The Iconic 2000 Horror Movie On Max That Started A Fan-Favorite Franchise

In the first film of the franchise, audiences follow along on the edge of their seats after a student named Alex (Devon Sawa) has a vision that the plane he and his peers are about to travel on explodes on takeoff. Through a string of cause-and-effect moments, Alex and a handful of his classmates, as well as one teacher, disembark the plane only to watch it go up in flames moments later. Having skipped their meeting with death, the rest of Final Destination sees the characters picked off one by one.

At its core, the storyline behind Final Destination is all about a ripple effect or even a butterfly effect (the title of another classic early aughts movie), with one action impacting the next and the next until a final outcome happens. In the case of this film series, that outcome is usually a gruesome and horrific death. During its very early planning stages, the script, which was penned by Jeffrey Reddick, was going to be a one-off episode of The X-Files but boy, are we glad that wasn’t the case.

Along with Devon Sawa, who, by the time he appeared as the future-seeing Alex, had already made a name for himself in titles like Casper, Wild America, and Idle Hands, the rest of the call sheet for Final Destination featured some of the most iconic names of the time. Included in the lineup were Ali Larter (Varsity Blues), Seann William Scott (the American Pie franchise), Kerr Smith (Dawson’s Creek), Daniel Roebuck (The Devil’s Rejects), and Tony Todd (Candyman). 

Shamefully, Final Destination sits on Rotten Tomatoes with a 37 percent critics score which is an absolute travesty if you ask us. Despite the critical haters, the movie scored big at the box office, earning nearly $113 million against its $23 million production budget. With five movies having already hit cinemas and a sixth one on the way, this is a clear sign that studios will continue to make films despite what the critics say as long as the fanbase approves.

One of the best parts about the Final Destination franchise is the absolutely bonkers and out-of-control deaths that happen. We won’t spoil any of them for those who haven’t seen the movies, but the order in which things pan out and lead to some of the crazy kills is truly on another level.

Those of us who were in our teenage years when the second film, Final Destination 2, rolled around in 2003, will forever be affected by a certain scene shown in the trailer that featured a logging truck – if you know, you know, likely because you’re traumatized.

Head over to Max now to stream Final Destination during the impending spooky season.