Final Destination kicks off with high-schooler Alex Browning having a premonition that the plane he’s on will explode, encouraging him and multiple others to leave. Minutes later, the plane blows up, meaning Alex’s group cheated Death. As a result, Death targets Alex and the other survivors, since they were destined to die in that explosion.
Rather than appearing with its traditional cloak and scythe, Death is portrayed as a nebulous force of nature. This idea makes The Grim Reaper significantly scarier, since its victims can’t see it coming, so they never know when Death’s going to strike. Worse still, there’s no way to outrun, hurt, or kill Death. Even if Alex or his companions survive another brush with Death, they can’t evade it forever.
Not only that, the fear of this unseen villain has spilled into the real world. People in society are genuinely scared of innocuous things, like tanning salons and escalators, because of these movies. And thanks to the recent Final Destination: Bloodlines, we’ll have to add garbage bins, lawnmowers, and pennies to that list. Also, Final Destination 2 is directly responsible for log trucks getting a bad rap for the last two decades.
Even though Death is never seen through the Final Destination franchise, it’s the scariest horror villain in many ways, since we all must answer to it eventually.