The 13 most horrifying deaths in the Final Destination franchise

Metro

16-05-2025

It's been 14 years since we were last traumatised by the iconic horror franchise, Final Destination… and now it's back.
The sixth film in the series, Bloodlines, is in cinemas now, treating fans to a whole new assortment of phobias to haunt their every waking moment.
It follows Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), plagued by a recurring nightmare that sees a terrible disaster play out.
Recognising one of the victims as her grandmother, she travels to her hometown to confront her family about their estranged relative.
But when she goes digging for answers, Stefani uncovers a deadly truth – death is coming for her family, and they must band together to break the chain and save their lives.
Across 25 years, Final Destination has given us some of the most creative death sequences in cinema history, from fantastical disasters to everyday accidents that change the way we look at the most simple objects.
As Bloodlines arrives in cinemas, we look at the most horrifying deaths of the franchise so far.
If Psycho didn't leave you terrified by the prospect of dying in the bathroom, the first Final Destination film will.
After Alex Browning's (Devon Sawa's) terrifying premonition, Tod Waggner's (Chad E. Donella) death is the first of the franchise's central characters.
And it's an agonising one, as it features a drawn-out scene in which his toilet leaks, water flows across the floor, and almost makes him slip several times, convincing the audience he will die much sooner than he actually does.
What finally sees Tod off is when he takes the clothes off a clothesline over the bathtub, he slips in a puddle and falls into the tub with the clothesline wrapped around his neck.
Unable to remove the clothesline, he dies, and although his death is ruled a suicide, it soon becomes clear that anotherworldly power was at work.
Some of the most effective Final Destination deaths involve everyday items that you'll never be able to look at again.
Such is the case in Final Destination 3, which made viewers cautious of hardware stores forevermore, thanks to the fate of Erin Ulmer (Alexz Johnson).
Erin and her best friend/co-worker Ian McKinley (Kris Lemche) don't believe Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as she desperately tries to explain that death is coming for them after they survived the Devil's Flight derailment, and they don't take her seriously.
That is, until a chain of events leads to several planks of wood falling from a shelf, with Wendy pushing Ian out of their path at the final moment.
They're not out of the woods, though, as Erin stumbles into a nail gun that Ian had discarded, which sends nails shooting into her head and hand, ultimately killing her.
Sure, we all joke that the gym may kill us, but the gym actually kills poor Lewis Romero (Texas Battle) in Final Destination 3.
Lewis isn't convinced death is after the group, even when Wendy and Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman) inform him of Frankie Cheeks' (Sam Easton) sudden death.
As he argues the likelihood of their theory, a weightlifter knocks the claw off a bear statue, which sets in motion a chain of events across the gym while Lewis continues his workout.
Too busy ranting to notice what is happening around him, Lewis doesn't notice two swords hanging above his bow-flex machine that cut the wires holding the weights.
Once he stops mocking death, Lewis lifts the weights once more, which swing down and crush his head.
Trains feature multiple times in the Final Destination franchise, and though this death isn't technically by train, it plays a huge part in the act.
Carter Horton (Kerr Smith) decides to take his life into his own hands when he realises he is next on death's list, stalling his car on railroad tracks.
Alex, Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott), and Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) exit the car, and when Carter changes his mind, Alex desperately tries to save him.
Unbelievably, Alex manages to rescue Carter from the vehicle at the last moment, but of course, this is a Final Destination film.
A piece of shrapnel from the car wreckage is hit by a chain under the train and whips it into the air, flying straight at Billy and cutting his head off.
Deaths in Final Destination have multiple signs and clues before all hell breaks loose, and it is those hints that keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Final Destination 5 features one of the most hair-raising sequences packed full of terrifying omens, as Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe) performs her way toward her final curtain call.
The avid gymnast complains about the heat in the gym while practising, urging her coach to fix the air conditioning.
And this simple request turns out to be her downfall as a screw comes loose, landing on the balance beam for Candice to step on at any moment.
Her routine continues without a hitch for some time, leaving the audience on tenterhooks waiting for the inevitable carnage.
When it comes, it doesn't disappoint. Candice doesn't step on the screw, but Porter (Brittany Rogers) does, falling from her beam and knocking over a bowl of powder that blows into Candice's face while on the high beams.
She loses her balance mid-air and falls to the floor, breaking her spine and legs in the process.
Elevators have been the subject of many horror films – from Lady in a Cage to Devil and P2 – because they're absolutely terrifying. The idea of being stuck in an enclosed space with nowhere to go? No, thank you.
Of course, Final Destination 2 played with our fears expertly as Nora Carpenter (Lynda Boyd) met her demise in the tiny metal box.
Nora is warned by Thomas Burke (Michael Landes) to watch out for a 'man with hooks', so when she sees a man with prosthetic limbs including hooks in the elevator she is in, she immediately panics.
Little does she know, however, the prosthetics have become entangled in her hair, and instead of keeping calm and allowing the man to help her, she attempts to run from the lift.
The doors of the elevator close on her neck with her body outside of the elevator, and as it rises, her body is torn apart, decapitating her.
Okay, so it's not exactly the dentist trip that kills Tim Carpenter (James Kirk), but if he weren't there, maybe he would have escaped his fate.
The dentist visit is tense, with Final Destination 2 director David R. Ellis misleading viewers numerous times with close-ups of several pointy, terrifying medical implements close to Tim.
What he actually should have been watching out for, though, is pigeons.
Yes, pigeons.
When he leaves the office with his mom, they run into Thomas and Kimberly Corman (Kimberly Burroughs), shouting about the birds while running towards him.
Groggy from the use of laughing gas during his appointment, he runs towards the birds that fly above a crane, causing the construction worker to hit a lever and drop a heavy glass plane on top of Tim, crushing him to death.
Next time you enjoy a nice, relaxing dip in a pool on a warm summer's day, make sure you don't watch The Final Destination beforehand.
Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) has visions of water after Andy Kewzer's (Andrew Fiscella) death, and attempts to warn Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano).
His efforts are in vain, however, when Hunt's phone is ruined with water by a child shooting it with a water gun.
That same gun becomes Hunt's undoing when it falls onto a lever controlling the pool drain, which begins sucking up the water.
Hunt drops his lucky coin in the pool, which is sucked down the drain. As you would expect, Hunt dives in looking for it but is no match for the drain's suction, which drains his organs out through his anus.
As an added macabre element, his organs are then sprayed from the poolside pump, along with the lucky coin.
Medical procedures really do come up a lot in the Final Destination franchise, from teeth to eyes.
Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) appears terrified when she goes to have her eye surgery as her head is secured in a nightmare-fuel contraption while her eyelid is pried open with a speculum.
She is left alone in the room when the doctor realises her file is missing important information, and as he does, a cup of water falls and spills onto the laser machine's outlet.
The intensity of the ray increases, shaking the machine, and to make matters worse, Olivia accidentally knocks the activation button, shooting the laser into her eye.
In excruciating pain, she cries for help, catching the attention of the doctor as well as Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto) and Molly Harper (Emma Bell), who rush into the room.
They're too late, though, as Olivia frees herself from the table before they arrive…And slips on the eye that fell from her comfort teddy bear, stumbling out of the window and falling four floors to her death.
This tanning bed tragedy in Final Destination 3 gave us not one death, but two at once.
The iconic Ashlyn Halperin (Crystal Lowe) and Ashley Freund (Chelan Simmons) arrive at the tanning room just like any other day, but Ashlyn makes a fatal mistake – turning the heat of the beds up.
Ashley leaves her iced coffee on a table, not knowing that the machine controlling the beds is underneath, and as the temperature in the room rises, perspiration from her iced coffee drips onto the machine.
It malfunctions, and the temperature continues to rise and rise, effectively cooking the girls while they try to escape.
Their skin peels, their goggles melt, and eventually the glass bulbs of the tanning bed shatter and set the girls on fire, ending their terrifying ordeal in the worst way.
Though this is a premonition and not exactly a death scene, a lot of lives are lost in the Volée Airlines Flight 180 disaster.
It is the vision that kicks off the entire franchise, and it's arguably one of the most terrifying, as so many suffer from a fear of flying.
In it, we see Alex and his classmates board the doomed flight to Paris for a senior trip.
But when he buckles into his seat, he sees into the future and witnesses the plane falling apart mid-air and being engulfed in flames, eventually causing a massive explosion and killing all of the passengers inside.
He begs for everyone to get off the plane, but only a select few are booted off alongside Alex for his seemingly deranged behaviour – an act which saves their lives, for the time being anyway.
It is only a short sequence, but the scenes of the plane slowly coming apart and the terror of the passengers are enough to make you question flying ever again.
The fun of the fayre comes grinding to a halt in Final Destination 3 with the chilling Devil's Flight disaster – a rollercoaster that derails.
It is terrifying to see just how easy it could be for one of the thrill-seeking rides to malfunction, and the devastating consequences it can have.
It isn't unrealistic that a camera could fall onto the tracks of a rollercoaster, given that many of us aren't without at least a small one on our mobile phones.
And that's exactly what happens when Wendy and her friends board the Devil's Flight – a camera causes the carts to derail on impact, leading to many riders immediately plummeting to their deaths while others get stuck clinging for dear life metres above ground.
Of course, Wendy manages to leave the rollercoaster before it takes off, as do several students from her high school, as an attendant stops the ride.
Though she begs staff to stop the ride entirely, they do not heed her warning, causing several people to lose their lives in what should have been an entirely preventable tragedy.
The log truck from Final Destination 2 is so iconic, it has even been used in the marketing for Bloodlines.
Who can honestly say they've looked at logs the same way again after the release of this film?
Set one year after the Flight 180 disaster, Kimberly is driving to Florida with her friends for spring break.
But when they get onto the highway, she has a premonition of a terrible pile-up on US Route 23, which is caused by a logging truck losing its cargo, smashing onto the road and the cars travelling on it. More Trending
The scene is nothing short of absolute pandemonium as metal and bodies collide in a blood-soaked, fiery mess that not only leaves the central characters traumatised, but the audience too.
Thankfully, Kimberly stalls her car to prevent those behind her from driving onto the highway and becoming entangled in the crash, giving them precious extra time before death comes knocking.
If you find yourself driving behind a log truck, maybe switch lanes just in case. You know… just in case.
Final Destination: Bloodlines is in cinemas now .
Final Destination – Netflix and Amazon Prime Video
Final Destination 2 – Netflix and Amazon Prime Video
Final Destination 3 – Netflix and Amazon Prime Video
The Final Destination – Amazon Prime Video
Final Destination 5 – Netflix and Amazon Prime Video
Final Destination: Bloodlines – In cinemas now
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