The 'Final Destination' Series Mindhole Blowers And A Little Explanation

By Jodi Smith | Mindhole Blowers | October 30, 2018 |

By Jodi Smith | Mindhole Blowers | October 30, 2018 |

We here at Pajiba enjoy a nice Final Destination movie or five. It reminds us to look for different patterns in the occurrences around us, just in case you cheated death when you got on that roller coaster or when you were on the highway the other day. It also provides deliciously macabre Rube Goldberg-esque machines of death that perfectly make their way across a room or throughout an interaction until the last domino falls, slicing someone’s throat. They’re pretty great.

In celebration of horror and Halloween, here are some facts about all five of the movies in the Final Destination series. SPOILERS.

1. The original 2000 Final Destination was based on an idea for an episode of The X-Files that was never used.

2. There are several references throughout the series to assassinated US Presidents and politicians. Ms. Lewton’s (Kristen Cloke) coffee cup has Mt. Abraham High on it and the plane the survivors were all thrown off of flew out of John F. Kennedy Airport. Carter’s (Kerr Smith) car has a license plate with the letters ‘RFK’— Robert F. Kennedy. In Final Destination 3 the survivors attend McKinley High School and one of their classmates has the same surname. In The Final Destination, the premonition and accident occurs at McKinley Raceway.

3. The number ‘180’ is referenced throughout the series. In the first movie, 180 is the flight to Paris that Alex (Devon Sawa) successfully removes himself and other survivors from after his premonition. The huge accident in the second movie takes place on highway mile marker 180 and a road sign alerts traffic to “road work next 180 feet.” A chain tag in the hardware scene of the third movie has “UNIT 081” on it. A newspaper read in The Final Destination mentions a bus crash on highway 180 and the characters sit in section 180 of the raceway. The corporate retreat company in the fifth movie is called 180 Corporate Counseling.

4. The HICE Pale Ale truck that blocks Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Kevin (Ryan Merriman) from escaping Death in the drive-thru lane during the third movie was seen in the second movie right before the pile up on the highway. A racist at McKinley Raceway in The Final Destination is drinking a HICE beer and Nathan (Arlen Escarpeta) brings some into the office in Final Destination 5. The name of the beer was a reference to the stunt coordinator of Final Destination 2, Freddie Hice.

5. The filmmakers involved in all five films enjoyed using foreshadowing to reveal how characters would die. The opening credits of Final Destination hints at the deaths of Tod (Chad Donella) and Billy (Seann William Scott). A scene in the second movie shows a kid smashing a tiy four-wheeler and toy truck together, hinting at the upcoming pile up on the highway. The credits of the third installment also hinted at the upcoming carnage, while Olivia (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) knocks over a photo of herself and the glass cracks over her eye. These are obviously just a few instances, as every death is telegraphed to audiences.

6. Two of the five movies in the series kill off all of the survivors before the end credits.

7. An alternate ending for Final Destination had Clear (Ali Larter) giving birth to a son conceived with Alex during the beach scene after the train accident. In an interactive feature on Final Destination 3’s DVD release, viewers find out that the supposed survivors of the second movie died thanks to a wood chipper. The Blu-ray of Final Destination 5 includes alternate deaths for Isaac (PJ Byrne) and Olivia.

8. Final Destination and Final Destination 5 both take place in the year 2000 while parts of the second movie also occur at this time. Kimberly Corman (AJ Cook) of Final Destination 2 avoids death in 2000 by stopping to watch a television report about the suicide of Tod by strangulation in a bathtub. Another character from that sequel, Eugene Dix (TC Carson) also avoids death by replacing the late Ms. Lewton. Officer Burke (Michael Landes) was called to the death scene of Billy, making him miss being killed in a shootout. Rory Peters (Johnathan Cherry) changes his plans to see a movie after witnessing the death of Carter in Paris, allowing him to miss the theater collapse.

9. Final Destination 2 takes place in 2001. Final Destination 3 is in 2005 and The Final Destination happens in 2009.

Sources: IMDB, Final Destination Fandom Wiki, and Thought Catalog.