The 2000 horror film Final Destination has remained one of the most popular horror flicks of the early 2000’s. One of the reasons it’s continued to remain so popular with audiences, aside from the series of sequels that have continued on in the years since, is that the original movie itself is a pretty smart little film. It goes without saying that the concept in itself is very original and creative – so no doubt audiences like watching the franchise when in need of something unique and interesting. But there’s another reason that Final Destination stands out so well – and it’s such a subtle reason you might’ve not even noticed it before. But as it turns out, Final Destination has some fascinating clips that foreshadowed most of the deaths in the film.
If you’ve seen the original Final Destination, you’ll remember the opening scene where the plane explodes in a fiery blaze during a premonition sequence. This is very important to the overall film because it not only sets the plot in motion, but it points out the order in which the unfortunate group of friends is set to die upon escaping the doomed flight. There’s also another important example in which the opening of Final Destination foreshadowed the deaths of three characters.
The first example of foreshadowing begins when Tod looks at his friend Alex. Tod is attempting to warn him against changing seats, and in an effort to do so he makes a gesture that resembles slitting his throat and another that resembles hanging. As it turns out, later in the film, this is how Tod actually ends up dying when he’s strangled in his bathtub via fishing wire.
The next foreshadowed death comes when Billy is staring at the exploding plane. There’s a shot of its reflection gliding across his face as he stares. As it turns out, Billy’s face is literally sliced in the same spot by a piece of metal later on in the film.
If that’s not enough, Terry is later seen at the end of the sequence when everyone discovers the premonition has come true. If you look behind her, there’s a picture of a bus. By the time she actually dies in the film, she ends up being hit by a bus.
It goes to show just how much thought actually goes into these movies that some might simply call pointlessly strung together gore effects. But that’s obviously not the case – Final Destination is much more and that can be seen in its ability to foreshadow and create some amazingly suspenseful atmosphere throughout its runtime as a result.