This month in Horror movie history, Final Destination 2, released in 2003, proved just how daunting it can be to try to beat death’s design.
The story began in 2000 with Final Destination, the original story written by Jeffrey Reddick, which interjected some much-needed interest in the Horror genre, which was growing stale by the start of the new millennium. At a time when glossy films like Scream 3 and Dracula 2000 were some of the top-grossing Horror films of the year, Final Destination offered a modern vibe but with an extremely compelling story full of tension. Drawing the interest of a very broad audience because of its appeal, Final Desntation became a surprise hit in 2000 and was one of the top-grossing Horror films.
With all of this in mind, it stands to reason that New Line Cinema wanted to keep the momentum going with a sequel. They approached one of the original creators in Reddick to be part of the project. Anxious to expand the mythology and not just tell the same story over again, Reddick agreed to be a part of it. Unfortunately and oddly enough, Reddick was not a part of the writing process for Final Destination 2 but did remain on as an executive producer.
Calling on David R. Ellis to direct (who also worked on 2006’s Snakes on a Plane and 2009’s The Final Destination), the screenplay was primarily handled by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress. Both developed a good relationship, as writers Gruber and Bress also found success together with 2004’s Butterfly Effect and 2009’s The Final Destination.
With these pieces in place, Ali Larter returned to reprise her leading role of Clear Rivers with the great late Tony Tood, who was also back as William Bludworth. These two drew connections between the original film and this sequel. You also had new cast members, including A. J. Cook as new lead Kimberly Corman, Michael Landes as Thomas Burke, David Paetkau as Evan Lewis, Lynda Boyd as Nora Carpenter, and an up-and-coming Keegan Connor Tracy as Kat Jennings.
A dynamic cast of players, each faced with the impending doom of death, branching out with some freak accident to take them out. The question remains—does their fight to stay alive stand up to the original survivors of Final Destination?
Well, the story is a bit different, and these individuals are a bit different. Each has unique qualities that make them likable; what truly stands out is that Final Destination 2 finds some really clever ways to strike fear with unexpected moments. Overall, how death finds and takes out each individual is pretty frightening and makes the audience think twice about every turn they take after exiting the theater. After all, who can forget new character Jonathan Cherry’s line as Rory Peters –
“And if I die, uhm… would you throw away my drugs… and my paraphernalia… my porno… Just, you know, everything that’s gonna break my mom’s heart… please?“
Speaking of the theater, Final Destination 2 opened broadly on January 31, 2003, and drew in over sixteen million dollars that weekend. Impressive, it was only second to The Recruit (featuring Al Pacino and Colin Farrell. In the end, Final Destination was still more successful with audiences than this sequel if you look at the monetary numbers; however, it was good enough to build a franchise which turned into Final Destination 3 in 2006, The Final Destination in 2009, Final Destination 5 in 2011, and Final Destination: Bloodlines reportedly due out in May of 2025. The newest entry is said to find Tony Todd back as William Bludworth, and this should be a drawing card since the immensely talented actor sadly passed away in November of 2024.
Whatever the case might be with Final Destination 2’s place in movie history books, it can always be recalled as a strong sequel that served as a gateway for an unexpected Horror movie mega-franchise.
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