Let me be honest with you—I didn’t mean to watch Final Destination. I travelled to ogun state to talk to one of my mentor about work, I decided to spend time with their family and eldest daughter asked if I'd watched “Final Destination” well, I said no but I've seen the cover a couple of times. She recommended it but hinted that it was scary too. I remembered my friends talking about it and how it messes with your head 😂
But trust me, I wanted to watch, not because I wanted to enjoy the movie but I wanted to know what's scary about it. That curiosity level tho🥹
So I clicked play—and in less than 10 minutes, I knew I wasn’t ready for what was coming.
The movie opens with a group of high school students who are waiting to board a flight to Paris on a class trip. One of these, Alex Browning is given a dramatic flash of intuition that the plane will explode in mid flight soon after takeoff. He goes berserk, creates a scene and gets thrown out of the flight with some other people. A few minutes later the plane literally blows up- just as he had seen it.
Chills, right?
That is when it becomes really twisted. When you think that they have beaten death, all of a sudden things begin to go horribly wrong. The survivors start dying, one after another in the most unforeseen and grotesque manner possible. However, it is not at random but in the order they were supposed to die on the plane. This way an ominous race against time starts, and the actual antagonist is not a man, but death itself.
As soon as the plane exploded, I was imbued with a weird sort of tension, such as enveloped me with a cold blanket. I was not able to keep still. My hands were cold, my chest was warm, thumping with nervousness. I was not in the ordinary way afraid. The movie did not contain any cheap thrills or jump-scares. The thing that made Final Destination scary was how feasible everything was.
The universe seemed to be on guard, waiting, waiting to whisk you back the minute you thought you could outwit it.
One scene that I still remember is one in which there is a bathroom with a slippery floor. The camera moved so slowly that you could feel the sweat on your brow… the creepy music that played under every step… I had the feeling that somebody watched me. Each of the twists was personal. Each death was too close to feel comfortable.
I wasn’t just watching. I was experiencing it.
The thing that impressed me most was not only the imaginative deaths (yes, they were bloody and innovative). It was the thought that destiny is not a straight line, it is a circle, which attempts to right itself. It will find a way no matter how smart or fast you are.
That is when I had to pause the movie at some point- just to breathe. It put me in thoughts: how many times in my life did it seem a near-miss? The moments when I had made the road crossing and a car passed by a few seconds later. The instances where I just canceled plans and then heard that something dreadful happened that night. Did those occur randomly? Or was I defrauding something that should have been happening?
Final Destination is not something that makes you scared, it penetrates you and gets you to doubt everything.
I did not go to sleep immediately after seeing the movie. I sat in bed and stared at the ceiling and reflected how quickly life can change in a heartbeat. One decision. There was one lag in action. A single switch of seat in a plane- and your life goes in another direction all together.
I learnt to appreciate what we usually assume, to wake up, to brush our teeth and walk out the door. We suppose that we are in control. But what should we do it we are not? And what would happen if we borrow each breath?
I do not want to sound morbid, but that is the strength of Final Destination. It smacks you in the face with the reality of death not to frighten you, but to awaken you. To make you remember that you do not live forever. That each day is a day.
Yet there is something empowering about that, as well. Since, in case death is watching, then perhaps life is also. Perhaps it is the rebellion to live.
The manner in which the movie hinted at the subtle clues is one thing I greatly liked. There was nothing by chance. A shake of wind, a toss of something, a shadow--it all led to something. It paranoid you, and amazed you. The authors did not rely on the horror gimmicks. They allow fear to take its course.
And the characters? They were not disposable adolescents. They were complex, frightened and had personalities. It was like watching someone (especially Alex, the main character) lose their hold on reality as they are trying so hard to hold it together. I sympathized with him. I was that.
Final Destination is not just your ordinary horror film. It does not run after you with a monster; it runs after you with the truth. The reality of not being in control altogether. That life is a thread and at times it breaks without any warning.
It teaches you something though, something quite beautiful, to listen to. To exist. In order to cherish time. It is a movie that makes you turn around and even call your loved ones to say that you love them.
And when you want gore, tension and mind games, you will love it. However, when you are emotionally sensitive or anxious about life and death, you might feel like waiting.
Me? I did not regret watching it. I believe I should have watched it. And since that in all its darkness, Final Destination also set a small fire in me, a fire to live, to feel, and not to spend even a moment of it.
Thumbnail is designed by me on pixelLab and other images are screenshot from the movie