Top 10 'Final Destination' Deaths
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One of the more popular film series in the early to mid-2000s was the Final Destination series. Starting out as a storyline for an X-Files episode, the series was most known for the gruesome deaths of its characters who had cheated Death’s design. The films vary in quality, as do the deaths. As they are the main reason why everyone is watching the movies, it is worth taking a look at the top 10 Final Destination deaths.
10. Lewis Romero, Final Destination 3: Head Smashed By Workout Machine
Image Source: Final Destination Wiki
A common theme throughout the series is when the protagonists go to talk to someone they believe is in imminent danger, that person does not believe them at all. It is no different here with Lewis not taking the leads seriously at all, merely continuing his workout and believing that he is safe from Death. After all, he survived the roller coaster crash at the beginning of the film. Despite repeated warnings that he is in danger, he insists that he will survive and win three Super Bowls with the Raiders (adding some humor to the scene) as he is untouchable. This, naturally, turns out not to be the case, and some decorative scimitars behind him cut the cables on the machine he’s exercising on (why were they so sharp?) and his head is turned into a fine red mist.
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9. Terry Chaney, Final Destination: Hit By A Random Bus
Image Source: WhatCulture
Not too terribly much to say about this one. It makes this list because of how silly and out of nowhere it is alongside the comedic timing of her telling Alex to drop dead. Then, she’s hit by a bus. Was the driver drunk or something? Like the #10 death, she does believe that Death is coming to get her. Queue the bus.
8. Kat Jennings, Final Destination 2: Impaled Through The Head By PVC Pipe
Image Source: FanPop
Several deaths in the series come out of nowhere, but this one is notable because it seems like Kat has survived. The car she is driving crashes. At first you expect her to have been killed in the crash. Not so. The PVC pipe barely misses her head. While she’s still trapped in the car, she takes a fairly blase attitude toward the situation, even lighting a cigarette and snarking at the firefighter who is working on getting her out, saying that the Jaws of Life he is using are too loud. Out of nowhere, the Jaws of Life hit something they shouldn’t have, and the airbag goes off, ensuring that she did not end up avoiding the PVC pipe at all.
7. Olivia Castle, Final Destination 5: Eye Surgery Gone Horribly Wrong
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Any good horror fan will tell you that if you want to make an audience uncomfortable, go for the eyes, teeth, or fingernails. Here we have a great example of the eyes. Or eye, in this instance. Olivia goes for some Lasik surgery, but, just like everything else, it goes horribly wrong, and the laser starts carving into her eye. It is a bit dragged out, but it certainly makes for a sufficiently gruesome death scene worthy of a spot on this list. The fact that she ultimately meets her end falling through the glass of a high-rise building is the cherry on top. Does anyone else want to get eye surgery after watching this scene?
6. Evan Lewis, Final Destination 2: Eye Impaled By Ladder
Image Source: Dead Meat Wiki
This one is fun because there are half a dozen ways that the death could have gone, but Evan somehow manages to survive everything being thrown at him. The most tense moment is when his hand is stuck down the garbage disposal when it caught on his watch. We have all had to stick our hands down garbage disposals at one point or another, and we have all thought “What if this somehow turns on?” For a brutal series like this, it is not too far-fetched. Ultimately, though, Evan plays a part in his own death when he finally makes it out of his burning apartment only to slip on some spaghetti he had thrown out the window earlier. He fell to the ground, causing the fire ladder, the thing he thought would save his life, to go through his eye.
5. Erin Ulmer, Final Destination 3: Nail Gun Through The Head
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This one is a lot of fun because of the setting. Erin is working in the back of a hardware store, which is not a completely safe place to be at the best of times. The warehouse is chock full of things that could kill any of the characters at any moment, so you’re never quite comfortable (actually a good thing for a horror movie). Once again we get the “protagonists insist that other character’s life is in danger, other character doesn’t believe them, then other character dies a horrible death” trope. The ultimate cause of death is what makes this one so satisfying. She is knocked back, and a nail gun shoots a dozen nails through her head. It is quick, it is shocking, and it is brutal. Nice. However, Pinhead rocked the whole “nails through the head” look better.
4. Ashley Freund And Ashlyn Halperin, Final Destination 3: Cooked Alive In The Tanning Bed
Image Source: Back to the Movies
Remember quick, shocking, and brutal from the last entry? Well, this death has shocking and brutal covered, but definitely not quick. The concept of tanning beds is odd to a lot of people as it is, but a lot of people probably canceled their tanning salon appointments after seeing this. Watching the two girls get burned alive, trying to push their way out of the locked beds as they burned all over is disturbing, to say the least. The two characters are ditzy airheads and they did indirectly cause their deaths as one of them did not throw her slushie away, which leads to an electrical short. However, nobody deserves that death.
3. Tod Waggner, Final Destination: Shower Strangulation
Image Source: FanPop
The first revenge death in the series pulls no punches and lets us know exactly what we are in for. Watching Tod struggle to get free as his feet slip on spilled shampoo is horrifying, as are the blood vessels bursting in his eyes the closer he gets to death. This death is notable for Death “cleaning up after itself” by making the water Tod slips on go back into the toilet, a concept not used in literally any other death in the series. The filmmakers forget to take that part out, it seems. Still, as far as starting out the deaths, this one does not disappoint.
2. Valerie Lewton, Final Destination: Everything That Could Go Wrong Does
Image Source: Final Destination Wiki
Cause of death? There is so much that goes wrong it is almost hard to pinpoint the exact moment that she is toast. Sure, she’s ultimately killed by a knife block pushing a knife she had already been stabbed with into her chest. However, she was also in huge trouble the moment she pulled out the shards of computer glass that went into her neck, and not just because she ended up slipping on her blood. It could almost be darkly humorous if it was not so brutal. She is literally packing up to leave town because of the trauma she endures when Flight 180 blew up. Not that it would have saved her, but still. It is almost kind of sad in a way. The original film does not mess around.
1. Candice Hooper, Final Destination 5: Gymnastics Accident
Image Source: IMDb
There is not really any other option for the top spot here. Candice’s death scene is everything a Final Destination death should be. It is tense. There are several ways that it could happen, so you are always on the edge of your seat. The editing is perfect, and the end result is one of the most brutal we have seen in the entire series. The buildup is excellently paced, followed by the quick death that leaves you shocked. If every single death in the series was as good as this one, the movies would be held in much higher regard. It is a perfect scene in arguably the best film in the series.
With a sixth film coming out at some point on HBO Max (rumored to be a reboot), we will no doubt see a ton more creative deaths. It has been over ten years since the fifth film came out, so the filmmakers will have to work hard to remind us of the love that we had for this fun, gruesome, occasionally silly series of films. We will have to wait and see what they come up with. Until then, we have a plethora of pretty good deaths to look back on.
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