second one also is just a lot of
really good deaths.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
Oh my god, yeah, your clip that you posted the
other day, I mean like, oh my god. Yeah. And again,
if everyone's following Patrick, you'll see at least as of
this recording every day this week. For the anniversary week,
he has been posting an iconic death scene from each film,
and they you picked some great ones. Those are so memorable,
so memorable.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, well, and and part of that was based on
from working on the book what everyone said, because honestly,
like the fifth one, you know, I the lasic eye one,
just because so many people have eye things that like.
That one's always bothered me a little bit more than
the gymnastics one.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, me too, But the gymnastics one is great as well.
Oh yeah, I remember.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Everyone when I was talking on the book like that
was the one that really stuck out for them. And
like you said, it's a great scene. I just have
eye things so personally.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
And I almost feel like there was even one of them,
maybe alternate posters. The fifth one showed I forget that
actress's name, but showed her like screaming and that, you
know what I mean. I feel like we saw that
that picture of her often in the marketing, you know,
so that's pretty iconic.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
The trailer for the fifth one was mostly the LASA
scene with Jack mckinnis. Would I think I said her
name correctly? You know that that was a lot of
the trailer. Was that scene kind of like with the
sixth one, of how the teaser is the Tattoo Shop,

(19:31):
which yeah, I like that.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
On TikTok it.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Became a thing about removing your set of piercings because
they saw the trailer. It's because that's the thing like
these movies. You see them and then like it stays
with you, so you pick up these new superstitions.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
And you know, I know, for me, after seeing the.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
First movie, I always leave the tags on my back
I travel And actually it was had Christmas I was waiting.
I think it was when I was going to London.
The woman that was working the line, she like took
it off before I got to the counter, and I
was like, man, oh you just did.

Speaker 6 (20:14):
And I'm like, I have this super superstition from this
movie and you just anything happens this is on you right,
like the worst thing this holiday.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
But no, because in.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
The beginning I forgot Mom just rips that right off,
and the camera like lingers and we know, like, oh
something starting right.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah, have you developed any somethings you've seen in the.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Movie, Oh from this movie? Well, definitely some eye stuff.
I mean I think I already had the eye stuff,
but this movie, this franchise ruined it because five and
even two with the the guy, the guy with the
nipple ring, and you think, like, oh, something's gonna pull
that out, much like what we see in the trailer
for six, which, by the way, Patrick, I saw that
on the big screen before seeing Hard Eyes, which Hard

(21:00):
Eyes was a lot of fun. I really liked it.
But I was with some friends and all they hadn't
seen it. I had seen most of it online. Oh
my god. The screams in the theater on a when
we went on like a Tuesday night, Oh my gosh,
it was so fun. It was so fun. So that's
what's these movies. I some movies I don't want to
see in the theater because people are just gonna be
too crazy. But the this, these are the movies to

(21:22):
see in the theater, you know what I mean. But yeah,
even in two with that guy, you know, with like
the latter I think goes into his eye, you know,
even in this first film, I still am I mean,
every death is so good, but I am still so
freaked out by Todd's death and his wet feet and like,
I don't know what, you like, it's bringing back my

(21:42):
like fear of like you know, when you're in the
shower in the tub, like you know, don't slip. You
never know what might happen, you know, So lots of
creepy superstitions. For sure.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast,
but death could arrive this same afternoon.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
And like you were saying the beginning of the second movie,
that log truck, I think everyone, whether you've seen FD
two or just a clip or a picture, that is
spooky because one chain can come undone and that's coming
right for your head, right.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, And not to spoil the magic of the movie,
but I didn't realize.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
Until it's working on the book those logs weren't real.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Oh interesting, Okay, that makes sense. Okay.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
One of the only things in that opening scene that
was CGI.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
So that was CGI. Wow, really well done.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, they Because what happened is while they were waiting
to film that in the days leading up to it,
the trees were on the truck and they kind of
melded together because of the sap and being out in
the sun.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
So when it came time to try to blow.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Them, it's just yeah, they're just that's so funny. Wow,
oh my god, that must have been such a headache.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Interesting it looks so realistic and that is you know,
just kudos to the.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
Special effects department and Joseph Bauer.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Like all this time I thought it was literally they
just dropped a log, you know, using movie magic, you know,
to like just holding.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
It off camera and let it bounce.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
And yeah, it was cgi amazing. I had no idea. See,
this podcast is educational. This is why you got to
get the book.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
It'll be available everywhere Amazon, Target, you can order it
at your independent bookshops.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
I know a lot of people aren't shopping at Target.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
And Amazon, so like Barnes and Noble, you'll be able
to order it.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
It'll be anywhere that.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
You get books, you can order it. It'll be available.
This is going to be coming right up on when
the movie's released, so it's a little bit more condensed.
So it does feel very different. And with that, my
stress levels are just a little bit more elevated.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
So I believe it, I know, and that's why thank
you so much for being here and literally everybody, this
is this recording on this beautiful Saturday, is right in
the middle of Patrick doing it like a proof read
of the book, you know, So I mean, he is
he is all book all day, So I thank you
for being here. And it's all so cool and exciting

(24:25):
and impressive, and yeah, we get thrown off the plane
all because Brownie has a bad dream the plane. It's
good to blow walk. It's good to blow.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Walk because of you.

Speaker 4 (24:38):
I'm still alive.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Let's rewind to March seventeenth, Saint Patrick's Day, twenty twenty
five years ago when this original film Final Destination came
out in theaters in the US. So I'm gonna set
the scene for you, Patrick, and I want you to
tell me what you think and how this brings us back. Okay.
On the music side, Say My Name, Say My Name
by Disney's Child was number one. It was the number

(25:02):
one single. Oh my God, Bye Bye Bye from n
Sync was climbing the charts. Show Me the Meaning of
Being Lonely from the Backstreet Boys was in the top ten,
as was and That's the way it is from Celine Dion.
That's the way it is. They were in the top ten.
I feel like that is such a time capsule. When

(25:22):
you hear all those songs, how does it make you feel?

Speaker 1 (25:25):
So the one thing I have to and I'm checking
in is was Say My Name by Dusney's child before
or after the bugaboo, Wow is My jam?

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Bugaboo? Also good Bugaboo. It first was I Believe, pay
my Bills, Bills, Bill Bills, Bugaboo, then say my Name,
I believe. I think it might have all been on
the same album, but those are like the singles, one
at a time, so Say my Name was a little
later because Bugaboo.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
It's amazing because they name dropped so many things that
were big at that time. And see, I like, is
that even a phone company anymore? But it's amazing. All right.
I love that song so much, so good. Yeah. Last,
it also feels weird that No Strings Attached is twenty
five years old, right.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
It just turned yeah, twenty five, it's gonna be may. Yeah,
that's that's We're old. That is old now for sure.
I mean when that was coming out in two thousand,
twenty five years prior was nineteen seventy five? Oh what
the heck? Right, Like, that's freaky to think of it
that way, you know, So and them out, bye, right,
and thank you everyone for listening. That's all we have

(26:32):
for today. We have to go to the you know,
Senior Citizen Home. But so that that's what was happening
on the music side, shady, that's what was happening on
the music front, everybody back in March two thousand. On
the movie side, these were the other popular films. Final
Destination opened to number three, ended up making obviously tons
of millions of dollars worldwide, which is what set off

(26:54):
the franchise. Opened at number three, open behind another big
movie that came out, The Sea, which was an Awards movie,
Aaron Brockovich with of course, the one and only Julia Roberts.
She won her Oscar for that one. Aaron Brockovic Mission
to Mars, My Dog Skip, and the ninth Gate Supernatural
Spooky one with Johnny Depp. Those were in the top

(27:16):
five or so films at this time. Now, Patrick, I'm
gonna throw it over to you for a second, in
your own words, at least for this first film. In
your own words, it can be brief, tell us your
own little log line, Uh huh, get it log your
own little you know, brief summary. What is Final Destination about?
Because I am shocked to say, I know some people
that still have never seen this classic movie, and they

(27:38):
I told them, you have homework. But in your own words.
Feel free to spoil. What is this movie?

Speaker 5 (27:43):
What is it about?

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yeah, so I like to say that the original Final
Destination is a bridge between the nineties slasher movies and
the supernatural movies that were big in the.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
Early two thousands.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
You know, it's not a slasher movie, but it does
kind of, you know, bridge between the two horror subgenres
that became big. And it's you know, Alex played by
Devin Sawa, has a premonition that a plane's going to crash.
He freaks out on the plane and him and some
friends get off, and Death is not happy about that.

(28:21):
So he's like, bitch, I'm coming for you and starts
picking them off one by one. So they Yeah, so
they have to try to find out how to beat Death.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yes, absolutely, yeah. And you know, on this latest rewatch
because like I said, it had been a long time
and now I'm such an adult, I'm older, and I'm like,
oh my god, poor Alex. He is so stressed. He's
stressed from the get go. He's already superstitious and has
anxiety with flying, and you know, all these signs and
it is just getting worse for this poor kid. You
know what, I mean, I was like, oh my god, parents,

(28:53):
get him some medication, some therapy, like I need to
see him trying to relax. I mean, it's stressed for him,
it's stressful for all of them. But you know they
then when they're all looking at him, like my next,
what do you see? You know, and they're also mean
to him, except for Clear, which for years I thought
her name was a normal person's name, Patrick. I thought
it was Claire. I'm like, it really is Clear.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
But fun fact, she was named after one of the
assistant to James Wong and Glenn Morgan.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Their assistant name was Clear.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
So but I think that's a very common misconception that
a lot of people have. They think she was Claire,
but unfortunately that was Molly Ringwalden.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
She's not true. There you go, no Molly, no Claire.
But yeah, for years I thought her name was Claire,
and then I forget must have been later in maybe
high school or college. I was like, wait, her name
was clear and her last name is Rivers, so clear Rivers, Okay,
I mean drag name. I think that could be a
great drag.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Name if it was a drag one, though it might
be not so clear. Rivers with the brown horse.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, you're so right. Yeah, uh huh
not so dirty dirty rivers.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
In Death there are no accidents, no coincidence is and
no escapes.

Speaker 7 (30:20):
Did it happen again?

Speaker 5 (30:23):
Did you see Todd Die?

Speaker 2 (30:25):
I love how short this movie is because it doesn't
feel short. It feels like a really nice pace. Nothing
is too rushed. But when I put it on the
other day, I was like, oh wow, it's only like
an hour and thirty eight minutes.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
I thought it.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Thought there was more meat to it than that, Like
they there's no there's no time wasted. I don't think.
Do you agree?

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, all the movies in the franchise, the first five
are all right around in an hour and a half. They
keep the pacing going because one death is a very
bengeful being an entity, like it just once you escape,
like it's like no, like it's time to go, and
it just especially like the second movie, it's like a

(31:05):
running gun action movie like there you really don't have
much of a chance to catch your breath. And actually,
you know, the first movie, they found after Terry gets
set with the bus head, they actually had to extend
the next scene with the alka Seltzer that Alex puts
in the drink because during the test screenings, audiences were

(31:30):
like still gasping and everything, so like they were missing
the dialogue that was coming, so they had to keep
extending it so that people didn't miss anything.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
That's amazing. Yeah, I remember that moment so well. I
saw this in theaters with my dad, either opening night
or definitely opening weekend, and I still remember that that death,
her death with the bus where she says you can
drop fucking dead or whatever she says, right bang. I
mean we all were screaming and laughing and probably for

(32:00):
a full yeah, thirty seconds at least, right, So that
is so cool to hear that they had a quick
you know, spread it out a little bit or else. Yeah,
you're gonna miss some stuff. And it's funny because I
noticed that rewatching now at home without an audience, you know,
I'm like, okay, we're really doing a couple shots of
alcac Seltzer like he's doing it, she's doing it, Like okay,
but I get it now, Yeah, you got you gotta

(32:22):
draw it out a little bit for people to settle down.
That is so cool.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
You got to remember back in two thousand, I mean
DVDs and videos were big, but like it was still
primarily seeing things in theaters. It was so different than now,
so they really had to make it so that the
audience in the theater could see everything.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
They weren't as concerned with home viewing.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yeah, that's so smart, absolutely, and I have to say everybody,
if you're watching on YouTube. Patrick behind him is a
great finalist station poster and it's funny I can see
the actor playing Todd Is in your poster. He was
swapped out for William Scott, a more famous face, especially
who had he had just done American Pie, you know.
So it's funny to see the difference because you know,

(33:06):
Sean William Scott really doesn't have much to do. He
is definitely like out of the group of well they're
not really friends, but out of the survivors he's got,
he's probably got the smallest role. I know, Terry's not
in it a ton, but she almost feels like she
has a little bit more to do than Billy, you know. So,
but it makes sense to swap him out for you know,
to put him in there after the success that he

(33:28):
was having a stiffler and plus I will always everybody.
Sean William Scott is like one of my like top
five crushes of all time. He is just beautiful and
it's funny to see him kind of play like a
nerdy How would you describe him? Like everyone's kind of
got their like you know, breakfast club style like archetypes,
except like Billy, I'm like, well, you're like sporty. You're

(33:50):
like a sporty nerd. Like they don't know, No one
really likes him, but he's like a sort of a jock, right.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
So he was originally written to be like this over
nerdy character, but then Craig Perry, he also produced the
American Pie movies too, okay, so he knew from you know,
seeing Sean William Scott at Stiffler was like, this guy's
gonna be huge. Let's bring him over here. And it's

(34:18):
perfect because Stiffler and Billy are two completely polar hop
sets of each other, so you know, and when they
were filming this American Pie hadn't come out yet, so
you know, it was like they didn't know if he
was going to be as big as he did. They
just knew like he was really getting the reaction and

(34:38):
so put him in this, He's going to show off
his range, and I think, yeah, like it was perfect.
I mean, even like you said, Terry, Amanda Deptmer really
hadn't done much either before this, you.

Speaker 4 (34:52):
Know, and Ali Larner had only.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Done Varsity Blues, but she was again against type from
being Darcy with the.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Whipped cream bikini State Blues.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
Which I mean, how many of us were like, let's
just wear out our DVD when Nola's home to that,
you know, versus here she's a little more meek and
she's got like the darker hair, so you know she's serious.
You know, things like that. You know, they did really well.
John Pasadero, who's a huge casting directorly did this and

(35:25):
talking with him, it was, you know, they got such
a good cast. And actually, speaking of Alie Larder, one
of the things we talked about in the book, which
I think people that know this series a lot knows
Jessica bial was actually cast in her role.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Oh I don't think I knew that. That's interesting, that
makes perfect sense totally. But what did Jessica get busy?
Want something else? What was she doing Seventh Heaven?

Speaker 4 (35:50):
So she was on Seventh Heaven?

Speaker 1 (35:52):
At that point, but it was because she actually wasn't eighteen,
and because so much of the movie films at night
and the restrictions that are on actors that are minors,
she would have had to have gotten emancipated, and from
one understand that her parents weren't really into that, so
they had to go with someone who was over eighteen,

(36:14):
and they had cast her and everything, and then this
came up and they were like, sorry, like it just
wouldn't have worked.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Interesting, that is so interesting. Okay, I didn't know this,
And now you got my gears going, and I'll say something.
I mean, I love this movie, I love this cast,
but Ali is so or maybe it's just maybe it's
just a character. I don't know. At times, I'm just
like wa wha. Like I even wrote my notes like
clears boring monologue about like dad, and I know that's cruel,

(36:42):
but I'm just like clear, so and like I don't know,
I'm just Also she's calling Alex baby by the end,
I'm like, wait a minute, have you guys, you guys
haven't even like kiss, like you're okay, relax, relax, clear
you know. Like so I'm just like, but Jessica Biel
Clear is like sort of like, you know, I don't
want to say goth, but she's she's alone. Like, is
Jessica Bial too pretty and wholesome to kind of have

(37:04):
this you know, sculpture edge book reader quiet like you
know what I mean? Like maybe she, maybe Ali is
a better fit. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (37:13):
Yeah, I don't know that Jessica Bial.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
I'm sure she would have done well in the in
the role and done it, you know, just as well.
But I don't know that she has the little bit
of edge that Ali Larder has and to it. Yeah,
you know, I don't know that I would call her
wholesome because she got kicked off of Seventh Heaven for
that photo shoot. Yeah, so you know she does have,

(37:40):
you know, different sides to her. But I just, yeah,
I think Ali Larder was you know, I think she
really owned that role. And Yah with her saying baby,
I think that's it goes to the original ending of
the movie where her Alex had set and she's pregnant

(38:02):
and everything.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
So I think, oh my gosh, that's right. I forgot
I read that years ago. I think on one of
the special features of the DVD. If I remember correctly.
I think they talked about that. Yeah, she's pregnant at
the end. Whoa, you just unlocked a core memory. Oh
my gosh, Okay, continue, Yeah, so what happens?

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, so the original ending was a more philosophical ending.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
It was when her and Ales are on the.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
Beach before Billy dies, they have sex, and then before
the end she finds out she's pregnant, and then the
ending plays into the only way to beat death is
through new life, and so it ends with her having
the baby. She names it Alex because also, Devin saw
what died in the original ending, right, and it was

(38:46):
her and Carter who lived, and people didn't really like that,
so they went back and shot the ending that is
on the movie Alex lives and Carter dies.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
Wow, everybody, now, I am totally popping in that DVD
because yeah, it must be a deleted scene or something. Yes,
that is bringing me back. I forgot about the baby.
You know, that isn't a bad ending, but because the
movie is so fun and the ending that we get
in the final cut is so fun in Paris and
Who's Next, you know, like it's so good, So Who's Next?

(39:24):
They wanted, like, you know, everyone to really have fun
and like riot in the theater, and that one, that
ending is a little more like you said, a little
more philosophical, a little more sentimental. Yeah, but they could
always bring that into a future sequel somehow. You know.
That's interesting yet that to end death's design you have
to bring new life. That's interesting. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
They actually did bring it into the sequel in the
second one. And the second one, yeah, because Kimberly dies
and is resuscitated and that's kind of how she gets
technically she's out of the loop. And and then a
little bit because like she died and came back. It
was the pregnant Isabella who is the van driver, right,

(40:09):
who was played by Justina Machado, who has become.

Speaker 4 (40:13):
Big now yeah, yeah, or more well known.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
But you know, they thought that was the way to
stop it, but they did so they did reade visit
that in the second movie, right.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
And yeah, another quick thing I wanted to say, I
love that. I completely agree that this movie, like you said,
bridged the sort of transition from nineties cool slick slashers
to now this new wave of like interesting, creepy supernatural
you know, with the ring and there's a lot of
you know Asian you know, supernatural stuff that was about

(40:46):
to you know, start really taking over. And even with
the poster, you know, like because as you look at
the posters for this franchise, the first to you know,
have like that kind of scream like lineup the v
especially the first one with the heads. The second one,
I remember, they're all like kind of standing. But then
and then three we see them on the roller coaster iconic,
but like there's no there's no kind of screen formation.

(41:08):
By then we're we're really good, you know, changing it up.
So it's fun to also see, you know, just the
change in marketing for these kinds of movies throughout the
course of the franchise, to the point where the last
few posters, including Bloodlines, they might there might be another one.
It might just be a teaser poster. It's strictly like
just the skull and like a hint of like one

(41:29):
or two deaths. Like there's there's no faces, there's no eyes,
So it is interesting. I wonder if they'll they'll bring
back some faces for more, you know, of the print
marketing for this new one, because I love the original poster.
I love the movie poster for this one, you know.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Well, especially for this one, the ventricular where like as
you are, they turn into skulls.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yes, brilliant. Oh love it. And that's what I loved
about having the shiny DVD case. I remember also kind
of had that too. Yeah, so cool, so cool.

Speaker 5 (42:00):
If Ton was just the first.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Of us final Last Nation was written by a few
different guys, Right, Jeffrey Reddick, James Wong, and Glenn Morgan. Right.
Jeffrey Reddick got the idea after reading a story about
a woman who was on vacation and her mom called
her and said, don't take the flight tomorrow. Her mom
had a bad feeling. Right, Oh, I feel like I'm
telling a scary story. This is fun. And so her

(42:24):
mom is like kind of freaking out about this flight tomorrow,
and so her daughter, this woman switched flights follows her
mom's kind of premonition, and the plane she was originally
supposed to be on crashed. And so Jeffrey Reddick and basically,
if I remember correctly, all three of these writers producers.
They were producers on The X Files, Right, Patrick.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
Jeffrey Reddick wasn't James Wong. They knew each other from
high school and they became friends and writing partners. But
I think what you're alluding to is Jeffrey Reddick originally
wrote the script for File Destination as a spec script
for the X Files.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Right, which is never that's been going around on social
as you have seen as well, I'm sure, and like
everyone's sending it to me. I'm like, yes, I know,
I know. It's great. Thank you everybody for sending me
that fun fact. But yes, okay, so yeah, he had
written it as a spec script for like an episode
of X Files, right, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
And in the book I get into what that plot was, and.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Lennon James never knew about that at the time. They
didn't know about it being a spec script or anything
until years later.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Oh that's so interesting. Wow, okay, because yeah, they were
very involved in the X Files for years. Of course,
that's interesting they didn't know until later. Yeah, you know,
so smart to turn it into its own separate thing,
because that could have been a really cool special X
Files episode. But I mean, as we know, there is
so much mileage to get out of it, and so
that is really cool. And then you know, of course

(43:56):
he wrote he turned it into a feature film script,
his first which is really cool. And this was the
director James Wong's directorial debut, which I thought was really impressive.
I mean a movie like this, I mean all the
amazing complicated set pieces and action, and I mean this
is pretty this I have to say, this is one
of the most impressive directorial debuts. I mean, this had

(44:18):
to be crazy to do. Did you interview James Wong
in the book?

Speaker 4 (44:23):
Yeah, so I interviewed James Wong and Glenn Morgan.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
Actually the three of them were some of the very
first ones I did, so that that was a really good,
I think foundation to have the people who really built
the franchise as the initial interviews. And actually James Wong,
he had done episodes of The X Files because he

(44:48):
got now made for an Emmy for an episode, but
this was his first movie, and he said, like he
wasn't quite as relaxed as he is now on sets
making this one. You know. So that's like the one
thing that he remembers from this is it not being
as you know, relaxing for him. And he was a

(45:09):
little more uptight.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
I believe it. I would be too, for sure. You
got you know, your hands are full with all this
cool stuff to make look really good, and it looks
so good. I mean, twenty five years later, this movie rocks.
I would not change many things at all. I think
it is like a pretty much near perfect fun thrill ride.
It looks so good, all the edits, the great shots.

(45:32):
I mean, yeah, we'll get into some of our favorite
moments in a minute.

Speaker 5 (45:40):
What if it was our time? What if we were
not meant to get up that right?

Speaker 3 (45:44):
What if there is a design then it's not finished?

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah, So he turned it into a feature script and
then I guess New Line Cinema, you know, helped him
develop it, brought on you know, Wong and Morgan to
I guess I read online like update the script to
you know, regular shooting script standards, you know, since it
was his first screenplay, right.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Well, so that and I don't want to get into
too much because I also don't want to misspeak.

Speaker 4 (46:13):
But it's something that we go into in the book.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
So Jeffrey wrote the treatment and then he wrote a draft,
and then Morgan and Wang were brought on and they
actually they read maybe the first couple pages of the treatment,
and then they wrote their own script.

Speaker 4 (46:32):
And they're the ones who.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Brought in the rue Goldberg mouse trap type of thing,
and it was because of them that actually also death
wasn't personified because the studio wasn't fully on board with
not having a visible killer.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Interesting, Okay, so.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Morgan and Wang, what was conveyed to them through the
studio was that there would be a person you know,
or some kind of visual representation in the original script
that Jeffrey wrote and he's posted online because there's been
debates about whether death was going to be personified or not.

(47:15):
Death it was more a nightmare on Elm Street ish
where I could say it couldn't manifest. Death would manifest things,
and it played on their guilt of surviving. But Wong
and Morgan really brought into Rude Goldberg and really got
the studio on board with having it just be an

(47:35):
entity or presence that you can't see.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
That's cool, Okay, that's really interesting. Yeah, I mean, yeah,
we really don't see any personification. There's no like, you know,
skulls or grim Reapers, you know, that'd be interesting. I
assume they probably wanted to get like the Grim Reaper
to appear or something, which could have been cool. But
then we're kind of getting into a little like RL Stein,
which I love, but you know, it starts to get
a little fun and not like so ominous and like

(48:01):
anything can happen. You know, everyone basically sees like that
that death shadow, you know, in a reflection or come over,
you know what I mean, which is pretty cool. It's
definitely it's definitely creepy for sure. That's interesting.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
This is a message of something hinting and design, so
we will die unless we find the patters and cheated again.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Our star Devin Sawa, I mean, one of his biggest movies.
Of course, he had just been in Idle Hands. That
was his one of his last movies before Final Destination
came out. That's a classic one that I guess they're
now remaking rebooting. We'll see. I mean, it wasn't a
huge hit back then. I didn't even know if it
was that beloved now as a cult classic, but I

(48:43):
guess so so Idle Hands, Yeah, we'll see, right. Ali Larder,
like we mentioned, she had really broken out in Varsity Blues.
She just before this was she was kind of in
a little bit of a scream queen thing going on
because she was also in House on Haunted Hill, the
remake that was in late ninety nine, so a few
months prior and then and then our third lead. I

(49:03):
won't talk about every actor, I mean they're also great,
but our third lead, the names on the poster Kurse Smith,
what a cutie. He was filming, of course, Dawson's Creek,
and I believe this came out just two months It
was season three of the show. He was about to
make history as his gay character Jack kissing another man

(49:24):
on TV that we had not actually seen a kiss
between two men on you know, broadcast TV until May
two thousand, I believe, so kind of a cool time
for him.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
And that was a conscious decision by him, you know,
having played Jack for a season filming this in the
hiatus between, he was looking for a role that was
the exact opposite of Jack, like we were talking about
with Sean Williams, Scott and Alan Larder, you know, really
playing against type because like you said, two guys kissing

(49:59):
on TV hadn't been done.

Speaker 4 (50:01):
Playing a gay character was still a really.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Big deal backs I feel like it still is now,
but back then, especially he was young, wasn't really known
before Dawson's Creek, so like it was a big thing.
So he was making conscious efforts to really again show
his range and what he could do in different roles.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
And again going back to John Papsoderis just.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Like really nailed it with getting these actors that could
show all the different sides and against what people would
think of them and would walk into the theater like
with their preconceived notions.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Absolutely, it's great casting because everyone you know, most of
them from something else, but they're also and like Devin Salva,
I have to say, is one of the few leads
of a horror movie throughout the years of horror movies
that actually looks like a high schooler. You know, he's cute,
but he's not that cute. You know, he's like very
normal looking. He looks young, you know. And then yeah,

(51:06):
you're bringing people in from Dawson's Creek, from American Pie,
from you know, Varsity Blues. Like great packaging of this
cast for sure. And I mean, Kerr feels so different
from his role on Dawson's Creek. It feels like a
different person. And I feel like he got you know,
more like jockey buff. You like, he's so good you
hate him, like he is such a jerk in this movie.

(51:27):
And he does it so well. I know Death is
the villain, but he's kind of like the human villain
who just will not give anyone a fucking break. Right, Yeah,
really great cast, really good, and then we even have
I have to just give a shout out to Kristin Kloak, right,
oh my gosh as miss Lewton, a very sassy teacher,
you know. And of course she then worked with her

(51:48):
husband again, Glenn Morgan in Black Christmas the remake, which
I love. You know, she plays the sassy scream queens.
I really like her. She's she's got such a hard
edge and it's and it's because I think they could
have easily had a more, you know, kind of typical
high school teacher who's maybe you know, just more of
like a mom. But this teacher's got like some fire.

(52:09):
She's cursing right off the bat when we meet her
at the airport, right, she's telling this like weirdo religious
guide of like fuck off. I'm like, oh, okay, right,
what do you think of her in this movie?

Speaker 1 (52:20):
So I have to say miss Lewton was always one
of my favorites in this movie.

Speaker 4 (52:26):
And I interviewed.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
Kristin for the book and one of the first things
I said to her, I'm like this in Black Christmas,
do you come in hot in both those movies? Like
uh huh, you are not like coming in like a
delicate flower in either of them.

Speaker 4 (52:42):
But yeah, I just and I've gotten to know her
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
I met her one time at a convention and just
over DMS a little bit, and she's super sweet. She's
just really great and like you can see that, like
there's so much depth that she brought to the on
top of the writing that was there, but like she
really helped create that character into what Val became.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Wow. Yeah, I believe it, especially you know since her
husband was so involved behind the scenes. Yeah, she's she
really is a standout. I mean, like I said, that
could have been played by a much you know, mouseier
chiller woman, but she's got this. You're right when she
comes in hot and she stays hot until her crazy death.
Oh my gosh. We'll get into the depths for sure,

(53:29):
because I want to hear your your favorites for sure,
But can you tell us who else from the original
movie at least you interviewed in the book. Do you
want to spill those things?

Speaker 1 (53:39):
So? Yeah, So from the first movie, I interviewed Kur Smith,
Amanda Detmer, Daniel Roebuck, who played the agent that's investigating,
and and Tony Todd.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Yeah, Tony Todd. Oh my gosh, wow, amazing iconic. That's
so cool. That's great. That's a great group. Yeah, and I'm.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
Not gonna spoil it. This is something people will have
to pick up the book or it might be online somewhere.
But seeing who also auditioned for the role of blood
Worth really kind of blew me away.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
When I saw and was told like.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Who else, it was oh, fun. Oh that's a good tease.
Now I gotta know. Yeah, I mean Tony Todd and
his cameo. Wow, I mean that is like the dream
of cameos right there. He is so good as the
U I guess he's is he a mortician? He's sort
of like a feud. They're in like a funeral home,

(54:37):
so he's like what would he be called?

Speaker 1 (54:40):
So in the fifth movie he's wearing one of those
like windbreaker jackets. That says my MiG so. I refer
to him in the book as the corner.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
The corner.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
Yeah, and I'm not going to spell this either, but
you know, everyone has always been asking and theorizing what
blood Worth is, you know, because how does he know
so much about this?

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Right?

Speaker 1 (55:01):
And I found out I asked him and he told
me how he played the character and what he saw,
you know. And I found out that he had actually
not even told the filmmakers how what he was drawing on.
So I think that's an exclusive in the book of
how he did. And it's actually really cool, like where

(55:24):
he was coming from with it. Nice.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Oh, that's exciting, that's really cool. Yeah, he's great. And
remind I know he pops up. Yeah, he's in five?
Is he in two? Three and four? I think he's three.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
He's in so as Bloodworth. He's in all the movies
except three. Oh but okay, no, so he's in three
in voice cameos. He's the voice of the devil on
the roller coaster right the subway car at the end.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
So he's he's involved.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
In all six of the movies.

Speaker 4 (55:57):
But he just wasn't wasn't Bloodworth in the third one?

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Gotcha?

Speaker 5 (56:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (56:03):
I remember the fourth one he was not in at all.
That's the only one he was.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Okay, the fourth one he wasn't in all interesting and
that's why in my opinion, they're all great, but the
fourth one is probably my least favorite. Going back to
the ranking, I agree with you one and like two
and five are like I guess I would go one, two, five.
I don't know. Five is so good, but two is
so good, so yeah, that and then probably three, which
I love as well, and then four is just the

(56:28):
one I think about the least, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
In the book, you can read about the troubles behind
the scenes with four. They were facing a lot of
obstacles interesting, which I think. My hope is that it's
not going to change people's opinions about the fourth movie,
but I hope that reading this people will say, Okay,

(56:54):
I understand it a little bit better.

Speaker 4 (56:56):
Now, and interesting it wasn't you know.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
It's easy to blame actors or the writer or the
director or you know, because it's usually those those three
groups of people that get blamed. You know, you're usually
not like, well, the cinematographer screwed this up or something.
And I think when you read what was going on
at the time, that it was just a perfect storm

(57:24):
of issues that the production was facing that interesting they
were trying to overcome.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
Okay, interesting Yeah, the post you made the other day
of the death from the fourth one. Yeah, I would
say out of all of them, that is that is
the most memorable. That is quite gross and stressful and
uh and it was you know, it was nice to
see Nick Xano in a bathing suit. But yeah, that
was That's a tough one for sure. Oh God, I squirm.

(57:53):
I'm scirming right now in my seat just thinking about
that death. So, yeah, you're listening to release date rewind,
which is now part of the you run podcast network.
Check out other pods that are part of this community,
ranging in topics from movies, true crime, horror, public figures,

(58:14):
and pop culture, all at run podcast dot com. Also Everybody.
My latest short horror film, it's a horror comedy, Casting Kill,
is now available on YouTube, so if you haven't seen
it yet, I would love for you to check it out.
If you want some laughter with your blood, I think
you'll enjoy Casting Kill.

Speaker 4 (58:33):
Do you do a background check on these people before
calling them in?

Speaker 1 (58:37):
No?

Speaker 2 (58:38):
I don't even know how to do a background check, Kelsey,
do you now rewinders? It's not just Patrick and I
who love Final Destination, No way. We have another passenger
who enjoys squirming in his seat. And that's friend of
the Pod, Rudy Valdez. Here is Rudy to share his thoughts.

Speaker 7 (59:00):
Hey, Mark, it's Rudy. I just wanted to drop you
a line to just speak a little bit about my
love for the Final Destination franchise. It's just been such
a guilty pleasure, a comfort watch of sorts for so
many of us. I mean, who hasn't been terrified about

(59:22):
doing normal day to day activities after watching these movies.
Who doesn't change lanes when they get behind a truck?
That is? That is you know, hauling tree logs like
come on and roller coasters. We already like kind of
have a little bit of fear anyway, going to music
parks or even getting on a plane. These movies really

(59:45):
found a way to scare us into being more aware
of these things that are around us. And I'm looking
so forward to the new movie. It's been a long
time since the last one, and I'm just excited to
get back into the theater and see other people's reactions

(01:00:06):
once again, because I saw some of the other other
movies in theaters a long time ago, and it's just
it's just gonna be an exciting time, and the first
one really set the ball rolling. Devin Sala is such
a great actor and he did so well with the movie,
and yeah, so thank you, and U can't wait to
hear the pod.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
What do you got?

Speaker 5 (01:00:32):
Now he knows which one of us is next.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
You have the responsibility to tell me. I knew I
should have hit on Tammy in the pool that time.
Let it happen, Okay, okay.

Speaker 4 (01:00:46):
In the first movie.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Okay, good, good good. Speaking of death, all right, favorite death?
I mean this is tough because I really do think
a lot of these deaths, all of them are so
so good. But obviously Harry Aman of detmur with the Bus,
I mean for the shock value, of course, But I
actually think my favorite one in how drawn out it

(01:01:08):
is and how shocking, you know, because I, you know,
even rewatching it, I was thinking, oh, yeah, I know
what happens, but is it that? I think? Going back
to kristin Kloak, Miss Luton, I think her death is
really interesting and kind of like iconic final destination, you know,
where it's like you think it's gonna be this, like
the mug in her hand or something, or it's gonna

(01:01:29):
be you know, an explosion in the comput like it
just the poor lady just things kept happening to her,
you know what I mean, that computer blowing up, and
the glass in her neck, the blood slipping, you know,
and then oh my god, the knife, Oh my god,
and then and then the chair like making the knife go. Oh.
So yeah, I think I just have to give it
up for that one. Again, I love all of them,

(01:01:52):
but that one, just sitting here alone, I'm just like, oh,
you know, so, I think I have to give that
the edge for my favorite one. But Todd's death is brutal,
I think because that's like the first you know, post
plane explosion. You know, that's the first one where death's
coming back with avengeance, vengeance, his eyes red eyes is
you know, that one's hard to watch well.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
So I think the thing with Todd's death also is
with a lot of the deaths that you see, like
vallew And she she dies a thousand deaths, like she
really they kill her about six times in that scene,
you don't see her actually like struggling and like suffering,
and most of the deaths you really don't the two

(01:02:37):
that you really see the characters, you know, really struggling
and suffering are Todd and in the third movie, the
Tanning Bed the two girls. I think that's what makes
those deaths like because like when you see like Todd's
blood vessels and his eyes and stuff, it's just it's

(01:02:57):
you can tell that they're suffering, whereas like Terry and
you know, Carter, it's very quick for them, and like
that one once it comes, even the pool scene and
the fourth one, he's stuck, but he doesn't really seem
like he's suffering as I think that's why Todd's death

(01:03:18):
really sticks out to people.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. Absolutely. It's like and
then his wet feet on the tub and it's yeah,
I mean just all the shots that went involved that
went into that his death scene. Oh yeah, it's brutal.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
I think I have to go with that lowin also
just because I think it is kind of a perfect
encapsulation of the Rube Goldberg. You know there it's like
you said, the computer screen like would be enough to
kill someone, but then like she comes back and then
you know, she gets the knife and she gets knocked

(01:03:56):
to the ground and then the chair and it just
that perfect mousetrap of things that and that's.

Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
Where File the Station is great, and it's.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
The lead up to these are you know, kind of
I don't want to say drawn out in a bad way.

Speaker 4 (01:04:11):
It's drawn out in a good way to build a tension.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
But then when like death does finally come, it's not
usually like again where they're suffering for a long time.
And I think value And really captures that well in
that scene.

Speaker 8 (01:04:27):
Nobody has control over life and death unless they hear
it taking lives causing death. Can you promise me that
no one else is going to die?

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
One thing I really love about this first movie is
how you know, most of them are scared of Alex
and he shows up. It's actually it's really brilliant. You know,
he knows what's going on, so he goes to their
and I can understand why the cops and some of
these survivors are so suspicious of him, because it's like,
you know, even like val Luton before she dies, you know,

(01:05:09):
she's looking out the window, she's on the phone packing
up her house and she sees Alex outside. So I
do love that very smart angle that it's like no
one trusts this kid, like he might be setting them
all up. You know, and I totally understand why the
cops are like super suspicious, but he's also there because
he knows who's next, so he's trying to figure out

(01:05:30):
what can he do, you know, and going into her
house and touching the knife, and there's that added great
kind of I don't even want to call it a
b plot, but you know, just the plot of he's
sort of accidentally always putting himself in the spotlight as
the main suspect. I think that's really great because we
don't really see that as much in some of the sequels,

(01:05:51):
you know. That's kind of a special thing for this
first movie.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
Well, and I think the other thing that plays along
with that is the pitch black, dark humor that the
movie has. And you made me think of it when
you said that they were scared of him. Just the
scene before he goes to goes back to val Lewtins,
when he is being interviewed by the cops, Daniel Roebuck

(01:06:15):
turns around to his partner and he's like, you get
me the creeps, you know, and he just says it
in this very dead pand way. And you know, there's
just these moments where you need like a little bit
of levity with these movies.

Speaker 4 (01:06:28):
Because it is you know, a lot, and you know, they.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
They pitch They have this pitch perfect way of adding
humor in that you get that release also from being
like constantly like tens right where you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
It's okay to laugh, mm hmm. Yeah, And that came
at a great time, kind of splitting up the dread
that's coming in for Luton's scene. Yeah where with the cops? Yeah,
the one, the one cop, Okay, let me see because
Daniel Roebuck, Okay, yeah, he's great. The other one, Roger
gwen Vere Smith. I forgot. He has such a unique

(01:07:04):
way of talking. He's so kind of like he almost whispers.
He's like so that I even wrote my notes and like,
what's up with that cop? Like he's just so like
stoic at all times and quiet. I guess maybe that's
part of the kind of banter between them. That's like
the fun that Daniel Roebuck is a little bit more
you know, normal, a little louder, and then you got
this kind of creepy cop. I just had to like

(01:07:27):
mention that. I'm like, he creeps me out, you know, well.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
I think he's kind of listening and like he says
when they're interviewing Alex and that like he almost kind
of believes it. You know, he's kind almost dying what
Al's selling, whereas Agent Ween is not at all, Like
he's like this kid is crazy, Like he might not
be the one doing it, but like there has to

(01:07:51):
be a better explanation. So I think that's a little
bit of why he's a little bit more on the
quiet side.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
Yep, yep, absolutely yeah. And you know it's not a death.
But I've always admired the ending. I guess, not the
I mean, I love the ending in Paris, but like
I guess the big climax at Clear's house, all these
amazing I mean, I love that shot inside the house.
She comes through the window and everything's kind of exploding

(01:08:20):
and sparking and surging, and you know she's coming through
and that is really amazing, like all that technical stuff.
You know, that's a really cool finale. Then in the
garage and and and what Alex kind of we're not
sure until we see him on the plane in Paris,
you know, landing in Paris, but he like electrocutes himself
in a way to write to kind of skip, you know, clear,

(01:08:44):
and they're all kind of thrown and I forgot that.
Like the movie then kind of like fades and it's like, wait,
what's gonna happen? You know? And then we we know
six months later he is okay, And what do they say?
They say, Uh, they're laughing, like, oh, who knew we'd
ever be on a plane again. I'm like, yeah, I
don't know. I don't think I be getting on a
plane to go to Paris, guys. I would just think, like,
you know what, that's just not in the cards for me.

(01:09:04):
Maybe I'll go on a plane somewhere else, stay in
the States. I don't know, right at.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
Least like take baby trips to build up to it.
I mean, it makes perfect sense for an ending to
a movie, like they're going to finish the trip right
friends full circle. In real life, I don't know that
like in six months time, I would be ready to
go over. It's like if you're on the Titanic, you're

(01:09:30):
not going to go on a cruise two months later,
like you're so right?

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
Oh god, yeah, forget it. Oh my god, that is
such a great analogy. I'd be like, no way in
hell will I ever step on a ship ever again. Right?

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
Wow? Yeah, unless god a necklace?

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
What what if? I mean, this is like kind of blasphemous, right,
but what if there's a future Final lest Nation sequel
and it's set in the past, it's like a prequel
to the prequel, and it's on the Titanic that it
it's dirty, it's wrong, right, but that's kind of so
much fun. That's like, right, the survivors of the Titanic,

(01:10:06):
now death is coming after them.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
So there was actually an idea that pitched for a
final destination in like medieval times.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
I did hear this? Yeah, tell me so that was
maybe going to be the sixth one? Am I?

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
Right? Yeah? So it was back when like Game of
Thrones was in its heyday, and he pitched it to
New Line and they were they were like, no, it
needs to stay contemporary, and he was like, they were
completely right about it, but it was. And that's the

(01:10:47):
cool thing about covering the entire franchise today is in
the end chapters I do cover because there was also
around the pandemic, there was the.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Emt which I loved that idea. I thought, I hope
they maybe still use some of that for the future
because I think that's a really interesting idea for people
who are saving lives now they're you know, in danger.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
That's cool and that's and it was written by Marcus
Dunstan and Patrick Melton who from the Saw series and
Feast and The Collector, and they talked a little bit
about that and they're like, you know, these movies are
always about people who aren't familiar with death, but EMTs
see it every day, so like their reaction is going

(01:11:33):
to be much different than theirs. And so we talked
about that and what the opening premonition was going to be,
and you know, so people will really kind of get
an idea because some people actually that I've talked to
still didn't know that it was moving away from the EMTs.
They knew there was a new movie, but thought it
was still the EMP because there was so much going

(01:11:54):
on about it, and they haven't talked about what the
new movie is and what the angle is for the
new one.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
Yeah, well said, because yeah, there was a lot of
buzz about the EMT one. I guess that was back
announced in God, I feel like that was so long ago.
I feel like that was almost pre pandemic or maybe
right around there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:13):
They started it like just before the pandemic yet nineteen. Yeah,
they were looking at the anniversary.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
Oh, of course for the twentieth anniversary. Yeah, yeah, you
know the Medieval Times thing. It's interesting. I remember hearing
that and like, I mean, I'd be down for it,
but it would feel different because you know, like even
like what we're talking about, you know, sparks, flying electricity,
you know, all that kind of stuff is so a
part of these movies, you know, like you know, a cup,

(01:12:43):
you know, so instead it would be like like a
chalice and like a like a torch, you know, which
I guess it could still work, but it would feel
pretty different. Although I don't know, I think that could
be kind of cool to like what if it's an
angle of like the very first time this ever happened,
you know, kind of like the birth of death or
something that's kind of interesting. Right, Yeah, you can.

Speaker 4 (01:13:05):
Read all about it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
Or deny, okay, I cannot wait.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
Seven Passengers Are Fear Dead.

Speaker 2 (01:13:16):
You saw this in the theater? Do you remember who
you saw it with and what that experience was.

Speaker 1 (01:13:19):
Like, I am going to assume I saw with my brother,
and he's a big horror fan, so a lot of
the horror movies I saw back then were him and I.
I don't honestly remember exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
Yeah, yeah, but you remember that crowd was going wild
huh during someone fixed.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
On what was on screen, not who was next to me. Yes,
hopefully it wasn't a date.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Oh yeah, sorry, yeah, hopefully not. Jeez, they're gonna be like,
excuse me, No, that's awesome. I love it. Yeah, I've
seen Okay, let me think real quick. Yeah. The first
one I saw my dad. Second one, I saw it
my friend Kit who's been on the show. Shout out Kit,
and I think our friend Lauren, who we don't I
don't speak to anymore, but Lauren in high school. And
then third one, I want to say, actually it was

(01:14:11):
in college by then, and I think we got to
go to like an advanced screening. I don't know how,
but it was in Philly, So how funny. This is
also perfect death is bringing us together that way we
were in. It was at a temple for my freshman
year in Philly before moving to New York, and I
saw it with my friends Tam, Tamera and maybe Lizzie.
And then the fourth one back to my friend Kit

(01:14:32):
in New York. We did a double feature with Halloween
two and FD four in New York City, and then
the fifth one with my he wasn't my husband then,
but yeah, my boyfriend at the time Greg in New
York City and did a double feature with that and
Captain America with Chris Evans randomly. So yeah, So who
will I see the new one with? Oh my gosh,

(01:14:53):
we'll see. I have no idea. Maybe a friend, maybe solo,
who knows, we'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:14:58):
But I'm excited all of them.

Speaker 4 (01:15:00):
Solo.

Speaker 2 (01:15:01):
Oh did you Yeah? I mean, yeah, I love going
to the movie solo. I think that's great. But I just
something about these movies. I feel like, you do kind
of need to go. I don't know, I need to
go with a friend or someone just so I can gasp,
you know, with someone else, you know what I mean.
I hold back a little, like I try to kind
of stifle it because like I'm alone and I gotta
like look look cool and normal, you know. But with
these movies, I just want to like freak out, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:15:24):
See.

Speaker 4 (01:15:24):
I do the opposite. If I'm alone, then I allow myself.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
Oh okay, yeah, Like if I'm with people, I get
more self conscious, Like if I don't see them doing it.
You're like, I can't like.

Speaker 5 (01:15:36):
You, you have to think about it's coming back at you.

Speaker 2 (01:15:48):
Yeah, any other moments from FD one that you wanted
to shout out?

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
Yeah, so I think one. I've got two. The first
is the water receding after Todd. I just think that's
a really cool shot, you know, and you don't see that.

Speaker 4 (01:16:05):
In any other death in the franchise.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
So yeah, that's interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:16:10):
It's unique to that even because it's very rare where
they allow death to kind of actually play a part.
But like you see the cord around his neck Titan
during it too, so like death like they're actually it's
not a person, but like death is really involved with
killing Tom. You're right, Yeah, so I think that that's

(01:16:35):
a really cool scene.

Speaker 4 (01:16:35):
And then even now I.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
Still laugh when Alex is at Clear's cabin. Yeah, and
he'd like tetanus, Like you're really going for a death,
You're trying to give me tetanus? Uh huh.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
I know I wrote that down to him, like Alex
talking to death. I got this cabin rigged to beat you.
Now it's like, okay, he's losing it, right, but I
would beat you. I mean I think we all would
probably be doing the exact same thing. What I couldn't.
I was like watching and taking notes. He's like eating
like a yogurt. Is that what he? What is he eating?
And he like hates it. It's like it's I guess

(01:17:09):
it's supposed to be food that he won't like choke on.
Is that what?

Speaker 5 (01:17:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
Yeah, you know he's basically trying to make sure that
there is nothing possible that could kill him.

Speaker 4 (01:17:20):
And I mean, and I mean that's like.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
Clear ending up in the institution, in the padded room
in the second movie, like it will just like this
has to do stuff to you mentally when you're constantly
looking out for what is going to kill.

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
You, you know, every day of every minute.

Speaker 2 (01:17:39):
Oh yeah, it makes sense. Yeah, but it is funny.
How Yeah I noticed that too. He like picks up
the like an old like fishing hook or something rusted
tetanus good one. You know. It's like I just have
to commend the opening premonition like it is so Also
it's a little it's a little crazy. I mean, I
get it's a movie, but I'm like, having just been
on a plane. I think right before I saw you,

(01:18:00):
I was going to Aruba and having been on a
plane for hours and it takes forever to actually get
in the air. I'm like, whoa this movie. We are
flying fast, like they're off the plane. They're like fighting
in the in the at the gate and the plane's
already up in the air. Like it's it's pretty quick.
But I just have to like totally commend all the
details you know, on the plane, like everything from you know,

(01:18:24):
the the man who has special needs, which that's really
that adds just another another level of like darkness to this,
you know. And Brendan Fair from Roswell, I forgot he's
even in this in his small role as Todd's brother.
He even says, you know, he sees that man, he
sees a baby crying. He says something like God has
to be yes, you have You'd have to be a

(01:18:45):
fucked up God to take down this plane. Like yeah,
like we're gonna be fine, right, And like, oh, I
love the shot of val looting the teacher holding out
her hand as the wind's blowing, because like part of
the plane has come off and that girl, you know. So,
I mean, it's it's brutal, it's fast, it's unrelenting. I
love the shots of I think it's Billy's like chocolate

(01:19:07):
candy rolling on the floor, you know, like just that
must have taken a few days to really shoot that,
and they got so many great angles. And then it ends.
In my mind as a kid, I remember it being longer,
but it ends on that shot of Alex his face
just burning. Oh whoa, I just got chills, Like it's dark,

(01:19:27):
like that is unrelenting. That whole opening sequence, you know, oh.

Speaker 1 (01:19:31):
Yeah, like you again, like I'm sure has kept certain
people from ever being on a plane.

Speaker 2 (01:19:39):
Yeah, I know. And to think of the timing of this.
This was March two thousand, so we were you know,
a year and a half from nine to eleven, So
I mean, you know, we that movie. You know, they
if they had a different opening and wanted to save
a plane for another sequel, I don't think they ever
could have done it, or waited a long long time,

(01:20:00):
you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:20:02):
Yeah, It's something I think I mentioned in the book that,
you know, had this movie come out a year later,
it would have been a very different reaction. You know.
Unfortunately that was the world that we lived in. But
it's also interesting to see right before nine to eleven,

(01:20:24):
how different airports were, like they just breeze kind of
through and they cut some things out that were filmed
for the opening, but like it's nothing compared to what,
like you said, well, what it takes now to get
on a plane and everything, it's very different than then.
And yeah, it's there's so much that went into that opening,

(01:20:45):
and it's interesting because they were saying, you know, all
the actors had to sit on that plane for days,
and they were like the reactions you see, like again,
it was very practical, so they're like sometimes those were
like our legit like reactions to what was going on
around us. And I think Glenn Morgan said at one

(01:21:07):
point like yeah, we put them up there and then
we just started throwing shit at them, like it just
you know, they the actors were really put through it,
and they said the Glen Morgan said that they he
thinks the first one was harder to do than the
third opening, and Craig Perry said that those two were

(01:21:28):
the were probably the hardest conditions for the interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:21:32):
Yeah, I mean upside down on that roller coast, that
roller coaster that did really spook me because roller I
love roller coasters. I mean I do. I love them.
They're a little much for me. Sometimes I like them.
I like some of them. But after seeing that, yeah,
imagine yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
Right, imagine writing that roller coaster thirty five times in
one night.

Speaker 5 (01:21:54):
Oh my god.

Speaker 2 (01:21:57):
Oh god, I hope they were paid pretty well. Oh
geez when you put it like that.

Speaker 1 (01:22:02):
Who One funny thing also, kind of looking at where
we were at the time. File This Nation came out
the same year as Castaway. Yeah, and so the filmmakers
they went and saw Castaway and they were comparing the
plane crash scenes.

Speaker 2 (01:22:19):
Oh interesting. Wow. Oh that's a good social post. There
you go. You can do a little side by side.
I haven't I've only seen Castaway once. Isn't that crazy?
I think I saw it. Yeah, I saw it in
theaters that year and I haven't seen it since.

Speaker 1 (01:22:32):
Wow, I don't think I saw it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:34):
You don't think you saw it with Wilson his ball friend. Oh,
I mean, i'd say check it out.

Speaker 1 (01:22:40):
I mean, you know, it's kind of five hours long,
like I feel like it's like super long.

Speaker 2 (01:22:46):
It didn't I don't, you know, I'll look it up.
I don't remember it being like too long, but I
mean it's a lot of just Tom Hanks alone, you know,
like it's with right and you know, it's also crazy
because that year that Summer Survivor came out, so Castaway
came out at a perfect time, you know, but it
was it's interesting just to see like how thin he got.
It's oh, it is pretty long. Okay, you're right. Two

(01:23:07):
hours and twenty three minutes for a movie mostly about
us a guy being alone. That's tough, okay, but that yeah,
that's a good point. I want to compare plane crash scenes.
I can't remember that plane crash scene at all like
this one. Did they do you know, did they feel
like their's like they're happy with theirs compared to that one,
or do they wish they did some things differently?

Speaker 1 (01:23:28):
Do you know you can read the book?

Speaker 2 (01:23:31):
Okay, okay, teaser, I love it. Good. You're keeping us
on our toes.

Speaker 4 (01:23:36):
Yeah, so they do very definitively set whether they did
or not.

Speaker 2 (01:23:40):
Oh okay, okay, we get a yes or no. But yeah,
when I think it's Devin Sawa, Alex is like I
wish you were on that plane to Carter and then
the glass shatters, and I mean all their reactions it's
just like it's it had to be so fun making
this movie and acting you know, shocked and and all
the blood that's splattered on them, and when Terry gets

(01:24:00):
hit by the bus, like again going back to our
girl Kristin Klok, how she's like, oh god, that had
to be so fun.

Speaker 1 (01:24:08):
Well, one other thing, I just want to give a
shout out to the horror genre in general, especially movies
like this. The actors are so good and people you know,
this has been in the conversation a little.

Speaker 4 (01:24:21):
Bit more after to me more got nominated, But.

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
Like, the acting in horror kind of gets dismissed a lot,
you know, because they're like, oh, you're just running this
or that, but like there's a lot that you have
to emo. And I'm not saying that every actor that's
in a horror movie is amazing, but not every horror
movie is amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:24:40):
But you know, I think there's.

Speaker 1 (01:24:42):
A lot of really good acting that happens in horror
movies that gets just easily dismissed. And like with this,
you know, they had green screen. You know, they didn't
actually have a plane blowing up behind them on that
set that they have to react to, and as practically
some of the stuff is you have to actually be

(01:25:03):
able to emo and you know, Tony Todd being able
to get all that information out, that's really exposition. You know,
there's a lot more you know, talent that people are
given credit for in horror movies, and I think.

Speaker 4 (01:25:22):
People really need to kind of move away from that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:25):
Stereotype that there is an acting abilities required to be
in Amen.

Speaker 4 (01:25:31):
There's a lot that it asks some of them.

Speaker 2 (01:25:34):
Amen. Well said absolutely. It's and how exhausting, you know,
not even not even the like when you're running around
or whatever, but just yeah, like to to cry, to
be shocked and you know pant like I mean, having
to do that multiple times and make it really you know,
be believable and react to something. Yeah. Right, it's very

(01:25:56):
impressive for sure. Yeah, that's another another reason why this
cast is really solid, really good job. And oh actually,
real quick, I just want to say, we have to
say Tony Todd's line, not only the very creepy I'll
see you soon, but I do love I wrote it
down and I mean it was meant for us all
to laugh, but the mac daddy line. He says, you

(01:26:20):
don't even want to fuck with that mac daddy and
then he pulls the thing out of the Todd's body.
It's it just it always makes me laugh, Like it's
just it's just corny enough where it's like, okay, it's
it's supposed to make us laugh. But it's not like,
you know, delete this line. You know, you don't want
to fuck with that mac daddy? Who says mac daddy anymore?

(01:26:42):
That is probably one of the more dated things in
this movie.

Speaker 1 (01:26:45):
Yeah, And I mean there there's some you know, slurs
that you know here and there that probably want to
be in there you know nowadays. But I think you
like the mac Daddy, Like you said, again, it's that
comedy that they want to give.

Speaker 4 (01:27:02):
You a release a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:27:04):
Yep, And yeah, I think, you know, there might be
a thing here there, but it really truly holds up
to this day. And I think also a lot of
that is because of how practical they did everything, and
in a lot of these movies, you know, it wasn't
a very cgi heavy franchise. You know, they do a

(01:27:24):
lot practical and I think we are the benefactors of that,
and we really get to see, you know, a much
better film because of that.

Speaker 2 (01:27:36):
Yeah, beautifully said Patrick. I love that yeah, absolutely, But yeah,
one one person I just wanted to talk about their acting.
He's good, he's really good. But I realized on this
one I always thought the actor playing Todd his name
is oh Vanella. Yes, I really like him, and you know,

(01:27:56):
he's cute, like in his offbeat way, and I like him.
But the way he speaks, he's very like, oh god,
am I he's he's giving me like Steve from Sex
in the City, Like he's he's got like he's like, hey, kids,
you know you want some drugs? Like just the way
he speaks, I'm like, is that really how that actor sounds?
Because he's got such a unique voice. And when he

(01:28:17):
says the line early on in the film, Alex, let's
go take a shit, and and that's because he and
I mean, he has a good point, but I'm like,
who's gonna shit next to their friend in the airport bathroom?
This is weird, guys. But he's like the pretty girls
that they're obsessed with, Like you don't want it, You're
gonna be on a plane for seven hours all sorts

(01:28:37):
of guests, like you don't want to, you know, you
gotta get that out now. But I don't know what
do you think of of Todd's voice? And he and
it's funny this takes place on Long Island, which I
had forgotten about. But he's the only one that has
that kind of New York accent. Everyone else just sounds,
you know, pretty normal. So what do you think of him?

Speaker 1 (01:28:58):
Yeah, so I didn't know before the movie. Yeah, I
haven't seen a ton of his work after. I know
he was in one of the Solid movies. Also, he
was in.

Speaker 4 (01:29:11):
A commercial in the last couple of years that I
remember seeing.

Speaker 2 (01:29:14):
Oh yeah, I saw that too, You're right, I remember him.

Speaker 4 (01:29:17):
Yeah, So I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:29:19):
I thought that was just his voice, you know it
like you can tell sometimes when like people are doing
an accent like Madonna, you know, you can tell and
that it sounds super fake. It didn't sound fake to me,
So I just thought that was his voice.

Speaker 2 (01:29:34):
It might it might just be yeah, and if so,
very interesting guy. I just I don't know. His voice
is still like Alex, you know, like, hey man, It's
just it made me laugh.

Speaker 5 (01:29:44):
Alex, that's go take a shit. So I have to
take by yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:29:49):
No, no, no, dude, listen, okay, listen, take some knowledge.

Speaker 5 (01:29:52):
We're back to board.

Speaker 3 (01:29:53):
A seven hour flight. The boy that's and coach are
barely ventilated closets A right. If that, Now, let's say
halfway through the flight, right, your body wants an airplane
food out, you got to go to walk a wicked cable.
And then right after you, like directly after you walks
in Crystal or Blake if you want them to associate
you with that watery sting in their eye, that reflexive

(01:30:14):
gag at the back of their throat.

Speaker 2 (01:30:19):
All right, last question, your favorite death of the whole franchise,
and it could still, of course be from the first movie.

Speaker 1 (01:30:25):
What do you think it's so hard that there's so
many good ones, you know, I mean, we've talked about
almost all of them.

Speaker 4 (01:30:35):
In the first one.

Speaker 1 (01:30:36):
There's Tim's death, and the second one that I think
is really good, the one to two punch.

Speaker 4 (01:30:44):
Of Kat and Rory.

Speaker 1 (01:30:48):
Rory might might be one of my favorites, just because
it's so different, you know, like getting trisected and.

Speaker 4 (01:30:58):
Is just gruesome.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
Oh it's not a death, but the car wash scene.

Speaker 4 (01:31:04):
And the fourth one I really like.

Speaker 1 (01:31:08):
I sort of remember it.

Speaker 2 (01:31:10):
I kind of forgot about that. I remember the escalator
big you know scene, but okay, car wash.

Speaker 1 (01:31:17):
Yeah, and that was actually in the trailer too, with
like her head stuck in the sun room.

Speaker 2 (01:31:23):
You're right, oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:31:26):
And then the fifth one, you know, like we said
the gymnastics and the Lasix, like it's you know, I
think what I need to do next year on so
for medi to do like a final destination March madness
of scenes.

Speaker 2 (01:31:45):
Oh my gosh, great idea next year, next year. Yeah,
you're you're pretty busy right now. But yes, that's such
a fun idea where all the deaths and we'll see
who who comes out on top. It's a tough question.
I mean, it's so hard because you could have a
favorite death of each movie, but then oh god, to
pit them next to each other, that's tough. You know.

Speaker 1 (01:32:06):
The deaths are different for everyone, like what your favorite
one is going to be different from mine versus that person.
You know, everyone has different ones that are their favorites.
And there's deaths for everyone, which I think is you know,
like in Halloween or Scream or Thirteenth, like it's kind

(01:32:28):
of widely recognized, like you know, Memar and elm Sory.

Speaker 4 (01:32:31):
Johnny Depp's death is probably.

Speaker 1 (01:32:33):
The one that everyone likes the mos or Tina's you know,
like it's very like narrow what everyone agrees on, but
these like it is the entire gambit totally.

Speaker 2 (01:32:46):
That's a good point. That's a really good point. There's
there's more than just like one or two standouts. Many
of them are standouts, you know. Yeah. That's why I'm
just like, it's really so impressive and cool that this
is such a successful franchise and that these writers get
to really come up with wild I mean, there must
be pressure, like especially with this new one. Like god,

(01:33:08):
i mean, guy Busic can do a lot, but I'm
sure he was feeling some pressure to really give us
some twists and turns, you know. So I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (01:33:17):
The funny thing is when I was interviewing his co writer,
Laurie Evan Taylor, who is the first female screenwriter in
the franchise.

Speaker 2 (01:33:26):
Finally, that's awesome, that's really Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:33:30):
When I was interviewing her, she said, like when they
started out, they were like how can we traumatize people?
And like what things can we ruin for them? So
like they set out to like continue the tradition of
foul destination and just completely ruining everything in our lives.

Speaker 2 (01:33:48):
Oh god, oh god, I'm gonna be cringing. Oh god,
I just hopefully nothing to do with like needles, Like
I just can't handle the needles, that's my thing. Oh god.
Well all right, well, thank you so much Patrick Maroney
for coming on Any final Final, Any final thoughts you
wanted to share that you didn't get to say about

(01:34:10):
the original movie, about the France, about your book.

Speaker 1 (01:34:13):
The book is, you know, like I said, to really
make people feel like they were there, and it comes
from a place of celebrating these movies. You know, I
think you know, I've always said, like I don't think
people talk about.

Speaker 4 (01:34:27):
The Foul Destination movies enough. You know, these the franchise
has gross almost.

Speaker 1 (01:34:31):
Seven hundred million dollars off of five movies worldwide. It's
one of the highest grossing horror franchises. And you know,
if you talk to people like the it's not one
of the first ones that they come to mind with.

Speaker 4 (01:34:45):
It's not in that marinal trade. It's not a scream.

Speaker 1 (01:34:47):
But you know how inventive they are and how much
these movies have crossover to pop culture and how much
they just have stuck with our generation, and you know,
you know, I know people that like they went with
their children to see them, so it was like a
family adding thing. You know, these movies really are something special.

(01:35:09):
And I just hope that, like, as people go see
the new one and you know, hopefully check out the book,
that they realize that about these movies and like what
it takes to make them, because they're not easy movies.
You know, everyone that works on them loves working on it,
but it's not always easy to make them.

Speaker 2 (01:35:28):
It's a franchise that everyone knows and loves. But yeah,
you're right, it's not talked about as like, oh that's
my favorite. You don't hear that very often, but it's
so consistent. So that is interesting. I guess that's because
there is no sort of personification of the slasher of
you know, so I guess that does sort of help.
But at least we have Tony Todds sort of as

(01:35:49):
he's not the face of the killer, but he's the
face of the person who knows and deals with death,
you know, so at least we have him for these
six movies.

Speaker 1 (01:36:00):
I think that we also should just give a shout
out like Tony todd you know, passed away and the
last year, but like it's in this last movie, and
I think people are really going to enjoy seeing him
on the big screen again, you know, and one last time.

Speaker 2 (01:36:18):
Absolutely, especially in such a great fun horror movie. You know,
it's not just some you know, like maybe bad or
you know, smaller thing like yeah, so this will be
really great. And I assume they'll probably say, you know,
in memory of Tony Todd and the credits or something, right,
So yeah, I know it's gonna be tough for future
sequels because I'm sure there'll be more. And you know,

(01:36:40):
you brought up a good point, like they made seven
hundred million. I wonder why there was such a long gap. Well,
I guess COVID definitely you know, extended the gap. But
I'm just surprised after twenty eleven's FT five that we
didn't get one, you know, a few years later, because
they were sort of like every few years, you know.
But it'll be tough not having Tony and FT seven.

(01:37:01):
I'm sure there's gonna be a way to kind of
do what they did in Alien Romulus. I won't say
anymore about that, but there's like, you know, a little
a familiar face, uh c GI. So maybe maybe they'll
do something like that or his voice or I don't
know something all right, p Tony Todd, Well, thank you
so much. Patrick Maroney, the book Everybody, the book Escaping Death.

(01:37:22):
Like he was saying, you can order online, get it
from whatever stores you want. Can we also get it?
Sounds like not only the the hard copy, but an
ebook as well. Probably.

Speaker 1 (01:37:32):
Yeah, it's in every format. It will be a hardcover, paperback, ebook,
there will be an audio book.

Speaker 4 (01:37:42):
Those will come a little bit after just because editing.

Speaker 5 (01:37:45):
Again.

Speaker 4 (01:37:46):
Yeah, everything, But with how big audiobooks have become.

Speaker 2 (01:37:50):
Oh my god, I would listen. I think that's how
I'm gonna I'm gonna listen to it. I would who
who do you? Well? I guess we'll find out who
will read it. But that's that's probably gonna be fun
on a long drive to hear all this great trivia
and all these interviews. Yes, love the audiobooks. Awesome, so exciting.
I'm so happy for you second book. Do you do
you want to tell us? Do you know what you're

(01:38:11):
gonna do for your third book? You're like, why are
you asking me that now when I'm in the middle
of proofreading. Do you have ideas? You heard.

Speaker 1 (01:38:20):
So I have the third book already approved, I haven't
started on it yet, so I don't want to say
anything publicly. I actually have and I have an idea
for the fourth book also Okay, but it's a little
bit like childbirth. You have to like forget the pain
of making it before.

Speaker 4 (01:38:39):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:38:40):
That was really weird to refer to making a childbirth.

Speaker 2 (01:38:44):
And that's all he wrote on Final Destination. Thank you
to my friend, author, podcaster, and horror movie fan Patrick
Morony for being a great guest. Get your copy of
his new book, Escaping Death, the Unauthorized story behind the
Final Destination Movies when it's released on April sixteenth. Death

(01:39:05):
is right around the corner. Thank you also to Rudy
for your cameo, and thank you listeners and watchers for
checking out this episode. Spread the word about this podcast.
Leave a rating and a thumbs up pretty please on YouTube.
Thanks Strawhat Media, Kyle Motsinger, Portland Media Center, and The
Run Podcast Network. Follow me on Instagram at release date.

(01:39:29):
Rewind if you're not already to see more footage from
this conversation and from this movie, and get ready for
some very masculine episodes coming up. Later this month we
have American Psycho and just one of the guys. And
like Tony Todd says

Speaker 1 (01:39:46):
I'll see you said,

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