Summary
TheFinal Destinationseries turns 25 this year, and after a 14-year hiatus, horror fans can finally watch a new set of characters try to escape Death’s design inFinal Destination: Bloodlines.
With its chilling premonitions and everyday moments twisted into intricate death traps,James Wong’s iconic horror franchisecreated a stand-out formula within the genre. Fortunately, it’s not the only film series that features elaborate death scenes, a looming unseen threat, and a fate-driven narrative. Here are thebest horror movieslikeFinal Destinationthat fans need to watch.
Urban Legendis a classic whodunnit teen slasher flick where a killer stalks a college campus, enacting gruesome kills based on various deadly urban legends.
The film scored two sequels, and fans will find the same ironic soundtrack and darkly playful kills that defineFinal Destinationacross the series.Urban Legend: Bloody Maryeven swapped the slasher for a supernatural threat and features a tanning salon death reminiscent ofFinal Destination 3, despite predating it by a year.
A slasher with a time-loop twist,Happy Death Dayfollows a college student who is murdered on her birthday and forced to relive it repeatedly until she solves her murder.
Morbidly funny,Happy Death Dayis as serious as its title. Packed with ironic foreshadowing that evokesFinal Destination’s signature Easter eggs, it’s a clever but light-hearted horror. With an upbeat energy, bursts of violence that keep its repetitive premise fresh, and a standout mean-girl heroine,Happy Death Dayis a solid addition to the ‘cheating-death’ horror canon.
Stay Alivefully embraces its cheesy premise of a haunted video game where “if you die in the game, you die for real.” Wearing its nods toFinal Destinationon its sleeve, the opening scene warns its cast of misfit gamers that they are “marked for death.” What follows is a series of inventive fake-outs and inescapable deaths, with each character dying in a way that mirrors their in-game demise.
Stay Aliveis a mid-2000s teen horror with all the trimmings, complete with a nail-gun-wielding goth girl ripped straight fromFinal Destination 3.
Swapping the opening disaster sequence for a deadly puzzle room,Final DestinationmeetsSawinEscape Room. In this movie, a group of strangers attend an escape room that turns lethal, forcing them to solve high-stakes puzzles to survive.
The fast-paced, twisty horror offers inventive visual set-pieces and thoughtfully diverse puzzle rooms. While it lacks gore,Escape Roomkeeps audiences hooked with its genuinely mounting suspense as the players try tonavigate its fiendishly elaborate traps.
Countdownfollows a group of college students who find themselves trying to escape fate after they discover a cursed app that predicts when they will die, triggering a string of bloody deaths.
While genre fans may feel techno-horror fatigue,Countdownknows what its PG-13 audience wants: jump scares, fun death scenes, and just enough tension to keep them hooked. With its own set of rules and looming ticking clock of fate,Countdownplays like a tamer, smartphone-basedFinal Destination.
Another race against time to beat a mythical curse, Blumhouse’sTruth or Dareputs a sinister spin on the titular familiar party game. When a group of twenty-something friends play a demonic version of truth or dare, they’re forced to either reveal their deepest secrets, complete increasingly dangerous dares, or die.
What follows is a fast-paced, undeniably absurd watch with creepy smiles and creative kills. It’s a twisty plot driven by the death-defying structure that fans ofFinal Destinationlive for.
Based on Stephen King’s short story, Osgood Perkins’The Monkeyfollows twin brothers, Hal and Bill, who discover a cursed toy monkey and unleash a cascade of carnage that spans 25 years.
The vivid, horror-filled ride thrives off its ridiculous kill scenes, which are delivered withwicked humor and drenched in gore. While it lacks the atmospheric dread ofFinal Destination, its kill variety makes it a high-energy companion piece and a satisfying choice for those craving more comically over-the-top horror.
Eli Roth carves out aggressively creative deaths in his festive horrorThanksgiving. The movie opens with a Black Friday massacre, which could easily feature in aFinal Destinationinstallment, before becoming a gory whodunnit slasher as the townsfolk are hunted by a vengeful killer.
Filled to thebrim with impressively sadistic kills,including the creative use of a trampoline and, of course, an oven,Thanksgivingis a slick and delightfully gory seasonal slasher film that could easily spawn a bigger franchise.
Takashi Miike’sOne Missed Calltakes the cursed tech concept ofRinguand replaces the VHS tape with a cell phone, as a circle of friends receives disturbing voicemails from their future selves, capturing the moment of their death.
The unnerving atmosphere and fatalistic horror recall the serious tone of the firstFinal Destinationmovie, while the imaginative death scenes carry the franchise’s same flair. It’s a hidden gem with some memorable and effective scares thatits American remake failed to recreate.
For fans who are looking for a PG-13 riff onFinal Destination,Wish Upondelivers. In this movie, a mysterious magic box grants a teenage girl seven wishes, each coming at a deadly cost.
Wish Uponis a flawed butentertaining ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ teen horror, and for those who can have fun with its outdated dialogue and gimmicky premise, the memorable kills make it well worth the watch. Packed with outrageous deaths sparked by everyday objects, including garbage disposals, bathtubs, and elevators,Final Destinationfans will feel right at home.
