Every Final Destination Movie Ranked

Final Destination received mixed-to-negative reviews at the time of its release. Err... why? It's a smashing horror film, and it's no surprise that it launched such a successful IP. It's got everything we love about Final Destination and more. 

White-knuckle tension? Check. A gruelling opening disaster? Check. A clever network of omens and clues? Check. A well-judged, darkly comedic tone? Check. Ferociously brutal death scenes that'll make you afraid of innocent, everyday things? Triple check. This movie brings it all to the table, and also does a terrific job of establishing the rules of the series and how Death's Design works. 

Although the film is more reserved and less violent than all of its sequels, what allowed it to still reign supreme (until very recently) is that it's more characterful than most of its successors. The group that survives the (very frightening) opening plane crash - headlined by Alex (Devon Sawa), the first and still the best Final Destination visionary - feel more real than many of the later casts, and the film's emphasis on the traumatic effects of the survivor's guilt gives it a welcome dose of pathos. 

Sawa is excellent in the lead and Tony Todd's cameo is legendary. The rest of the acting is pretty weak, and the film's ending is a little too open-ended, so perhaps it isn't a 10/10 masterpiece on the same level as, say, 1978's Halloween. It is, nevertheless, an awesome film and its low Rotten Tomatoes score sure has aged like milk.