Every Final Destination Movie Ranked (Including Bloodlines)

As William Bludworth (Tony Todd) has exhaustively told so many souls over the years, you can't cheat death. The grim reaper has a habit of overwhelming people and realizing its ambitions, even if you get a premonition that helps you temporarily evade its clutches. The "Final Destination" movies have spent decades entertainingly reminding moviegoers that death is everywhere. You're never safe from meeting your maker, even if you're doing something as simple as going for a jog or receiving LASIK surgery. These movies have helped inspire so much anxiety in people that nobody can even drive normally behind a log truck anymore. However, they've also proven enduringly popular. Folks just can't get enough of seeing young individuals perish in maximalist ways.

Still, just because the "Final Destination" saga as a whole is popular, that doesn't mean every single entry is a modern horror classic on par wth "Get Out" or "Weapons." On the contrary, ranking the "Final Destination" films from their lowest to highest average Letterboxd grade is a reminder that this collection of frightening features has had some truly wretched creative lows. It's a wonder the brand survived such significant stumbles. But luckily, this ranking is also a reminder that the best "Final Destination" entries deliver imaginative kills and carnage you can't get anywhere else.

Death is inescapable, and so are the artistic highs and lows of the "Final Destination" movies. Let's plunge into this ranking and (hopefully) not lose our heads in the process.

In many long-running horror sagas, fans typically agree on what the weakest entry is. "Spiral: From the Book of Saw," for example, has taken on an infamous reputation as the nadir of "Saw" films. "Final Destination' is another instance of this phenomenon: 2009's "The Final Destination" is widely proclaimed to be the absolute worst of the bunch, and no amount of digital 3D trickery can bolster the limp artistry behind this installment.

A common refrain among Letterboxd reviews for this entry is that "The Final Destination" doesn't work at being frightening. Between the absolutely abysmal acting and the wacky death scenes (many of which are exceedingly convoluted even by "Final Destination" standards), moviegoers just struggled to get any genuine chills out of this once ominous saga. Previous "Final Destination" entries inspired people to always look over their shoulder when stepping onto rollercoasters or driving behind log trucks. "The Final Destination," meanwhile, just inspired folks to check their watches to see how much of the runtime was left.

Other elements like the sterile cinematography, "ironic" racism, and having so many death scenes happen off-screen were further gripes about this particular entry. Adding an extra dimension to the first 3D "Fiinal Destination" entry did nothing to distract from how flat and lifeless this installment was.

The substantially improved Letterboxd score for "Final Destination 5" from "The Final Destination" signifies how much this 2011 entry learned from its dire predecessor. It'd even be fair to say that "Final Destination 5" has a bit of a cult following after all these years, thanks to details like its creative deaths, over-the-top trashy dialogue, and a beloved twist ending that connects this outing with the very first "Final Destination." 

Most importantly, "Final Destination 5" was praised for bringing a sense of fun back to the saga. After "The Final Destination" was a total snoozefest, the follow-up reveled in playful tension underpinning the most brutally violent sequences. If there were some recurring complaints about this installment, though, it's that the lead character, Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto), was pretty forgettable. Given that Mary Elizabeth Winstead's compelling "Final Destination 3" work proved the characters in this franchise could be just as memorable as the slayings, D'Agosoto's work here left many cold. Others found that the movie's deaths peaked too early in the runtime or that the various supporting characters were too indistinguishable from one another.

Even with those shortcomings, "Final Destination 5" is widely praised for sending audiences home on a high note with that surprising conclusion. Rolling the end credits over a "greatest hits" montage of "Final Destination" deaths set to AC/DC's "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" just solidifies the darkly fun vibes of this outing.

"Jaws" changed beaches forever. "Psycho" permanently altered how folks looked at their showers. In the same vein, log trucks would never again have the same reputation after the (literally) killer opening sequence of "Final Destination 2." This movie's legacy on Letterboxd and all over the internet is defined by that initial set piece, where a bunch of runaway logs and tons of cars on the road lead to a pileup of brutal deaths. There's no more exciting and imaginative set piece in director David R. Ellis's eclectic and often underwhelming filmography. If his 2011 film "Shark Night 3D" had half of this scene's spunk, it would have been a chum-ridden masterpiece.

The rest of "Final Destination 2" is nowhere near as revered as that opening scene, at least by Letterboxd users. The rest of the flashy death scenes just don't leave much of an impression, while the characters in this installment are largely viewed as disposable even by "Final Destination" standards. Said characters weren't helped by a generally forgettable cast. That log truck set piece might have set too high a bar for the rest of the movie, but even without it, the weakest elements in "Final Destination 2" would still be a major problem.

Thankfully, 2003's "Final Destination 2" is still regarded by fans as largely decent, particularly in how it begins and ends on strong notes. Plus any film that upends the cultural reputations of log trucks so effectively deserves tremendous kudos. 

It's a drastic understatement to say that Mary Elizabeth Winstead is grossly overqualified to headline a "Final Destination" installment. Winstead, who would go on to headline "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," Season 3 of "Fargo," and "10 Cloverfield Lane," is tremendously involving as the anchor of 2006's "Final Destination 3," even if it feels like her talents would be better utilized elsewhere. Her immense chops are repeatedly noted in the Letterboxd reviews for this "Destination" outing, with many commending her for lending extra layers of humanity that were missing from prior installments. Just with her presence, "Final Destination 3" zooms ahead of weaker franchise entries like "The Final Destination."

Also helping are the enjoyable, suspenseful death sequences, like one jock survivor constantly (and obliviously) being seconds away from death via many hazardous weight room objects. A grisly trip to a tanning salon similarly reverberates with well-paced and deranged fun. Morbid creativity abounds here, right down to franchise mainstay Tony Todd appearing again in an ominous voice-over at a theme park. Unfortunately, some poor acting choices and strained narrative turns inspired the more negative Letterboxd responses to "Final Destination 3."

Still, this third outing improved on its direct predecessor and even some subsequent entries by leaning into imagination and showmanship for the grandiose death sequences, while utilizing the considerable talent of Mary Elizabeth Winstead didn't hurt either.

In many ways, "Final Destination" is the quintessential horror movie of 2000. In what other year of cinema history would a scary film be headlined by Devon Sawa, Daniel Roebuck, and Seann William Scott? Plus 2000 was the last full year for a good long while that American cinema could hang an escapist piece of genre entertainment around a big sequence in which an airplane explodes. However, the most positive Letterboxd reviews for "Final Destination" praise the movie for displaying some timeless charms that make it clear why it inspired a franchise that's still producing new installments to this very day.

Singled out here in particular are, of course, the most extreme and wince-inducing death sequences. This saga's propensity for inspiring anxiety in audience members over previously ordinary parts of everyday life was alive and well in this initial installment's most unhinged set pieces. Other reviewers praise elements like the creative contributions of franchise architects like director James Wong and the film's juxtaposition of standard teenage melodrama with the inescapable presence of death. The remarkable Tony Todd instantly standing out in his debut "Final Destination" appearance has also endured as one of the most beloved aspects of this entry.

If late '90s/early 2000s horror isn't your bag, then no amount of positive reviews will inspire you to give "Final Destination" a chance. However, for many, the kick-off to this death-fixated franchise was a killer good time.

After 14 years away from the silver screen, "Final Destination Bloodlines" brought the saga roaring back to life in 2025 with more production polish than ever, thanks to certain sequences being captured with IMAX cameras. An expanded scope and more precise visual sensibilities were just two of the many virtues of this outing, which scored heaps of praise from Letterboxd users. By the time most horror franchises reach their sixth installment, they're running on creative fumes and chasing callbacks to the saga's glory days. "Bloodlines," meanwhile, saw new directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein embrace new ways to inject life and meticulously-choreographed carnage into these movies.

"Bloodlines" was especially praised for its relentless sense of fun and creativity when it came to dishing out deaths. Everything in this entry, from sinks full of ice to springs in vending machines, is a mechanism for a gnarly demise. Lipovsky and Stein execute these conceptually inspired deaths with crisp editing and camerawork, particularly in a gangbusters opening sequence rife with exhilarating, escalating dread. Users still pointed out that no blown-up budget could help "Bloodlines" avoid certain recurring "Final Destination" flaws, like stale dialogue or a finale that's underwhelming compared to an earlier sequence set in a hospital.

Generally, though, "Bloodlines" was widely praised by folks who viewed it as the franchise's new zenith of creativity. 25 years after the first film, the "Final Destination" saga is more deliciously deadly than ever.