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Top 10 'Final Destination' Deaths

'Final Destination' deaths are often brutal but somehow we can't stop watching them.

By WatchMojoPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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There’s no crueler villain than the hands of fate itself. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 Final Destination deaths.

For this list, we’ve excluded the premonition death scenes and we’ve selected each stomach-churning goodbye based on a combination of its gore, and the strength of the chills, thrills, humor, irony it gives us, as well as its overall execution—pun intended. Also, obviously, SPOILER ALERT.

Ah, the kitchen, where anything can kill you. Exploding microwave? Hand-hungry garbage disposal? Cooking fire accident? All of the possibilities are teased. In a clever moment, Death’s invisible forces clue you in by dropping the “H” magnet of “Hey E” from the fridge to spell “Eye.” Tossing that spaghetti out the window was a slip-up, Evan, and Death doesn’t take kindly to litterbugs.

Surgery is always scary, but throw in lasers and restricted head movement and the fright factor is multiplied ten-fold. Having your eye in a vice can be disconcerting, so the scene plays with this uncomfortable knowledge through its dark lighting and slow pace. In a twist, it’s not the botched surgery that kills her, but the very eye prongs that sent us squirming in the beginning.

A box of hooked prosthetic limbs is rendered as creepy as possible when a man with a hair-sniffing fetish gets one caught in Nora’s ponytail. While most deaths in the franchise happen to generally unlikeable characters, we don’t really want wholesome, good-natured Nora to die, and her last words while her head is stuck between two floors exploit that in full measure.

This scene takes advantage of an excellent principle in suspense: it’s not what happens, it’s what DOESN’T. For over 3 minutes, the audience’s own imagination actively participates in wondering what form death will take when it comes for Candice. In a brilliant bit of foreshadowing, notice that the chills she gets when she powders up are well warranted, because it’s the powder that does her in.

When Billy’s fear and paranoia get a little too intense, death wastes no time in using a piece of shrapnel to chop his head off with the grace and precision of a Ginsu blade. What makes this simple kill-off special is the fact that a few lives were saved mere moments before it, so our collective relief for the characters dies just as suddenly. Death is just a douchebag that toys with everyone.

The best part of Final Destination’s deaths is often the Rube Goldberg factor, i.e. the twisted machinations of how accidents happen based on one simple misstep. The tanning beds could have easily locked by jamming, but only death would come up with something as convoluted as the machine overheating because of an errant slushie, then a small breeze from the exhaust causing a coat rack to tumble, knocking down a bookshelf that ultimately traps the girls.

This one’s simply extraordinary because it’s spiced up with character and plot point reveals and is during a dramatic showdown of confrontational dialogue. As if that’s not enough of an adrenaline rush, it’s all set over the backdrop of an exploding fireworks fest waiting to flare into a finale. We don’t even know if Ian will die or not because his very presence is based on a plot twist. Of course, if he’s on this list, then…

Swimming pool drains are one of those simple devices that look harmless. They aren’t sharp, electric or inherently dangerous in nature, but they induce fear over the what-if factor alone. Like what if your butt got stuck in one, leaving you to wonder if you’ll die by drowning or disembowelment? In Hunt’s case though, it’s pretty much a COIN TOSS.

Here, we have a spectacular combination of all the factors that make for a great death scene. With half a dozen characters, who will the victim be? There are over 4 minutes of suspense, and witty dialogue discussing the film’s logic and character skepticisms while a series of dangerous accidents waiting to happen builds around them all. But there’s a safety hazard in there that really hits the nail on the head.

Before we deliver us from evil with our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

  • Samantha Lane, The Final Destination (2009)
  • Tod Wagner, Final Destination (2000)
  • Mrs. Lewton, Final Destination (2000)
  • Lewis Romero, Final Destination 3 (2006)

The red herring is Tim’s trip to the dentist, where pigeons of death torture him by repeatedly flying into the window. A fish tank leaks water into an electrical outlet that threatens the oxygen and nitrous oxide canisters. When a plastic fish falls into Tim’s open mouth to choke him while he’s getting gassed through his nose, you don’t expect him to get out of the office alive. But he does! Almost.

Do you agree with our list? Which Final Destination deaths made you squeal, scream and squirm? For more to-die-for Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.

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