8 Movies We Didn’t Know Were Origin Stories Going In

5. Final Destination 5

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New Line Cinema

The fifth Final Destination movie, while largely a mixed bag, features one of the great rug-pull moments of modern horror.

Absolutely, completely, unequivocally marketed as a direct sequel to 2009's The Final Destination - making FD5 a straight-up fifth picture to the larger franchise narrative which began with the 2000 original - Final Destination 5 had the final sequence shocker that the movie we'd spent nearly 90 minutes watching was actually a prequel.

That reveal came as FD5 protagonists Sam and Molly headed to Paris for a vacation after evading the Grim Reaper's grasp. Here, it's shockingly shown how this trip to Paris finds the pair on the doomed Volée Airlines Flight 180 plane which explodes in the opening moments of the first Final Destination.

So, what we'd actually seen through Final Destination 5 was a prequel that served to peel the curtain back on Death - complete with Tony Todd's Bludworth detailing how one can appease Death by killing someone who wasn't originally supposed to die.

Final Destination 5 didn't end up being a full-on origin tale for the notion of Death stalking those who have avoided their intended demise, but it does flesh out the rules of this franchise in ways not previously seen in the series.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.