Final Destination series, like many horror franchises, eventually developed into a sort of cinematic comfort food for fans. Each sequel promised horror lovers a high body count, lots of complex, gory kills and a fast-paced, fun time. With the exception of the original, none of them really tried to be scary, but for a certain type of horror fan, they sure scratched an itch.
In essence, the Final Destination movies are akin to slasher films, albeit with an invisible slasher. The characters are usually one-dimensional, and there's rarely much effort put into making the audience care enough about them to feel sad when they're killed off. That may sound like an indictment, but it's not intended to be, as most of the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies do the same thing. Fans come to see eye-popping kill scenes and a reliable formula, and that's what they get.
The problem is, as seen with the box office take of the final entry in most slasher series, even a formula fans like eventually wears thin. Final Destination 5 was no different, underperforming financially, and putting the franchise on the shelf for nearly a decade. It's time for Final Destination 6 to offer fans something new, while also providing the bloody good time they crave.
How Final Destination 6 Can Revitalize A Repetitive Franchise
The first Final Destination movie established a set formula that every sequel has followed, albeit with various small tweaks here and there. The protagonist has a premonition of an event causing mass death, and they and several other people in their orbit or near them are saved as a result. Then Death comes back around to kill them all one by one, in an effort to balance its books. Vague rules are offered, as are possible survival strategies, sometimes by Bludworth character. The movie then either ends with everyone dying, or sees a character live long enough to be killed in the next film, or in DVD extras. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Final Destination 6 obviously shouldn't completely abandon what fans have come to love about the series. There should be plenty of gory deaths, a premonition should set the scenario up, and Death should be the one knocking the victims off. However, the series, at long last needs to establish actual rules for how Death operates. They've changed in every film so far, to the point where it's completely unclear which apply at any given moment.
There also needs to be a real, actual way for a character or characters to beat Death, and emerge alive, with a natural life ahead of them. What's the point of a story where the villain is seemingly invincible and omniscient, and it's a foregone conclusion that the characters it's targeting will always lose in the end? That story's been told five times now, it's time to do something different, and Final Destination 6 reportedly focusing on first responders, people trained to deal with adverse situations, presents the perfect opportunity to do so.
