The grisly Final Destination franchise left a generation of millennials terrified of sunbeds (perhaps rightly so), trucks loaded with timber, and practically everything that could result in a weird, untimely death — from laser eye surgery machines to elevators.
Now, more than 25 years since the franchise’s first movie debuted on screens, Final Destination is back with yet another instalment of all the brutal ways to kill off your characters.
Final Destination Bloodlines had a bumper opening weekend and some rave reviews, exceeding expectations and racking up $102m at the global box office since its recent release.
The film introduces us to a new family that is trying to escape the premonition of an elderly family member — and Death’s sinister attempts to kill them off one by one.
Look closely, though, and you may spot some connections to the previous films across the last two decades. Here are some Easter eggs that you may have missed.
Clear Rivers reference
As the family discusses how to escape Death, they decide to find a person called ‘JB’ in Iris’s notebook. Before they meet Tony Todd’s recurring character, William Bludworth, they try to remember which hospital they should travel to.
Darlene then suggested that the hospital's name could be ‘Clear River Hospital’, which is a direct nod to Final Destination protagonist Clear Rivers, who also died in a hospital in Final Destination 2.
It’s also during the film that we discover that Bludwoth was actually a survivor of the Skyview, meaning that throughout the entire franchise, he’s been learning about and attempting to cheat his own death.
Hice Pale Ale
The Final Destination creators are masters at making every object look and feel unnerving in some way. Like the bottle of Hice Pale Ale that the family enjoys at the barbecue just before another character’s gruesome death.
Hice Pale Ale has actually been a staple across the Final Destination franchise, which appeared in both Final Destination 2 a
Iris’ notebook
One of the most fascinating clues of the latest film is the insight into Iris’ notebook, and the subsequent timeline that Stefanie emblazons on her wall.
As Stefanie tries to save her family, she starts studying her grandma’s notes in order to learn how to avoid death and spot the signs that something bad is about to happen.
The timeline details every death in the Final Destination franchise, including the ill-fated flight from the first instalment. It prompted several fans to question whether all the characters in the franchise were actually descendants of those who died at the Skyview restaurant.
Sadly, showrunners have since debunked this theory, as it would have meant that the parents of all the characters would have had to die in the previous shows.
Speaking of flight 180
Another very subtle nod to the previous films was the use of the number plate FL8 18E when Iris and her boyfriend arrive at the Skyview.
Luckily, a few eagle-eyed viewers caught the split-second reference: “Very beginning of the movie, the car’s license plate was FL8 18E (flight 180). Catch it?”
Fans believe that this is a very small nod to Flight 180, the plane that triggers the first premonition in the first movie.
The logs
Arguably, one of the most memorable death premonitions of the entire franchise was the use of a truck full of logs on the road, that goes wrong and leads to disaster in Final Destination 2.
Without giving too much away, the terrifying logs make yet another appearance in Final Destination Bloodlines on quite a few occasions.
But will Death get to flex its favoured use of killing in the final scenes? You’ll have to watch and find out.
