My first reaction to watching Final Destination 5 was the thought that: slashers really haven't changed much in 30 years (I suppose maybe 40 years if you want to count giallos).
In the biggest slasher franchises of the 80's Halloween, and Friday the 13th the killers are nearly identical. For all intents and purposes they are the exact same character; two masked hulking and inescapable brutes who deliver bloody violent death to their hapless victims.
In the two biggest slasher franchises of my generation, the killers are also practically identical. In Saw, the traps are the real star of the show (sorry Jigsaw, you're just an afterthought). In Final Destination, there isn't even a symbol to be afraid of; simply invisible, omnipresent, and inescapable death.
Many slasher franchises start out with interesting plots and creative ideas, however as the sequels go on and on, they tend to descend into pure formula. Ridiculous plot + death scene setup + creative kill = win!
Rinse and repeat.
It's a formula ingrained into modern culture so so strongly it has to be an archetype. But what is the archetype? What is it about slashers that scare people?
All of these movies are similar, in that the fears they dig into are the very real prospect of violent, disgusting, painful, and inescapable death. Car wrecks, rape, farming and factory accidents, school shootings, serial murderers, riots, war, etc & etc... these are the inescapable and ever present threats people of all walks of life are forced to face on the way out their doors every single day. And maybe these are the things we are so afraid of when we watch slashers. Michael or Jason may wear blank and expressionless masks over their faces; but maybe those masks aren't covering faces at all. Maybe those masks represent the very real everyday evil that threatens to destroy and dismember us at any moment.
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