Arka Mukhopadhyay
Directed by Steven Quale and written by Eric Heisserer, the 2011 gore horror movie ‘Final Destination 5’ is the fifth installment in the popular horror franchise of the same name. The story begins with Sam and his co-workers going on a business retreat. Their journey is interrupted midway when a suspension bridge spectacularly collapses in front of their eyes.
Eight people escape death thanks to Sam’s vision, but will they be removed from death’s list? The finale connects the story to the series’ universe, and you must be working hard to put the puzzle together. Well, let us revisit the final moments of the story in greater detail. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Final Destination 5 Plot Synopsis
Sam is the office’s go-to baker on the day of the company retreat. His girlfriend and co-worker, Molly Harper, breaks up with him over the phone before crossing paths. Meanwhile, Candice flirts with Peter, and Olivia chats with the punk driver while Sam engages in a conversation with co-worker Nathan. They take a trip to the 180 Corporate Consulting, and Sam has several premonitions at the beginning of the journey. On the North Bay Bridge, the traffic is halted at their lane while construction is ongoing.
A drum tumbling down the road and into the river reveals that the day is windy, until a cable detaches from suspension. “Dust in the Wind” begins to play, and Sam cuts himself from the rough edge of the next seat. He tells Peter that something is wrong. Meanwhile, we see cracks in the bridge, and while they hurriedly de-board the bus, Candice falls on the other side of the gap. She falls on a hull, which impales her body to death.
Next to go is Isaac, who falls into the North Bay river. And chronologically, Olivia, Dennis, Nathan, Sam – all die messy deaths. Sam comes back to reality to hear “Dust in the Wind” playing on the radio. Sam warns everyone and particularly asks Molly to trust him. The pair gets down from the bus, and Dennis sends Peter to take care of the situation. Candice follows, and so do Dennis, Isaac, and Olivia. They make up the lucky eight to survive the disaster, while seventeen employees of the company Presage Papers pass away. But as a mysterious guy at the mourning reveals to Sam, death catches up eventually.
Final Destination 5 Ending: Are Sam, Molly, Nathan, Candice, and Isaac Dead or Alive?
In the police station, Sam and the others are interrogated by FBI officer Jim Block. Jim has a hunch that he and Sam will meet again. In his mourning speech, Dennis mentions the names of Jennifer Alcott, Chris Boylan, David Buckler, Trevor Wino, and Isaac Palmer, although Isaac is alive for the time being. Olivia thinks it to be funny. On the other hand, the mysterious guy at the ceremony warns Sam about their imminent deaths.
Following his suggestion, Candice dies while performing an intricate gymnasium routine when the balance beam collapses, triggering a chain response. She falls on the uneven bars, and her spine breaks. As Candice dies in front of Peter, he is disturbed to the core. After her, Isaac meets his doom in an acupuncture session. Isaac miserably flirts with the receptionist, and his offensive jokes land him with the painful session with the taciturn Asian woman.
After putting the needles in place, the woman leaves her station. However, smoldering ash from the incense stick falls onto the paper lying on the table, which starts burning. Meanwhile, Isaac falls onto the floor, and the whole room goes up in flame. When Isaac takes a sigh of relief that he is safe, the Buddha statue falls onto his head, smashing it into a pulp. After Isaac’s death, it is Olivia’s turn to die. Agitated by the tragic escalation of events, Olivia goes to a doctor to improve her myopia once and for all. The surgery is testing, but Olivia is ready to leap. The doctor places her eye under a beam, fixes it with clips, and leaves the room.
A chain reaction turns the laser beam on by mistake, and it starts damaging Olivia’s eyes. Meanwhile, Sam, Molly, and others reach the scene to save Olivia. They reach the scene to find Olivia in a bloody state, but that is not all – she trips on the dislodged eye of her teddy bear to fall out of the building. Intensifying the horror, her eye comes out of her head, only to get squashed by a car moment later. Three survivors die in a row, and the deaths cannot be dismissed as mere accidents. However, the mysterious person meets the group again and hint at the possibility of escaping death.
As per his theory, if they kill people who are not meant to die, they can get the lifespans of their victims. With the revelation, there is perhaps a chance of the remaining party surviving. However, none of them get an opportunity to commit murders, except Nathan. And by the end, therefore, everyone dies. Nathan throws his rival at the factory, Roy, onto the hook of a crane to an effectual death, thinking it would reverse his death. However, it does not alter Nathan’s fate since little did he know that Roy was already fated to die. A co-worker later tells Nathan about Roy’s fatal brain aneurysm before the debris from Flight 180 crashes through the building and kills him.
Is Sam’s Flight the One from The First Movie?
At the end of the movie, Peter wants to kill Molly because he thinks her being alive is unfair. However, Peter assails the police officer instead, before Sam has to eliminate him. Sam kills Peter, but that does not give him immunity from death since Peter was already fated to die. Following Peter’s death, Sam decides to take the job at the French Restaurant, while Molly decides to go with him.
The pair seemingly board Volée Airlines Flight 180, the same ill-fated flight that crashes in the first installment of the movie. What reasserts the fact is a reenactment of Browning’s panicked escape from the flight. Upon asking an official, Sam comes to know that the guy has freaked out because of a vision. The story comes full circle with the revelation, and although Sam and Molly die in the plane crash, the chain continues.
Who Is Bludworth?
At the mourning ceremony, Sam meets a mysterious guy. The guy tells him that those on the death’s list cannot alter their fate. They would meet this guy later at the scene of Isaac’s death. He would tell the party of Sam, Nathan, and Peter that those who evade death create a wrinkle in the fabric of reality. The wrinkle must be straightened out, and those fated to die must not attempt to alter it. However, Sam remembers that Molly was saved in his vision. The person cryptically tells the group that they must take a life to gain one.
Peter thinks it unfair that Molly survives the disaster while Candice dies, but Molly assures Peter that it should not work that way. If you have seen enough ‘Final Destination’ movies, you would know this person to be Bludworth, the Bludworth Funeral Homes service owner. With his ominous smile and extensive knowledge about death, the character has appeared in several ‘Final Destination’ movies, including the first, second, and fifth movies. Although he does not appear in the third, we can hear his voice in the killer joyride. He is thought to be an incarnation of the devil, and his final words at the end of the fifth act, “You all just be careful now,” condenses the suspicion.
