Erik Campbell (Final Destination)

Erik Campbell is a character in the supernatural horror film ''Final Destination Bloodlines'' (2025), the sixth installment in the ''Final Destination'' franchise. He was created by Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, and Jon Watts and portrayed by Richard Harmon. Erik is introduced as the son of Howard and Brenda Campbell, being the oldest of their three children. In 1969, his paternal grandmother Iris had a vision of a high-rise restaurant tower collapsing and was able to prevent the disaster, saving herself and numerous other people. As Erik and his family were never supposed to exist, Death targets Iris' bloodlines, killing them in order of lineage. When his younger sister is killed, seemingly out of order, Erik learns he is not a biological descendant of Iris, being borne out of his mother's affair with another man. While attempting to help his brother Bobby cancel out Death's list, Erik dies by getting sucked into a malfunctioning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine by a wheelchair that crushes and impales him.

In developing the cast of ''Bloodlines'', Lipovsky stated that they wished to avoid creating one-dimensional characters, wanting to feature ones with layers to them instead. The reveal about Erik's parentage came from the crew wanting to subvert audience expectations regarding the order of the characters' deaths, with one discarded concept involving twins. Initially, Erik was envisioned as an online streamer who died while livestreaming a virtual reality game. A lifelong fan of the franchise, Harmon was cast as Erik eight months after his first audition, with the delay being due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Harmon helped influence many of his character's scenes and dialogue by improvising his lines and actions or making suggestions to the production crew. From the beginning, Lipovsky and Stein hoped to feature a death scene involving an MRI machine, but were unsure where to place such a sequence in the film; they also questioned its ethical implications. In the end, they included the concept as it received a positive response from the production team.

Following the release of ''Bloodlines'', Erik became a fan favorite. Critics often singled out Harmon's performance as among the best in the film, recognizing him as a scene stealer and praising him for adding comic relief. Erik's fake-out death scene at his tattoo parlor and his actual death involving an MRI machine were also praised by critics, with the latter deemed the best death scene in ''Bloodlines''. Erik's death was also analyzed for its accuracy by scientific experts.

Fictional character biography

Erik is introduced as the eldest son of Howard and Brenda Campbell, and older brother of Julia and Bobby, living with his family in Cloverdale, New York. Stefani and Charlie Reyes are his cousins through his aunt Darlene, Howard's younger sister. All of them are descendants of Iris and Paul Campbell, Erik's paternal grandparents. In 1969, Iris had a vision of an accident occurring at the Sky View high-rise restaurant tower, killing everyone present. Thanks to her vision, Iris prevented the disaster and saved everyone. As those people were meant to die, Death came after the survivors and their descendants, who were never supposed to exist, putting the Campbell-Reyes family in danger.

Due to recurring nightmares involving Iris' vision of the Sky View disaster, Stefani returns home and finds Iris, who warns her about Death coming after their family, before allowing herself to be killed to convince her granddaughter. Following Iris' funeral, Erik and his family host a barbecue to celebrate Darlene's return, after she had left her family years prior. During the event, Howard trips on a shard of glass and has his head shredded by a lawnmower. Stefani tries to convince her family that Death is coming for them, claiming that following Howard's death, Erik is the next one fated to die. Rebuffing her, Erik goes to work at his tattoo parlor.

At the tattoo parlor, Erik finishes applying a tongue piercing to a client and is told to lock up by his boss. While alone and listening to music, Erik starts a chain reaction that leads to a hanging ceiling chain near a ceiling fan dislodging and attaching to his nose piercing. As the chain starts coiling around the fan, forcing Erik to stand on a glass display, some cleaning fluid that had spilled on the floor catches fire. As he tries to unhook his piercing from the chain, the ceiling fan detaches and Erik falls onto the fire, but is protected by his leather jacket.

The following day, Erik runs into Stefani and Charlie, who are still convinced that he is the next one to die. While the three of them are talking, Julia is knocked into a waste container that is picked up by a garbage truck. Despite their attempts to stop the driver, Julia is crushed by the truck's compactor. Questioning why Death would skip over Erik and go for Julia, Brenda reveals that Erik is not Howard's biological son; having marital problems at the time, Brenda had an affair with a neighbor named Jerry Fenbury, and Howard decided to raise Erik as his own. As Erik was not a descendant of Iris, he was not targeted by Death.

Stefani, Charlie, Darlene, and Bobby plan to go to a hospital in the hopes of getting answers from JB, a friend of Iris. Erik joins them in the hopes of saving Bobby's life. There, they learn JB is William Bludworth, who works as a forensic pathologist. Bludworth informs them that Iris saved his life as a young boy at the Sky View. Having often encountered other groups of survivors, he explains that the only way to defeat Death is to either kill someone and be granted their remaining years or experience clinical death and be resuscitated, bringing up Kimberly Corman as a successful example. However, he warns that interfering in Death's design can have dire consequences.

Deciding to use the second strategy, Erik takes Bobby into a room with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine with the plan to have Bobby flatline by eating a snack containing nuts, which he is allergic to, so that doctors can revive him. Unbeknownst to them, the MRI machine gets turned on, which proceeds to rip Erik's piercings out. The machine then causes a wheelchair behind Erik to push him inside, which crushes and impales him. Following his and Bobby's death, Stefani realizes that Erik's intervention is what put him on Death's list.

Development

Creation and casting

The 2025 horror film ''Final Destination Bloodlines'' was directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein and written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, based on a story developed by Busick, Evans Taylor, and Jon Watts. Having the film's plot focus on a family hunted by Death came from Watts, who pitched the idea to New Line Cinema. Lipovsky recognized that prior ''Final Destination'' films often featured characters that were "kind of stereotypical or one dimensional" and audiences enjoyed seeing them die. For ''Bloodlines'', he and Stein wanted to use a similar starting point in having characters that seemed stereotypical, but then have audiences "discover that there ereall these other layers to he charactersthat heydidn't expect".

According to Busick, having one of the characters be revealed as not a blood relative of the Campbell family was an idea the production team had early into the making of ''Bloodlines''. Producer Craig Perry stated that with the film following a family and the order of death being established early on, they considered different ways to subvert audience expectations. At one point, it was considered for two members of the Campbell family to be twins, with the characters being unsure about which twin was born first, until they both died. However, Perry viewed the concept — which would have been a "double kill" in a "double sequence" — as being tonally "problematic" and it was discarded. Once the concept involving twins was discarded, it was decided to implement the idea of having a character's parentage be revealed as different than what the Campbells and the audience initially assumed; something Perry viewed as the best way to "take the family structure and lean into family conflict". According to Stein, during an early draft of ''Bloodlines'', Erik was to be a live streamer — instead of a tattoo artist — and he would die while playing a virtual reality game during one of his live streams.

Richard Harmon found out about ''Final Destination Bloodlines'' being in production through his agent, who informed him via email that he had an audition for the film. A lifelong fan of the ''Final Destination'' franchise — including having seen ''Final Destination 2'' (2003) with friends when it first came out — Harmon said in an interview with '' IndieWire'' that he had to be part of the film and auditioned for the roles of Erik and Paul. Due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Harmon did not receive an update concerning his audition for eight months. After production resumed, Harmon was asked to audition for the role of Erik again, and the following day had an online meeting with ''Bloodlines'' directors Lipovsky and Stein. A week after the meeting, Harmon was informed by his agent that he had landed the role, which he described as "like the greatest thing that's ever happened" to him. Harmon's involvement was officially announced alongside the rest of the film's cast in March 2024.

Characterization

Following the film's release, Harmon noted that critics often described Erik as "a bit of a dick". He acknowledged that Erik "looks like a horror trope" and recognized that audiences would make negative assumptions about him based on his "alt-looking emo, punk-rock" appearance. However, Harmon believed that such perceptions of Erik were inaccurate, arguing that Erik is "misunderstood" and noting how he wanted the character to be likable.

Harmon realized Erik would be more than just a stereotype when he read the script and saw that Erik had a picture of himself with his father Howard as his phone lock screen. This helped him understand that Erik's love for his family is his "driving force". Harmon believed Erik's love for his family is prominently displayed when he tells Stefani to stop confronting them about Death's plan, recognizing how it is upsetting his mother Brenda. Harmon also highlighted Erik's decision to go to the hospital and help Bobby cheat Death, arguing that despite the reveal over Erik's parentage, Bobby is "still his little brother and rikwon't let him die". Co-writer Guy Busick similarly recognized Erik's love for his family and argued that his main flaw was that he "cared too much". However, Busick also described Erik as "kinda stupid", noting that his plan to help Bobby escape Death's list was not well-thought out, and argued that his "hubris" is what led to him being targeted by Death, despite not being a descendant of Iris.

Filming

In an interview, Stein stated that he and Lipovsky allowed the film's cast members to rehearse and improvise various scenes before shooting started, to help build chemistry between them. According to him, this led to Erik being the character that underwent the most changes from the script to the finished movie. Stein and Lipovsky have both recognized that Harmon is well-known for his improvisational skills. Lipovsky noted that while many actors try to bring bring comedy into a role when asked to do improv, Harmon does it "from a character space and level" while managing to be "very dramatic but also incredibly hilarious".

A scene that was improvised by Harmon occurs right after Erik's near-death experience in the tattoo parlor, where the character taunts Death while "making love to garbage truck". During filming, Harmon asked the crew if they could sterilize the truck, so that he could improvise licking it.

For the scene where Erik discovers that Howard is not his biological father and that his biological father is a man called Jerry Fenbury, the directors asked Harmon to improvise his character's reaction. Harmon improvised various reactions, using a different one for each take. One of his reactions ("Oh, God, is that why he always calls me Buckaroo?") could not be used because it caused his fellow castmates to break character and start laughing. Harmon clarified that the reaction of the characters to Erik's parentage was meant to indicate that Jerry is "a fucking loser". For one take, he decided to go against script directions and used the line "Fuck, mom. Fenbury got you too?!" instead.

Erik's tattoos and piercings were created by makeup artist Todd Masters and his team MastersFX. According to Masters, Harmon often came to the team to try out a variety of tattoos and piercings "until heyfound Erik". As the majority of the tattoos and piercings were fake, they had to be reapplied on a daily basis.

Tattoo parlor accident

The scene at the tattoo parlor involving Erik's nose piercing getting hooked to a chain took five days to shoot and occurred during the second week of filming. Producer Craig Perry spent a week with a mannequin head that had a nose ring and various claps in order to figure out how such a piercing could get attached to a chain without it being capable of releasing. According to stunt coordinator Simon Burnett, the crew struggled with figuring out how to have Erik hang by his nose; one option included the use of magnetic chains. Ensuring that whatever device they used stayed inside Harmon's nose proved challenging, until Perry came up with the idea of using a "sleep apnea mask" that is "like a cone with mesh that you shove into your nose".

According to Masters, the makeup artists "wanted armon'snose and parts of his face to distort ..as they would if he was truly hanging". Initially, an external device was to be used by the stunt team; this proved troublesome to Masters, as such a device had to "combine with a half-face prosthetic, which efelt would be troublesome in a big IMAX close-up". For this reason, it was decided to create a device capable of going inside Harmon's nose, and after struggling with the design for weeks, animatronics supervisor Joshua Raymond came up with a design that worked the day before filming for the scene began. Thanks to using the sleep apnea mask, the team was then able to "glue heappliance to the nostril sleeves" inside Harmon's nose.

In an interview, Harmon confirmed that the scene did not contain any computer-generated graphics, consisting only of practical effects, including the fire ignited by chemical fluid on the parlor's floor. To film the scene, Harmon had wires attached behind him to hold him in place. To ensure his safety, although the chain that gets tangled in Erik's nose piercing was real, it had a "breakaway weight"; if the wires holding Harmon up were to break, so would the chain. Harmon performed his own stunts for the scene, with the exception of Erik falling off the chair and into the flames below him. Despite the difficulty of the stunts involved, he enjoyed filming the scene, describing it as one of his favorites in the film.

MRI machine death

According to Lipovsky, having a death scene involving an MRI machine is something the crew conceived early on during production of ''Bloodlines''; however, they were uncertain over where in the film such a scene should be placed. Moreover, Lipovsky and the crew also "debated the ethics" of placing such as scene in ''Bloodlines'', recognizing that previous films had impacted viewers and consumers concerning certain objects or activities; such as Ashley's and Ashlyn's deaths involving tanning beds in ''Final Destination 3'' (2006). In the end, despite not knowing where the MRI death scene should be placed — and questioning the ethics of including it — Lipovsky and Stein decided early on for its inclusion in the film as it was "kind of everyone's favorite scene".

To prepare for the scene, Busick and Evans Taylor did research on accidents involving MRI machines. According to Stein, the crew found that while most accidents did not involve human injuries, there were several instances of objects such as "oxygen tanks or gurneys getingsucked towards MRIs". Commenting on this scene after ''Bloodlines'' release, Max Wintermark, Chair of the Department of Neuroradiology at the University of Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center, noted that most MRI machines are measured in Tesla units and the majority of them are 1.5 or 3 Teslas. Although higher-level MRI machines do exist – with one at the University of Florida reaching 11.7 Teslas — they are significantly more expensive. According to Lipovsky, recognizing the need to "push reality beyond the scientific level omake a horror scene out of" an MRI machine, they intentionally chose to set Erik's death in a hospital that also functions as a research center, helping justify the MRI machine reaching 7 Teslas.

The MRI scene was the third one Harmon filmed with Owen Patrick Joyner (Bobby), during the first week of shooting. Harmon explained that while it was intended for the scene to include some comedy, it was also "important emotionally" to show that although Erik felt confident about his plan to kill and revive Bobby, he was still scared and unsure if it would actually work. Harmon believed that his chemistry with Joyner helped convey the familial love between their characters.

According to Harmon, Erik having a penile piercing was his own idea, arguing that it made sense for a character like Erik to have one given "the way that he's tattooed and ..pierced". Stein and Lipovsky had originally considered the idea as well and decided to include it at Harmon's suggestion. For Erik's death where the wheelchair begins to impale him, a torso duplicate of Harmon got created that was folded in reverse and had "breakaway tattooed skins and an elaborate rig to tear it apart". When Erik is inside the machine, to film his spine getting bent backwards, Harmon laid on a board, with a stuntman underneath it; as the board and Harmon were pulled inside the machine, the stuntman's legs were sticking out of it.

Reception

Erik received a positive response from fans and critics. John Squires of ''Bloody Disgusting'', '' IndieWire''s Alison Foreman, and ''ComicBook.com'' writer Charlie Ridgely have all acknowledged Erik as being a fan favorite, with Ridgely also describing him as the film's breakout character. Also writing for ''ComicBook.com'', Spencer Perry opined that Erik is the most interesting character in the film. Rafael Motamayor of ''/Film'' praised ''Bloodlines''s focus on a family as it gave the film an "emotional undertone"; he highlighted Erik's attempt to save Bobby despite the reveal he is not targeted by Death and them being half-brothers as an example, arguing that this plot point made it "hard not to get emotional and feel bad for the characters". Foreman also described Erik as a tragic figure, given that he tries to help his family but ends up dying for hs actions.

Harmon's performance was lauded. Perry and Jonathan Sim of ''ComingSoon.net'' both highlight Harmon as one of the best actors in the film. Todd Gilchrist, writing for ''Variety'', praised Harmon's performance as "surprisingly thoughtful", with ''The Guardian''s Radheyan Simonpillai, who commended the entire cast, also singling out his portrayal of Erik. Harmon was also described as a scene stealer by Ridgely, ''/Film''s BJ Colangelo, and Jacob Oller of ''The A.V. Club'', with Foreman describing him as "magnetic". Beatrice Loayza of ''The New York Times'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter'' writer Frank Scheck took notice of Harmon's comedic talent in the film.

Several critics highlighted Erik's near-death scene in the tattoo parlor. Katie Walsh of ''The Seattle Times'' praised the scene for its execution, with ''NME''s Jordan Bassett describing it as a "fabulously nasty set-piece". Jesse Hassenger of ''Paste'' also recognized the scene for being humorous. ''Vulture'' writer Bilge Ebiri describes Erik's fake-out death scene as "hugely elaborate", also viewing his survival as surprising. Relating to this, Jamie Graham of ''Empire'' praised the reveal that Erik is not a descendant of Iris, and thus not hunted by Death, for managing to subvert audiences' expectations.

Erik's eventual death scene involving an MRI machine was praised. Scheck viewed Erik's death as the best one in ''Bloodlines''. Foreman deemed it the best in the franchise, describing the scene as making her emotional and recognizing it for "intertwining humor, horror, and heart". Joe George of ''Den of Geek'' similarly described Erik's death — alongside Bobby's — as the sixth best death scene in the franchise. George also viewed Erik and Bobby's love for each other as making their deaths "poignant". Relating to this, Oller praised Harmon's chemistry with Joyner.

His death was also analyzed by experts for its scientific accuracy. Ben Inglis, physicist and manager at the University of California Berkeley Brain Imaging Center, and Wintermark spoke with ''The Today Show'' writer Sarah Jacoby, informing her that most MRI machines are incapable of increasing in magnetic power; whenever there is a change in the strength of an MRI machine's magnetic field, its magnetic pull will become weaker, rather than stronger. However, Inglis did acknowledge that the magnets within MRI machines are strong enough to pull various types of metallic objects in them, with Jacoby noting different instances of metallic objects — like oxygen tanks and wheelchairs — getting sucked into such machines; some incidents even leading to patients getting injured.

References

Videography

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Erik
Fictional artists
Film characters introduced in 2025
Final Destination characters
Male horror film characters