Final Destination 5 Blu-ray review

            Very little has changed throughout the Final Destination franchise. I’m not even certain that these can be considered sequels, but instead are simply a series of films which are closer to remakes than a continuation of the story. Then again, often horror sequels simply repeat the established formula, keeping only the killer/villain as a common strain. Although the killer in the Final Destination films is not visible, it has remained the same throughout the whole series. The only interesting thing Final Destination 5 does is implement a new rule which allows for a little more help with the killing.

            Final Destination 5 begins with the obligatory large tragedy, which this time is a collapsing bridge. We see the entire disaster through the eyes of our protagonist, only to pull back and discover that it was merely a premonition. This vision is enough to save a group of workers on a bus on the way to a corporate retreat. These coworkers all believe that they are lucky survivors, but one after another they begin to die from mysterious accidents. As is always the case, we must sit through several gruesome deaths before the daft victims realize that they are dying in the same order that they were meant to die in the bridge accident.

            The new piece of the puzzle this time around is the revelation that by killing someone else instead, the survivors can find a way to dodge the nonstop attacks from the omnipresent Death villain which always survives for the sequel. There is no way to kill Death, and even the latest trick of surviving comes with its own ironic twist. Hopefully this revelation and the full circle of the film’s narrative can finally wrap up this franchise. The first film was clever, and every one since has lacked the same creativity in anything other than the death scenes.

            The Blu-ray includes alternate death scenes, some of which are more gruesome than those in the film. There is also a featurette on two of the tragedies in the film, and the special effects behind their creation. There is also a featurette which looks at the realism of the deaths in this film, as well as the outlandish ones of the franchise’s past. The Blu-ray combo pack comes with a DVD and an Ultraviolet Digital Copy.