The originalFinal Destinationmovie seems to have been inspired by the 1961Twilight Zoneepisode “Twenty-Two.“Final Destinationis a horror film franchise that started in 2000 with the Devon Sawa-led original where protagonist Alex Browning has a premonition that the plane he and his classmates are about to depart on is going to explode. Browning tries to warn his fellow passengers of his premonition, causing chaos that sees him and a few others kicked off the ill-fated Flight 180. As it turns out, Browning’s premonition comes true, the plane explodes, andDeath starts picking off the survivors one by onein creatively gruesome ways.
SPOILERS for Final Destination and The Twilight Zone follow.
Final Destination’s brutal story proved to be a winning formula, with all six films enjoying box office success. The latest entry in the series,Final Destination Bloodlines, is dominating the box office right now andsetting franchise records in the process, showing that there is clearly still an appetite for Rube Goldberg-style carnage. As it turns out, the wildly successfulFinal Destinationmovies might never have materialized if it wasn’t for a 1961Twilight Zoneepisode called “Twenty-Two” that features a very similar concept.
It’s unclear ifFinal Destinationwas actually inspired by theclassicTwilight Zoneepisodeor if it’s simply a coincidence, but the similarities are striking. “Twenty-Two,” itself inspired by E.F. Benson’s short story “The Bus-Conductor,” follows Liz Powell as she suffers from disturbing nightmares about a morgue, marked Room 22, and a nurse who repeatedly says, “Room for one more, honey.” When Powell goes to the airport to board a flight to Miami, she begins noticing all kinds of details from her dreams in the real world. The flight attendant is identical to the nurse from her nightmare and the plane is assigned Flight 22. Powell flees, and as the plane takes off, it explodes, not unlike what happens at the beginning ofFinal Destination.
Final Destination Shares a Lot in Common with a Classic Twilight Zone Episode
BothFinal Destinationand theTwilight Zoneepisode depict a person having a premonition about an exploding plane that comes true. The difference isFinal Destinationtakes the idea a step further. WhereasThe Twilight Zoneepisode ends with Powell having successfully avoided death,Final Destinationis primarily about theaftermathof the Flight 180 disaster. It uses the plot of theTwilight Zoneepisode as its set-up, but then explores thecatastrophic consequences of cheating Death’s plan.
TheFinal Destinationformula is tried-and-true at this point, but one has to wonder if it would have ever come about if it weren’t forThe Twilight Zoneand “The Bus-Conductor” laying the groundwork.Final Destinationlore has continued to expandsince the original film, adding many new layers to the original idea, and it will be interesting to see what potential future entries bring to the table.
