You Probably Didn’t Notice That ‘Final Destination’ Movies Are Stuffed With Classic Horror Easter Eggs

Final Destination is a love letter to the horror genre, and it really feels like a tribute to everything that came before it. From the cameo appearances, to soundtrack choices, it is a movie franchise that lends itself to being rewatched, as fans are able to pick up new connections every time. However, some Easter Eggs are not so easy to spot, with one requiring impeccable hearing and an extensive knowledge of classic horror. Don’t fear though, we’re here to explain how the character names of those who got off Flight 180 pay homage to the genre.

Characters in ‘Final Destination’ are Named After Horror Icons

If the names of the characters in Final Destination sound familiar, it is because many of them are named after famous horror directors, actors and producers. The first person to have a premonition is the franchise, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa), and his best friend Tod Waggner (Chad E. Donella) were both named after Tod Browning, the director of Freaks and a frequent collaborator of Lon Chaney, whose name provided the inspiration for Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer). Tod’s surname was inspired by the Universal producer George Waggner, most notable for directing The Wolf Man. Fellow student and joker Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott) is named after the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock.

However, it is not just the protagonists where these Easter eggs can be found — even the secondary characters have hidden references in their names. The students’ teacher who gets back on Flight 180 is Larry Murnau, named after F.W. Murnau who directed the original Nosferatu. The detectives of the case are named Agent Schrek, after Max Schrek who originated the role of Count Orlok in Nosferatu, and Agent Weine, after Robert Wiene, the director of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Even the two girls Tod and Alex speak to at the beginning have famous eponyms. Blake Dreyer is named after Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer and Crista Marsh takes her surname from Fredric March, who won an Oscar for his performance in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

This Character’s Name in ‘Final Destination’ Has A Hidden Meaning

The most meaningful name in Final Destination is Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), who is named after producer Val Lewton. Lewton made numerous low budget horror movies, but his most famous is Cat People, with one scene in particular being so iconic that it led to the development of a whole new technique. The movie purposefully builds tension and prepares the audience for a scare only for a bus to drive past. This jump scare technique became known as The Lewton Bus, and refers specifically to jumpscares where the payoff is something harmless. Nowadays, this form of jump-scare is seen all over the horror genre, but Val Lewton is credited with creating it.

The Lewton Bus is connected to Final Destination in two different capacities. The first, and most obvious, is that Terry Chaney is literally hit by a bus, subverting the technique, so the innocuous object from Cat People becomes deadly. The second follows the structure of the movies as a whole. The Final Destination franchise has become synonymous with its painstakingly drawn out death sequences, with characters living in the limbo of near-misses. Valerie Lewton’s death within the franchise is one of the most gruesome examples of this, and it still remains one of Final Destination’s most drawn out, cruel deaths.

The movies have these excessive build-ups that create such an extreme amount of tension, and they are filled with fake-outs. The camera will pan to water flowing over a cable, or a loose light fitting, bombarding the audience with potentially deadly situations. However, the character will avoid them all only for a last minute surprise to cause their death. This also pays homage to The Lewton Bus by constantly amping up the pressure, only to have a painless fake-out, and Final Destination uses this formula again and again to add to the shock of the final blow. The Final Destination universe is peppered with fragments of Lewton’s Bus, and it is just one of the many ways the franchise pays homage to classic horror. The names of the characters are a fun hidden detail within the franchise and are part of the reason a franchise with such a simple concept is still in demand, with Final Destination: Bloodlines on the way this year.

Final Destination is available to stream on Paramount+

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Final Destination

Release Date

March 17, 2000

Director

James Wong

Runtime

98 minutes

Writers

Jeffrey Reddick
, James Wong
, Glen Morgan

Franchise

Final Destination

Sequel

Final Destination 2, Final Destination 5, The Final Destination, Final Destination 3

Cinematographer

Robert McLachlan

Producer

Craig Perry, Glen Morgan, Warren Zide

Production Company

New Line Cinema, Hard Eight Pictures, Zide-Perry Productions

Sfx Supervisor

Ariel Velasco-Shaw

Budget

$23 million

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