This week we examine death’s design in Final Destination 5 (2011). We explore the logistics of its inventive kills, assess the chemistry between its characters, and unpack the impact of its ending. This episode contains spoilers, beginning at 27:17....
This week we examine death’s design in Final Destination 5 (2011). We explore the logistics of its inventive kills, assess the chemistry between its characters, and unpack the impact of its ending. This episode contains spoilers, beginning at 27:17.
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111: Final Destination 2 (2003)
354: Final Destination 3 (2006)
382: The Final Destination (2009)
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Music Credits
"Hack or Slash" by Daniel Stapleton
Why are the windows made of paper?
SPEAKER_02Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hack or Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. This just got way more fun. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.
SPEAKER_03A total joke, a waste of time.
SPEAKER_02Or slash. Totally killer, pun intended. We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm drawn by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.
SPEAKER_03Okay, sorry. Do you come with subtitles?
SPEAKER_02The Paranormal Paramour, Binx, Likes a Bitch, and the Screaming Queen Paris. Sweetie, it's not fat. They're called tits. This week we're checking out a 2011 film that was, again, supposed to be the last entry in a horror franchise known for its creative kills and elaborate set pieces.
SPEAKER_03And if you support the show, you'll also get to hear our B-side at the end of this episode where we react to the trailer for the latest film in this franchise hitting theaters in May.
SPEAKER_02Despite the series seemingly rapping with its fourth installment, Newline had one more card to play. And just two years later, the franchise returned, but with a new director, a bigger budget, and a fresh set of unsuspecting victims. The story follows a group of coworkers who narrowly escape a catastrophic bridge collapse, only to discover that death doesn't appreciate being skipped. One by one, the survivors learn that fate might still have plans for them. This week we're talking about Final Destination V. Who's seen this one before?
SPEAKER_01So this is the one that I've actually re-watched the least, but definitely caught me by the biggest surprise when I first saw it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I have I've not seen this one before. This is now, again, the furthest I've made it into the franchise, which technically catches me up with all of you, and that makes me feel really special.
SPEAKER_04Yay, Mac, you're up to speed. I saw this one in theaters and I've seen it a few times since. This is one of the ones that I I re-watch semi-regularly. Also, fun fact, had a 30-minute meetingslash conversation with one of the stars, Miles Fisher. Oh. Who, for those listening at home, was wearing a very snug pair of khakis and had a big fat bulge.
SPEAKER_01The things that we need to know, Paris. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah. The brows are just as good as in person.
SPEAKER_02I've seen this movie before, but I think this oh well, I know that it actually came out in like my last year where I wasn't consuming a ton of media besides things I had already seen. So I never saw this in theaters, but I did see it many years after it came out when I was doing a franchise binge. But I'm I'm curious though, Mac, if you hadn't seen this before, what were you expecting?
SPEAKER_03It's it's tough to say after watching number four, like what could they do next? Could it be great? Could it be horrible? I left my expectations pretty open. I think I actually enjoyed the fourth installment, even though everyone else might not have fully enjoyed it. But I think going into this, you know, there was a lot of opportunity. This was at a time where movies had already started to change, and this could go either direction, it could go really good, or straight to DVD garbage.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think the timing of watching this film, obviously, not having many expectations because I've re-watched it. I kind of know the deal, right? But re-watching it now, the timing was so great because I am a mega fan of Severance and it's giving corporate dynamics, the company Retreat Vibe. The setting fits, especially if you've watched the most recent season of Severance, but diving a bit deeper past that, I felt like the characters weren't that bad. Whereas the previous film, I felt like it was so mid, very vanilla, didn't give a fuck about those characters. This one, it's like, okay, I'll combine a little bit. I'm definitely more interested. There's so many classic tropes as far as character arcs, and some that are very reminiscent to previous films in the franchise. But the biggest feeling that I had watching this was towards the ending. Eyebrows were a thousand percent raised.
SPEAKER_04It's so funny you mentioned Severin Spinks because I used to get Adam Scott and Miles Fisher confused because they absolutely look like they could be from the same gene pool, from the same bloodline, we might say. Yeah, I remember when I saw this in theaters, I was like, I was in college and I was like, you know what? We are so back as a final destination community. We are here, we're being fed. I think they took the feedback from the final destination and applied the notes here. And I just remember feeling locked in and entertained and engaged in a way that I was like, okay, this isn't something that has run dry just yet. There's still creativity to be had with this idea. There's still ways to make this fresh.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this franchise is at its best when it feels inventive with its kills. But it felt like in the previous movie that that movie was a regurgitation of the franchise and what we'd already gotten. And this movie, while it still does echo a lot of what we've seen, it does something slightly different. So A, I think its kills are pretty fucking brutal. Not all of them, but the ones that land, oh shit, do they land? And this movie, I think, really zeros in on building up anticipation in a way that we have just seen kind of escalate throughout this entire franchise to borderline campy levels. Like at this point, Death, what the fuck are you doing? You're just being dramatic now, you're just doing it for attention. But I think that what I loved about this one was how it was able to blend a little bit more of that office humor and the sliminess of some folks, then comparing that with a lot of like earnest and heartfelt effort and dynamics between some of its main characters. And while they weren't shining stars, let's be clear, I don't think anyone in this movie really shined for me the way that they do in some of the earlier Final Destination films. It certainly felt like, oh, okay, we're back in it with characters that are at the very least really likable versus what we got in the last film.
SPEAKER_04I think that's totally fair. The characters here are some of the least annoying and most memorable, I think, of the franchise. I've I'm on record as saying that the characters in a Final Destination movie simply don't matter for the most part. And I feel like in these ones it was kind of like, you know what? I do give a shit about these people.
SPEAKER_03I can respect that, especially, especially after coming from number four. I think this was like a big change in terms of, I don't know, just any sort of buy-in mentally with what's going on in the movie and and who's there. And I think while watching this, you feel the dramatic shift from the 2000s into now the 2010s, 20 teens, whatever it was called. There's just a very different feeling in the cinematography, in the writing, even, but especially the kills. I think the kills here, they're starting to graduate, right? They're starting to kind of grow up as horror is now growing up. So I think while watching this, I actually did feel into it. And in previous movies, you know, sometimes you could just tune out and it's still enjoyable. This was one of those cases where I was fine tuning in and actually paying attention. And I think some of the most shocking stuff you've already mentioned, the fact that you can actually care about some of the characters in Final Destination again, that was kind of a good moment, you know, getting into it. But to me, it was that the kills in the past were kind of the majority of what's going on. That's why you're watching it. Get to the next kill, see what's going to happen. And I feel like here it wasn't necessarily that. And I think that's a that's a good thing. We had a lot of fake outs like you always do. You have a lot of building with kills as you always do. And I think this almost felt while watching it like the perfect level of that, of a mixture between is this a red herring or am I Rube Goldberging the whole thing? So I think that really kind of caught me off guard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think one of the other things that caught me off guard in addition to that was the angle that it took with almost mixing genres. And we've gotten a little bit of this in other films. I think really I can I think back to even Final Destination 3, where there were some specific malice that we could feel from some of the characters, and this one I feel like takes it to a whole new level. And again, a graduation from even the previous film, The Final Destination. There's a whole segment of this movie that feels like it could have been in any other genre of film besides a Final Destination movie, before it kind of whips back around and reminds you that it's a Final Destination movie.
SPEAKER_01I agree. I think that that's also what surprised me about this particular film in the franchise, is that not to sound silly, but there are still surprises to be had. And that's what surprised me. There's plot twists, ways that it integrated the previous films into it, even again in the characters and how they're written. Just like overall, the writing in this film feels like it should be that cherry on top, way better than the fourth film.
SPEAKER_04I totally agree there, Binks. When I was under the impression that this was the final film, which can we stop, you guys? The final destination. Clearly, we're never gonna land this plane, we're never gonna park this car, we're never gonna get off this ride. Let's just keep this good time going.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were gonna keep going more premonition style.
SPEAKER_04I thought about it. I was like, let me shut the fuck up. Yeah, but you were fucking nailing it. But with regards to those premonitions, this surprised me as being one of my favorite, I think actually my second favorite of all of like the opening tragedy sequences. Only one obviously beats it is the pile-up. But I feel like compared to roller coaster, compared to airplane, compared to fucking NASCAR, which was so fucking stupid, bridge collapse was really innovative. And the ways that they incorporated the bridge collapse and the different ways to die during a bridge collapse, I was like, oh, this is actually so fucking scary in a way that I hadn't yet considered. Because some people are afraid of bridge collapses. I wasn't until now, or until I saw this. One thing that will always find a way to disappoint me in Final Destination, casual racism somehow finds its way here again. I was like, damn, do we think bloodlines might spare us? We'll see.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, listen, okay, I want to circle back here for just a second to the fucking bridge of it all. I am actually fucking terrified of bridges, and it took a long time to condition myself to be able to get through them. Mine was less a fear of a bridge collapsing and more a fear of us driving off the fucking side of it. I cannot remember how many times I fell asleep as a little toddler in the fucking back of our Chevy Suburban, and I say toddler, I mean also as a fucking just regular ass child, and I would wake up and I'd just see ocean like peeping over the fucking bridge. No, fucking terrified me. And then these motherfuckers in Virginia had the nerve to engineer a bridge that starts high as hell above water and go underneath the water. What the fuck? I hated that shit. So no, when this movie, when I fucking finally saw it and still was in a healthy part of my fucking life where I had to regularly go over bridges and still had a deep fear of bridges, fuck that. This movie was fucked.
SPEAKER_04That's totally valid, but I will not stand for slander against the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. I have so many souvenirs from that bitch. I love her.
SPEAKER_02Okay, listen, when you had to commute that bitch every fucking day, it's not that great. Beautiful scenic. It's not that scenic inside the fucking tunnel.
SPEAKER_04No, that's true. That's the boring part. But you're underwater and you can hold your breath.
SPEAKER_02Good luck, girl. Fucking good luck. I want you to come with me to visit Mac once and you will fucking see. We'll just drive back and forth that thing a few times. It's overrated.
SPEAKER_03That is true. There's a lot of a lot of bridges here. However, if you've ever been to perhaps the like PA, Ohio, West Virginia area, you see a lot of bridges, and there's nothing weirder than seeing a bridge closed that you were just on, you know, two months before, and you're like, oh, why is that closed now? Oh, for construction. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't up to whatever they got to renovated. And you're like, cool, I was just driving on it months ago. How can I trust anything?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I would like to think that they're just being preventative, you know? Okay, it's getting a little long in the tooth. It's safe now, but let's make sure it's even safer. But that's not how bureaucracy works.
SPEAKER_03Still, though, I think this, like you've mentioned, this one plays upon a good fear because I think a lot of folks, probably more folks than than not, are like Chris and do not feel comfortable and safe on bridges. I've kind of learned to just suck it up and get over them. I don't feel perhaps like that whole massive anxious concern, but there's still like 5% there, you know, weighing on you, like, eh, this feels wrong. Humans shouldn't be so high above the water or above above the land. I mean, aside from that kind of stuff, I don't think this is necessarily a scary movie. You know, I think going back to the earlier films, we related to a lot of those because of our age at the time, that these were things that stuck around, especially the longing truck that stuck around, I think, for all of society at this point. But this one, it doesn't always play upon fears that I myself would feel in real life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I agree. I think that generally a lot of the kills in this one didn't really stand the test of time in terms of like pop culture or just like infiltrating our fears and our day-to-day rationality of things, except for maybe two kills off the bat. We've talked about the bridge collapse because that's the premise of the film, but there's another kill in this film that I still think about when certain people tell me that they've done something or they mention it or something to that effect that I can't wait for us to talk about in the spoiler zone. But that's one that I think gets slept on for sure, that people forget, oh, it's in this Final Destination movie.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a lot of folks who can try to convince me to do very basic things that it may seem very therapeutic or very self-care driven, and I'm just a little skeptical. I don't know. It's not something that I feel completely comfortable trying. And I realize that I don't have a ton of fears, but it feels like almost all of my fears have been fucking like really magnified in these Final Destination films. It it really is absolutely horrific. But I will say that for this franchise to have the length and the endurance that it's had, and to still produce a fifth movie that can still do something a little bit different. I gotta give it applause for that. Because the biggest experience of this movie was absolutely the biggest experience of this movie was how absolutely floored I was when you think about its place in its own mythology, how it expands the mythology, and how it plays with its timelines.
SPEAKER_04Gag of the season right there. And I remember in theaters I said, Wait, what? And then I kind of felt stupid because I was like, How did I not what? But also circling back to the self-care of it all, y'all. There are several kills in here that I do think stand the test of time. Every time I do some of these things, I think about this. Even not even necessarily some of the kills, but some of the elements related to the kills, or some of the visuals that we get leading up to some of the kills, even though they're not kill-related. Maybe they were just like a tertiary fake out. There's a a large handful from here that has stuck with me since I've seen it.
SPEAKER_01Which I think definitely speaks to its originality, because to your point earlier, there is still something to give. There's still something that we can get from this franchise. They still have originality points from me, at least, because these kills continue to get so creative. And I think that this was definitely an upgrade, a slept-on film. And even if we were to not consider the kills, right? The plot itself, I think, is pretty interesting. And to your point, Chris, it really does add some seasoning to the overall timeline and the lore that is Final Destination. And usually you don't get that so late in the game. At this point, it's so played out and they're grasping at straws, but I really feel like they they tried at something to really refresh this 100%.
SPEAKER_02And I want to give a classic Max Snack analogy. It's like the Final Destination films have all been really satisfying grilled cheeses. So you have a nice one, you make it at home, it's a little crunchy, it's a little crispy, it's it's a little gooey, it's a little ooey-gooey, and it's whatever level of satisfaction you would you would have there for a homemade grilled cheese. But then, and and this is gonna be like a very exaggerated difference here, but then I think about the grilled cheese bistro in Norfolk, Virginia, that has sourdough toast, and then also adds mac and cheese as the mac and as the cheese and the grilled cheese, or they do fancier grilled cheeses. The way that this movie escalates and tries to weave in some new things, I'm not saying it's a sophisticated ass grilled cheese, but it is a different take on it.
SPEAKER_03I've had some delicious grilled cheeses, especially at the grilled cheese beef show. Anytime you're throwing like a Mars Capone out there, I'm I'm here for it. This movie does feel more adult, more mature, and more deserving of the name The Final Destination. I think there was a big misnomer with our fourth movie. This one feels like it earns it. You know, Banks has mentioned where they they kind of wrap up a couple things that you don't expect them to wrap up, and it feels like a nice pretty bow. That ending is very satisfying. It feels a little cheesy, little on the nose for a second, but then you're like, I don't care. I've made it this far, I'm a fan of it, and I and I like the idea that all of these movies are in one universe, and this reminds us of that.
SPEAKER_02It feels cohesive, and I think to that extreme, and I think in that vein, it feels cohesive because of the ending of this movie, which was a big mind fuck. And I that sound makes it sound more complex than it actually is. But this has the kind of ending that makes you go back and look for details when you watch it a second time, a third time, a fourth time, etc. I fucking love the ending of this movie.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's so hard to talk about this without, you know, I don't want to overhype it or or anything, because that's really the real gem of this film is how insane this ending is and it how unpredictable it is, and just everything. I I remember being so shook when this ending hit, I was like, You said it, Chris. It's like, what movie am I watching again? This is Final Destination. What do you even mean right now? I love it.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. It adds a richness to the franchise. I think that's what it does for it is you get to this ending. It's not like some other films where they have to explain every detail ever mentioned in a movie. They don't even try to do that. No, they add this really good color to the sauce, and it feels complete now. It feels, oh, I've now experienced the story of Final Destination.
SPEAKER_04I think this is one of the best endings we've ever gotten to a Final Destination film. And I don't want to say too much, but watch it and pay attention if you're this is your first go around, folks. It's not a background to Final Destination necessarily. Once you've watched it a few times, sure, put it on in the background while you fold your laundry like the rest of us. But the first time, give it your undivided, put the phone away.
SPEAKER_02Well, I can't wait to see how that undivided attention pays off into our ratings. But before we get there, Mac, how would you describe the gore score?
SPEAKER_03No, it's final destination, so we have some stuff pulling us towards the high end here. I'm still gonna call it a medium high because there's some moments where, you know, we've seen worse.
SPEAKER_02We've absolutely seen worse, and sometimes we've seen better executed with a little bit of the CGI. But what about the animal report?
SPEAKER_01Death does not harm animals here.
SPEAKER_02It'd be fucked if it did. Just stuffed animals. Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Final Destination 5 from 2011. Was it a hack or a slash?
SPEAKER_03I want to start us off here because I think something happened when I finished this and am now fully caught up in the Final Destination universe. You know, when these movies originally came out, I used to make fun of them because how could you have more than one? Something called Final in the title, right? Like, how could it be the final anything if they're making more than one? I used to joke on that. My friends would be like, shut up. You're just supposed to enjoy the movie. Notoriously, I actually didn't really see them all. I saw I saw number four in theaters, and I saw number one eventually, but everything else was kind of a mixed bag. This is one of those moments in time where I now regret not watching and enjoying them as they were coming out in theater. I think I would have enjoyed being able to stay caught up with them live and be one of those people that can say, Oh yeah, I I enjoyed the Final Destination, and not feel any sort of sense of self-judgment going on with that. Because that's what's happened now. This movie has kind of cemented, I actually do enjoy these. They're fun, easy watches, but also you can go a bit dark and you can go a bit serious, and then you can break things up with somebody getting sliced in half. And you know what? That's okay. This movie's not a long film. You know, we got what, like an hour and a half kind of runtime here that we've determined to be the perfect amount of time to spend on a film. And I think this proves it. This feels like the right amount of time that it's given to tell its story and to entertain with bloodbaths. So yeah, it's not a groundbreaking kind of thing here, but I think it was enough to cause a catharsis in me. So it's a slash.
SPEAKER_04Mac, that makes me so happy. I almost got a little emotional hearing you say that. Welcome. We welcome you with open arms into the Final Destination fan base. We've been waiting for you. We're so happy to have you here. Can't wait for you to see Bloodlines with us live in theaters. It's gonna be incredible. Just like this film was. This actually, I've decided now is my second favorite Final Destination movie. It's been a minute since I've rewatched this one, but I remember rewatching it a couple times after it first came out. And I really think they've I love what you guys have been saying. Like they've really evolved here. They've really grown up, they've really matured as a franchise with this one. I think Final Destination for the Final Destination, they kind of leaned more into their like lowbrow elements that make the franchise unique. And here they went a little. Bit more highbrow, and they were like, what if we didn't think our audience was a bunch of idiots? What if we kind of respected their intelligence and played to it? And I think they did that really successfully here. I also don't know what you're talking about, Chris. I think the CGI in this one is actually some of the best. I think the visual effects that we get here are some of the best, and some of the cinematography we get is really some of the best we see in the franchise. There's so many images in this film that I think would make incredible stills on the back of my wall. Like right over here, I think, maybe back here would be a good spot for one I'm thinking of. And I will say this installment has one of my favorite Final Destination kills of all time. Like top three, maybe top two. And I'd have to guess to see what the other one is. No, I know what the other one is. All of this to say the characters aren't shit. The script is really actually solid for Final Destination, and it feels like a true return to form in a way that has me so excited for what's to come. It's a slash, goddammit.
SPEAKER_01I gotta say, as a lover of this franchise, as we all know by now, you'd assume I'd just do a clean sweep of slashes. But I proved in the previous installment that I am capable of being unbiased as much as possible. This film may generally not be incredible to some people, but on the other hand, surprisingly, may tier higher in people's ranking lists like Paris just proved, and to mine as well. I think it's like the underdog of the franchise, because although it still has its like cheesy 3D attempts and things, I feel eh on the fence about the CGI, honestly. But it doesn't feel nearly as forced as Final Destination 4. I think it brings this idea of cheating death that we haven't seen in a bit, but does it in a way that's way more realistic in terms of a human reaction to something as insane as this concept. And the ending is a great tie-in, honestly, much better conclusion in the franchise in comparison to not only the previous films, but I agree with Paris, like the best ending, I think, of all of the films so far. So that being said, I am a little hesitant for this next film that's gonna come out, Bloodlines. I think that the bar has been set, truthfully, considering how far out we are in it. But yet somehow, when I ask people if they've seen this film, everyone says, no, I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. And I feel like this has got to be one of those things where, guys, we've got to champion this. We've got to tell people, hey, if you're wanting to prepare for this new Final Destination film, you're curious. It's obviously been a hot minute since we've received a film from this franchise. Don't miss out on this one. You gotta watch it, see it through, because to me, it's definitely an unexpected slash in my book.
SPEAKER_02Listen, this franchise has some really high highs and some really low lows. And this movie, I want to be clear, I really enjoy it, but it's not the strongest in the franchise. That being said, it is one of the more memorable ones because it has a feeling that lingers with you. And it's not because of its cast entirely, but because of the way it positions itself in its own franchise. It has style, it has heart, and it has one hell of an ending. So yeah, while it's not the best in the franchise or the series, I think what it does really well is it reclaims the franchise's tone and it offers something meaningful in return. And listen, it may have its flaws, but it does stick the landing, and it's something that its predecessor absolutely failed to do. And I think this movie, more than some of the others in the franchise, is really evidence that the joy we find in it is not in the final destination, but rather the journey we take and the friends we made along the way. So it's a slash. And with that, Final Destination 5 from 2011 has earned a universal slash. But there's a lot more to talk about when we get back from our break. Now, if you've already seen this before, please let us know what you would rate it. You can let us know in our Discord server. You can find links to that to join for free in the show notes. But if you haven't seen it yet, buckle up, go check it out, and then rejoin us in the spoiler zone. We're gonna break down all those kills. We'll see you in a bit.
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SPEAKER_02Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Final Destination V from 2011, which has earned a Universal Slash. We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills.
SPEAKER_03We have quite a few kills here. I mean, bridges hosts a lot of folks, and we have something like 86 kills related to that bridge collapse, and about 10 kills related to just named characters in the film here. So that's that's almost a hundred kills.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but the crazy thing is that that's not even just what we see. Because with premonitions and all, yeah, listen, we see a lot more. Some of Death's best work didn't even happen in canon. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So there's quite a few that to choose from, and I've got a couple of favorites, but I'm curious, what are yours?
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna dive right in because famously we know I'm gonna have the same one as Chris, I'm sure. My favorite is Candace, the gymnastics kill. Listen here. This is one of those kills where again, if your friends have not seen this movie, or you have never seen this movie before, you have heard of this kill, you've seen it in a meme, somehow, some way, you've seen this kill, or at least the gif. It is the most insane kill I've ever seen. My best friend is a gymnast. I can only tell you that the first question I asked her was, bitch, you do this? That's a sport that you do still present day? Fuck that completely. But the best part, my favorite reason that the like that this is a kill, not even because of how crazy it is, is Olivia's savage ass. Because the way that she says, and I quote, Yeah, that's a bummer about Candace. Guess we all should have seen that coming. What? You see the crazy shit those gymnasts do? I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. Because right, Olivia. You know what? You say the things that I'm thinking in my head in this scenario.
SPEAKER_02Does that come from that Olivia's a Virgo?
SPEAKER_01Probably.
SPEAKER_04She gave Virgo. Well, no, because what happens to Olivia later on, I don't Yeah, obviously, best kill in the film is Candace and her gymnastic storyline. And I think that's also where we get some of the greatest visuals of the franchise, too. The the nail or the thumbtack or the screw on the balance beam with the feet, that shot, and you know I hate feet. For me to say one of the best shots in the film is feet, you know it's really doing something. And then also, and I don't think I caught this any other time I've watched this, you also see like a really beautifully framed shot of the water puddle next to the live wire, and you see her reflection in that from up on the beam. And I'm like, the cinematographer really clocked in this day and said, you know what, we're gonna make a fucking masterpiece with this sequence here. And I just think, oh, there's also another shot that I love, which is like the rickety camera tilt, which you like never really see in the Final Destination necessarily. It's like a full-on eh tilt as she's on like the rickety parallel bars. And I'm just like, the artfulness, the foreshadowing. It's it's a masterpiece, this one. It's my second favorite kill of the whole franchise.
SPEAKER_02Her death really defines, I think, a lot of the anticipation, a lot of the buildup, and a lot of the oh that you have going on here. I actually also really enjoyed her premonition death where she is skewered on the sailboat. However, however, poor Candace, this is what I'm talking about with some of the CGI moments, Paris, because while the gore is good, some not specifically in this exact thing, but it's the 3D of it all that subtracts from the experience a bit.
SPEAKER_04Of the sailboat mast.
SPEAKER_02Of the sailboat mast, and then other moments throughout the film. There are some moments where it just gets a little uh her sailboat, okay, that looked a little bit better, but then when you have Peter's death later with the rods gouging him, and then his eye gets a little bit wobbly, the eye didn't look that great.
SPEAKER_04The eye looked really bad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and so that's where my struggle is. But I'm gonna go for my runner up here because I have more to say about Candace later. Fuck Isaac. Nobody should fuck Isaac, but also fuck Isaac, because that man was a piece of fucking trash. He provided the I love to hate you comic relief. If this motherfucker had just gotten out of the room instead of turning back for his little black fucking flip phone, he would have made it, probably. But Death got to factor in his own fucking vanity and self-obsession and his fucking attachment to that device. Which honestly, we could see more often bloodlines. Who knows? The fact that he gets fucking crushed and demolished by that Buddha figure. Loved it. Absolutely fucking loved it. He got the Sartane special. Shout out to our friends in Discord who know about that.
SPEAKER_03Gosh, that was that was actually my favorite. And I I figured somebody obviously has to pick Candace, so you gotta choose a safe one to back that up. So good good job, Chris, on that. That was a really, I think, successful kill because there was so much leading up to it. There was so much that could have gone wrong, and that was finally the thing in that room that took him out was the Buddha. That was awesome. But I've got a kind of a shout-out, maybe an honorable mention to the small little side kills that we get, because there's so many that seem like, oh wow, you didn't even deserve a good one. And I think the construction hook with Roy, that's one of those kills where you're kind of like, all right, you just you got got simply because that's the only reason why. Same thing with Dennis. That wrench, how on earth was that gonna happen in two seconds flat in in mid-conversation? That was that was random and felt like I gotta pad, I gotta get rid of somebody, he's next.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Shout out to Todd Packer from the office, finally fucking getting what he deserved.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. But somebody who got something they didn't deserve was the agent. So Agent Block here getting wasted for what? What was his point? What was his job in this movie? He saw something deeper and never got to experience it.
SPEAKER_02To extend life a little bit longer so Sam could get on that plane.
SPEAKER_03I if they make if they make another sequel after the upcoming sequel, bring him back somehow. Just saying. Make it happen.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we find out that Sam died because he didn't actually fully steal Block's life. Okay, question though. Has anybody done acupuncture before? Okay, no, but this is what I was talking about, where everybody keeps fucking recommending it to me and saying it would be so great. However, fuck that. I've seen what happens. Isaac is what happens. JK, I know obviously this is a very safe thing to do, but I just oooh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Listen, as we record, I am in extreme neck pain, and you still couldn't pay me to do acupuncture. I'll take my chances. Can't do it. Can't do it. And I feel like that plus LASIK. That is one thing that people have d done, obviously, my friends have done, and I'm like, girl, you're fucking nuts. I've seen this movie. Miss me with that.
SPEAKER_04LASIK I could never do, but I actually do acupuncture semi-regularly, and every single time, I only ever get it on the back, like you're face down on a massage table. But every single time I'm sitting there for like 30 minutes trying to be zen, trying to relax, trying to just nap. And all I can think about is just like a loose piece of drywall landing on my back. I will say the needles are so thin and so frail. Like when I go, you can actually request, I'm like, can I get like the babyest needles? Because I'm gonna be so transparent. I don't think acupuncture is real. I only do it because the place I go to also gives you a free massage if you do the acupuncture. So I just kind of like do the acupuncture to get the massage, which actually is real and proven in science. But even with those little baby needles, I'm like, if this table were to collapse, if a piece of drywall falls off, I'm done for. I don't know if I could continue living with shards of metal trapped in my body, little fragments like that. Ugh. But LASIK, no, never.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's something that I I don't know that I would ever have the balls to do. I don't even like the fucking eyes test where they just blow a little piece of wet air in your eye. No, thank you. Here's my struggle though. With Olivia's death in particular, I wanted to believe in it. You know what I mean? A, the violence of that, just the laser through the eye, the laser through the hand, it's fucking terrible. But also, I think she had, I wouldn't say one of the weakest deaths in the movie by any means, but she is freaking the fuck out. She can't really see, but instead of just standing put when there are voices like in front of her, she turns around and just fucking runs out of the fucking window. And also, I'm sorry, I know this franchise is chaotic as fuck and highly unrealistic, but part of the fun is how also a little bit realistic this shit is because there are just elaborate traps along the way. No fucking way this woman is just running out and not face planting in the into that glass, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Why are the windows made of paper? How is that frail bitch going through that window? It's the tits, it's the tits that literally broke the glass, which at that point, wow, applausal. But the thing is that that for that alone, not just the breaking of the glass, but just the strategy of it all. Like, why did you run away from the people that were trying to speak to you? Not a Virgo, not a Virgo. You hit the ground, you start screaming, I don't know, other things, but just running around and then breaking frail glass, someone needs to also sue the construction company that made that building.
SPEAKER_04Y'all are talking boo-ko shit about Olivia. She twisted and her heel broke, causing her to stumble out the window. She didn't run out the window. And just because her nipples were hard enough to cut the glass first.
SPEAKER_01Fine. All right. Semantics. Doesn't mean it's unrealistic that she broke through. That was like a pretty strong stumble to break that glass.
SPEAKER_04It was a really ugly boot.
SPEAKER_01It was.
SPEAKER_02It was. Believe in the strength of women, is what Paris says. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04And don't believe in the strength of glass in Final Destination films.
SPEAKER_02No. But you know what I think would be funny? Actually, I say funny. It's not funny. I bet this would be like law student funny. I want to get a list of civil lawsuits that could be strung up based on Final Destination. Like I want to someone to sit down with me, watch a Final Destination movie, and build out all the cases they could make on this fucking franchise.
SPEAKER_03You just need to meet an insurance adjuster and get them. You'd probably have to pay them hourly, but get them to sit down and watch it and spend the next two weeks calculating how much somebody could get sued for because that would be massive.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I don't think I've done enough law students for this.
SPEAKER_03I am curious. We've mentioned that this closes some loops. How about our not so final final three? Do you feel like their deaths were were good?
SPEAKER_02I had such a moment with Sam and Molly. Not that I even really care that deeply about Molly, but Sam, and it was genuinely just the way that you could hear the hopelessness in his voice. I think when he says no and realizes what's about to fucking happen, that is one of the most devastating moments in the fucking movie. Because this guy like got back with the love of his life, he's about to chase his dreams in Paris. There is so much going well for him. He's just had this harrowing experience. He had to basically kill his best friend. It was just tragedy after fucking tragedy after tragedy. And the moment that he thinks he can move on, he struck and pulled back into it. And just to have that like little heartfelt, like, no, it was so good.
SPEAKER_01And that's the thing about death in these films that's also so petty. Because death really just provides the final two or three people a window of time where they may think that things are okay, and then comes back to fuck with them. A false sense of security. Literally crazy. No, that that ending had me gagged. I was so shocked. The moment that I saw Paris on the ticket, I was like, oh fuck, no way on this planet. It was completely shocking. Now I will say that fast-forwarding a little bit when it comes to Nathan's death, I agree that it's definitely ridiculous. I almost wish that there was another way to close that particular loop because I I can understand why they needed to do that. That was going to be left, you know, unanswered for sure in terms of the lore. But it almost does take away a bit of that like shock value in terms of the ending and Sam and Molly's death for sure. Because it's like you're left so surprised that even if it wasn't to go unanswered or if there was another way to go about it, even in the end credits somehow, that would have been cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. What I think is really fun about looking back on Sam and Molly's death is all of the little tips and clues leading up to that. Because I feel like this movie, at least the first time that I watched it, I didn't even completely pay that much mind to its place in time. So yeah, we have one guy on a fucking flip phone, but they're actually pretty good about leaving out a lot of technology in this movie. So the gift certificate that he uses for the spa that expired in June 2001. So it's a little small moment there where it dates it. And even before we get to see the plane ticket, we see that it's the same airline as Flight 180 from the original film. So even Candace, what school do you think? What college do you think would be that proud still of a 90s, a 1994, 1996 championship banner hanging that big? So early 2000s, a little bit more recent, recent history, they're so proud of it, etc. I thought it was really fun to go back this time around and just start looking and pinpointing all the little moments where you can place this movie in time.
SPEAKER_01I don't know, but even that banner thing honestly didn't really like didn't catch me. Mostly because think of how Miami is still stuck on the 1972 Dolphins. Okay, we'll never let it go. And those banners and the and that kind of whole thing is still going to be up anywhere you can find at your local flanagans. So a lot of at least from my kind of world living in this city, it's like a lot of these high schools and these places will hold on to any championship they can, even if it's been ages.
SPEAKER_02However, for sure. But you go to the games at the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, and it's not quite as prominent. You know what I mean? It's in 1972, but you go, okay, Marlins are a great example. They won the World Series two times, and their banners are not that big. So I'm thinking it's it's like the placement and the recency. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be there at all, but it's the fact that it's fucking gigantic and right there as soon as you enter in that gym.
SPEAKER_01Sure, sure. I will say though that the costume department deserves its flowers because that's the part where I definitely did not even question it. And usually that's the most telling piece in a film, right? That's what really tells you what era and what time period they're in, is through the clothing and the makeup and how they dress their hair and everything. And to me, it was super like no key elements, nothing that caught my, you know, attention too too much. Maybe Olivia's outfits. If I were to like obviously looking back and thinking, okay, yeah, that doesn't seem too much of 2011 per se, but we were dressing all kinds of weird. Look at now, today. Every all the kids, the youth, they're all wearing that kind of clothes. So honestly, you could watch Final Destination V and think that you're watching something from today.
SPEAKER_02You know what? We should have known when it came down to her glasses. Her glasses were not that cute.
SPEAKER_04Well, you know what I was just about to say? They made a Lisa Loeb reference. That should have been a dead giveaway. They said it's very Lisa Loeb, but nobody was talking about Lisa Loeb past 2002. I mean, I was, but that's why I caught the reference. I was like, oh, that is very Lisa Loeb.
SPEAKER_01They're super subtle with everything, with everything. All of the set design, the costume design, it's so subtle.
SPEAKER_04Wait, speaking of the glasses, though, can we talk about Olivia's moment on the bridge where she goes full Velma and she can't see a thing without her glasses, and she's like crawling around looking for them on the bridge? I'm like, girl, no, come on, get up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it is a highly stressful situation though, depending on the level of visibility, because holy shit, like what a fucking terrible time. And then to not only it for not it to not only be a terrible time, but to also be a circumstance in which you have to rely on crawling on a narrow beam. That sucks.
SPEAKER_03I have the weirdest, most subtle of things to give some credit to, but it is the color grading in this movie. It is absolutely top notch, beautiful. There is something still tied into that desaturated early 2000s. Mid-2000s kind of look, but we're not bright green, and I love it. And there's room for every color to show through, but it is that little bit, it's not quite washed out, it's just that that little bit real. You know, because when you see a picture of something, it always looks like really bright, really saturated. This, you're looking at screen, screen, you know, this. If you go look at a screen grab of it, you're gonna see nice pops of color, but nothing is overdoing it. Everything seems really kind of realistic. And that for a final destination film is great. I mean, the last film we started off with frickin' shine down on a racetrack, okay? So they just went over the top with everything. Here, this feels like I could be in Seattle right now. This feels like real life. It feels a little bit gritty, but not too much, a little bit shiny, but not too much. And I think it's due to the way they handled the color.
SPEAKER_01Not the not the shine down slander. Let's not do it to them. Let's not. But I would agree with the color grading because I think that also contributes to why I love Candace's kill. Because those stills, I agree with Paris, like it's just incredible. That whole scene, the bright blue, it's just great.
SPEAKER_02100%. See, I want to zero in on that scene because it was my favorite, but also one of my favorite things about this movie is actually its sound design. And I don't often pick up on that very much in a Final Destination film, but Candace's scene in particular for being the young intern who was romancing Peter and to die both in completely brutal and vicious ways. She wasn't in the movie long, but she has such a huge impact in how the movie makes you feel. Because holy shit, every click, the hands in the fucking powder that they use, the creaking of the fucking uneven bars, hearing just like the impact on these bars, all of it just drops you into this like gut-wrenching feeling of what the fuck is about to happen. It really does a great job of immersing you in the moment. And I think that's one of the things that this movie does best because of this scene. It just has such an extended amount of buildup, suspense, anticipation. And quite frankly, even looking at the Bloodline trailer, which we'll talk we talk about in B-sides, this is one of those things that I feel like is gonna escalate even further in that movie because of Candace's scene.
SPEAKER_03It's a little bit out there, that whole thing. It feels almost like a Susperia level moment. It is extreme. Everything about it feels tense. I think, you know, when you're when you're leading up to a kill where you suggest feeling, okay, let's see what they do for the setup. But here you're feeling that tension on your neck, like Candace's. They did a really great job of translating kind of her emotion in that moment to what's what's actually being shown to us. And it's really solid. I think a lot of the a lot of the kills are just one and done. Boom, we took somebody out. Some of the other kills will build it up and you're following the clues. Not often does Final Destination actually focus on the emotion, whether it's flipping back and forth between the two of them or her hands on the bars or the things going on. They just have this building sense of dread. It's really effective.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I think we would be so lucky if we do continue to get more of those elements in bloodlines. I think another element that I really loved, and I think was executed at some of its highest level here were the warnings that our victims got. Specifically, the three that come to mind are Candace's rubber band snapping. And she even like caught the vibe. She was like, That's my lucky rubber band. It snapped. What the fuck is going on? Let me like take a beat. And then her coach was like, bitch, get to work. And she's like, oh fuck, okay. And I was like, damn, she was so close. She like almost tapped in. And then Isaac pricks his little finger on a little thumbtack when he's trying to steal this gift card. That's sort of foreshadowing the acupuncture of it all. And then we have Olivia dropping that picture of herself. And at first I was like, oh, the glasses shattered on her eye. And then I was like, no, the glasses shattered because the bitch went out the window.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Also, I love the note that they were taking that picture, the one that shattered in front of the fucking roller coaster that we will end up seeing later on.
SPEAKER_04Which I'm like, how long has that roller coaster been in business? Rickety.
SPEAKER_03They have this element of subtlety to think to a lot of those moments where some of the previous films don't. They're really just on the nose. And there's a feeling here. It's not quite a softness. It's not like we've really softened anything that's happening, but they are more subtle. They are more, I don't kind of like generous with the intelligent filmmaking. I think you you mentioned it earlier, Paris. And so I do love a lot about that. One of my favorite scenes, honestly, Tony Todd. How could you not just mention it? But I think Tony Todd, when used correctly, is fantastic. Seeing him in the background and then he's not there, that kind of feels like a typical horror movie thing to do. It seems a little bit over the top for what the rest of this movie is. But the moments we get him up close and personal and giving his little warning and the look on his face when he does, because, you know, he knows what he knows. And then they can take that and run away and do with it what they will. And we don't really need to even mention it again because his gosh, his presence on screen is impactful every time he speaks.
SPEAKER_01You know, I don't think I really have a particular favorite scene that I can think of or that, you know, just shoots out at me every time that I watch this film. And that's not that I don't like it, because obviously I do. I I did share that. But what I enjoy about this film is the particular scenes that surprised me when it comes to that human component and the idea that I'm I feel like we see people react the most honest in a scenario in which they've been put in. So when I think of the Roy kill, like the accidental kill on his part, right? Or the showdown in the kitchen, this idea that they're trying to kill people to take their lives and expand their lifespan, like that kind of irrational but frantic frame of mind and thinking feels so real to me because everything else is so fucking insane. Like, how could this actually be happening to you? But people will jump to extremes. Like they'll literally go from zero to 5,000 and will unfortunately do some of the most evil and heinous things to preserve their lives, right? That self-preservation supersedes empathy, supersedes just like this idea of wanting to help other people to survive all together. You're going to see people only think of themselves and be selfish. So it reminded me a little bit of Final Destination 3 with our emo boy Ian and his reaction, the way that he acted in that film. And so that was a nice little homage to that and going back to this idea of like, okay, yeah, sure. If you were to go through this scenario, maybe you'd want to find out how you can strategize and beat death like a puzzle. Or potentially you're gonna be fucking crazy and start killing people to see if maybe it'll cheat death that way. I think it's just a realistic expectation. Not everyone's gonna be gung-ho to team up together to fight death.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I mean, the reality is that that might seem like not the easier solution because oh my gosh, how insane is that? But also it requires less mental effort. So it feels like the most obvious solution. And I think even about this fucking racist son of a bitch in the fucking fourth one, right? There are those who we have seen have malice and be fucking angry about this whole thing, but this is the one, and I think this is a testament to the characters in this movie. This is the one that helped that feeling, as we mentioned earlier, graduate to another level. Because Peter started out, and I I really was paying so much attention to it at this time, he was so soft and so sweet with Candace. And in a movie and in a dynamic where you could think that he's probably predatory, taking advantage of her, etc., it seems like they're probably she's definitely younger than him, but similar-ish in age. He doesn't seem like he's that much older than her. But to see that he had this genuine love for her, and the way that he shows up for her at her gymnastics routine, and how devastated he is to see her go, but then to see him slowly unravel, to see the calculation, to see the way he doesn't want to drink alone, because he does it, you know, that would just be sad. To then this increasing paranoia and the realization and then the bitterness that okay, Sam got dumped by Molly. Why does she already fucking gets to live? Like, what is that? I think Peter's performance in this is probably the strongest in the movie, even though he's not the main character, he's not our leading man, he's not our protagonist, but I think he's the one that pulls focus and pulls the show.
SPEAKER_04Totally agree. I think Peter is the main character of this movie in my mind, which is why I was so starstruck when I met Miles, because he's like the first, I would say, ever in Final Destination to have like a truly compelling narrative arc as a character. Like you guys have been saying, like Ian McKinley in Final Destination 3, like he was just sort of like coming at it from a place of like nihilism and like fuck this, like fuck that. It was chaotic, it wasn't, it wasn't really earned, it was kind of just annoying. Same thing with our racist dude. He's just like drunk, he's stupid, he's racist. It's sort of just like easy to not care too much or not feel too much about an act like that. But like you said, Chris, he goes on such a journey in this that you kind of are like, that makes sense. And I remember the moment so clearly, like where he was thinking about he was like, I could just push somebody into traffic and like that could solve this. And he was like literally behind that person about to push them in front of a bus. And I'm like, this man's going through it. This man is like really doing the emotional work to get to this resolution or like this idea. So it makes it feel so much more earned, and you can like really understand where he's coming from, even though in my brain, I'm like, you're not allowed to kill people. It's a final destination movie. You can't just murder somebody, that's not allowed, that's not how this works. But it was so earned and it was it was so well performed by the actor Miles that I just think it really stands out. I'm like, he's the main one, he's the main character of this movie to me. Because the other two, I'm like, y'all two are giving you understood the assignment of be a final destination character. Miles was like, actually, I'm gonna do some more here. I'm actually gonna cook, I'm gonna eat.
SPEAKER_03It's interesting because I think this is a franchise that would benefit from some acting experience in a lot of the characters, not that necessarily the main characters. I think it's nice to have a relatively unknown actor or perhaps someone who isn't way too A-list to make things interesting. But when I look at Agent Block, this is just a force of a character, one that I was hoping was gonna take something and go someplace with it. Because initially we get the typical thing. Here's the law enforcement officer going, you have to be involved, right? Like you're somehow attached to all these deaths. It's gotta be something big. But then further on into the film, it's like, well, I don't understand, but I need you to help me understand. Like, how is this possible? This is not making sense in my brain, and it seems like you guys might know something, like, I need to figure this out. And there's just like a genuine drive to get to the heart of the issue. And that's it's a bummer, of course, that he gets taken out. But at the same time, I'm like, man, what what could have happened? Like, what might we have gotten, especially if they had continued to make sequels into the 20 teens? But I think one of the other characters that we can all agree on is, of course, Isaac. We've mentioned it several times. You know, it's one thing to have characters that you just don't really care one way or the other, what happens to them. But this is one of those cases where we are all aligned that this character needs to go out in a really gruesome way.
SPEAKER_01That actor typically plays those roles, though. The moment you see him, you're like, ah, this bitch.
SPEAKER_04Douche.
SPEAKER_01He d he really nails it. And and that's to say that I don't think he's that character in everything that he's done. If you look up this guy's filmography, he's in like over 131 like TV shows or movies. Like, that's his filmography. And that tracks because he's a familiar face. Maybe you don't know his name, but you've seen that motherfucker. And truthfully, like he always is, at least from the things that I quickly can think of, he's just like that douchebag, you know, that snarky motherfucker. And I just can't take it. I can't take it if you've seen the boys. Ugh. Screaming.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I absolutely love the moment though at the memorial where Dennis shares his name, and he's like, Did you just call my name? Because Dennis, this guy's already fucking dead.
SPEAKER_04That's T. I will say I really have to suspend my disbelief for the first time ever in this franchise by believing that he is somehow a player who gets laid. Who is having sex with him? He's unfuckable. Also that. Wildly unrealistic, completely implausible.
SPEAKER_03He does play a good heel, though. And I think that's it's nice to have in our in a horror movie. It's like someone that we can legit just root against. Because as soon as he starts talking to women in the film, I'm like, no, this this guy's gotta go. When he's like which I forget which name he calls them, but like, which one are you on the phone to somebody? I was thinking to myself, like, oh no, like make it big, make it splashy, because this is definitely the kind of person they're telling us we are going to hurt them.
SPEAKER_04Every Final Destination movie needs one.
SPEAKER_02They certainly do. And I'm curious actually, as we're going through these characters. I liked Sam. I don't dislike Molly, but I don't know that I really care about their relationship. I fully believe that he's into her. I get that, and I understand the premise of it, and it seems like there's a lot of like genuine care and things like that. I don't know if it was a chemistry thing or a I believed more that Peter loved Candace and I just bought it more. Ah I would I personally was unmoved by the fact that Molly ends up dying.
SPEAKER_03There was definitely something there, and I I think you're right that it actually could be just on-screen chemistry for some reason. The idea that they were together or apart doesn't really affect you, and I think it didn't add a lot to the movie to have them kind of faltering either. I mean, it would make it, I guess, for some dialogue, but honestly, you don't you don't care one way or the other what's going to happen. And by the end of the movie, it's still a little bit unclear. They seem, of course, to have made it through, so maybe that's good. They're they're going to Paris together, but you're like, did they really break up? Did we need to even talk about that for however many minutes of this film? It added nothing.
SPEAKER_02But you know what? They did spend the rest of their lives together.
SPEAKER_03Oh no.
SPEAKER_02Down to the very end.
SPEAKER_01Oh, well, sure. A situationship that just falters at the end. It's pretty sad.
SPEAKER_02Could you imagine spending the rest of your life with your situation ship? I mean, well. Yeah. At least you're not alone. I mean, I guess, but I feel like at the end of my life I will have wanted to think that I found somebody.
SPEAKER_01I suppose. Thing is, in general about this franchise, is like we always get that romantic pairing, especially with the lead and whomever. But nothing could ever really top Alex and Clear. Although that alone is already questionable because it's been less than maybe 10 hours and they're in love with each other, and I still have questions about that, but somehow the chemistry, I bought into it. I love, I'm team Alex and Clear.
SPEAKER_02Oh, they're teenagers.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, no, I of course, because they're teenagers.
SPEAKER_02So it doesn't matter that they don't know each other the 10 hours, and that's why we believe it, because what we're clinging to is not Alex and Clear. We're clinging to the memory of when we were young, and you could have the excitement of like a first love.
SPEAKER_01I I thought I was setting you up here for the classic Twilight reference in every episode type thing because I thought you were gonna say, yes, clinging to our teenage years and then thinking of how Edward and Bella have known each other for less time than probably Alex and Clear, and here we are.
SPEAKER_04I'm not loving the Clear Rivers and Kimberly erasure. I think the chemistry there was probably the most believable of any romance that we've had in Final Destination. Final Destination romances are famously cheeks, like we're not here for that. And in fact, stop writing them. Writers, stop doing that. No one gives a shit. In fact, it doesn't look like there's even a hint of it in bloodlines. So that could be good. That's true.
SPEAKER_03Gosh, talking about all of them does make me think of something that I disliked, my least favorite part of this film, and it has to do with Sam. And it is everything about his career as a cook or a chef or whatever it is that he's going into. The the scenes we get in the kitchen, for some reason they just bothered me. I think it's because we've watched The Bear at this point, and so nothing else just will come close in in terms of realism and like how decked out he is in this overly formal, like French restaurant. It just for some reason it's bothersome. It seems like there's too much going on, no one really has it together. This place must not run very well.
SPEAKER_02Well, I haven't watched the bear, so that didn't bother me one fucking bit. But the worst part of this movie for me is actually going back to what I mentioned earlier in terms of the 3D of it all. Thankfully, we didn't get as much bullshit as we did in the Final Destination, but there are still some moments where it just felt like a little too much. But for that to be the worst thing, I think, speaks to how fun this movie actually is.
SPEAKER_04As much as I hate the romance in Final Destination movies, I hate even more the casual racism. Yum yum dim sum. No, absolutely not. Not even for a character that's supposed to be annoying. And then also watching Block get executed at gunpoint never feels good. So let's stop writing that too, Final Destination. Let's stop writing those. They don't add value and they age the film.
SPEAKER_01Let's definitely hope that that changes for sure. Worst part for me is generally how dismissed this film feels in the grand scheme of the franchise. It certainly has the best ending as we've talked about notable kills that people need to see. I think in general, like this film really does need to tier higher in people's rankings. And I think it just doesn't because they stopped after a certain amount of time. So that's a shame. And that's exactly why I certainly would re-watch this. But actually, I want to do this rewatch differently. I've always re-watched this film in chronological order. I've never in chronological of release. I've never done the marathon in chronological order in terms of the timeline. So I mentioned this in the last episode. I did a marathon with my former boss, a friend of mine. We watched all the films in one sitting. Next time that we do this, I definitely want to do it in that format to see how I react, what things do I catch up on, how seamless it goes. I'm sure there's gonna be obviously some bumps in the road in terms of five and one, but I mean, how have I not done this yet?
SPEAKER_02Okay, well, here's what I was thinking. Paris and I were gonna watch do a watch-along earlier for Final Destination or the Final Destination, but then it didn't work out scheduling-wise. But I was thinking how fun would it be before bloodlines if we released a series of watch-alongs, but it's kind of like a binge of the franchise. But then I realized also if we do it this way in the canon order, that means we have to end the franchise on the final destination, and that is depressing. But it's okay, we could finish it right before the bloodline, so it's okay.
SPEAKER_04Do we think they made it a prequel so that they could actually be like, yeah, we meant it, it was the final destination. This way they didn't have to look stupid, just like stubbornness.
SPEAKER_02So they didn't have to do the Friday the 13th of it all?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Because they're they were the ones that did Friday the 13th and Freddy, so they were like, Alright, fuck. We did it three times now, let's let's change it up.
SPEAKER_04We wrote ourselves into a corner again, y'all.
SPEAKER_02Surprise prequel. I'm excited personally to actually apply that method, Binks. I want to see if we can get some re some watch longs going for the folks. But this movie has so much rewatchability. If not even for a franchise binge, then at least go back and discover all the little things that are hidden here. Because what this franchise is ripe with is Easter eggs and nods to other movies within the franchise.
SPEAKER_03I think it did it so much more effectively than the last film. So I'm I'm here for it. A rewatch it has earned. And I think going into whatever comes with with our next Final Destination entry, I'm I'm hopeful because of this film.
SPEAKER_04Totally. This film has infinite rewatch value for me, as most Final Destinations do. I think my official ranking at this point in time is gonna be two, five, one, three, four.
SPEAKER_02I was getting nervous about where you placed one, and then I forgot that you hadn't already listed three, and I thought one and four are in too close proximity. Fair. Well, I can't wait to see how our feelings on this movie and this franchise really evolve with our next film, Final Destination Bloodlines, coming out in May. But for now, there you have it, folks. Final Destination 5 from 2011 has earned a universal slash. Now we've certainly had a robust discussion here, but the conversation doesn't end here by any means.
SPEAKER_03If you want to find out how you can go further than this episode, consider supporting the show by visiting patreon.com slash hacker slash. This is where you can enjoy even more of the show, including bonus content with early access, extended episodes with our B sides, movie nominations, and live shows.
SPEAKER_01And if you love cheating death with us, leave us a five star review wherever you get your podcasts. This helps us continue to deliver great content for all you horror fiends out there.
SPEAKER_02We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, Death doesn't like to be cheated.













