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The Final Destination series is the pinnacle of anxiety-provoking horror films. Every movie adheres to a haunting pattern: a team of unaware individuals survives a disastrous event due to the foresight of one individual. However, Death does not accept refusal. One by one, the survivors encounter horrific, unavoidable destinies, demonstrating that evading the inevitable is futile.
From failing bridges to broken gym machines, the franchise has transformed ordinary situations into sources of terror. The cast changes with every movie, yet some recognizable characters—such as Tony Todd’s spooky coroner, William Bludworth—maintain the dark legends. Although the series is filled with extreme deaths, it’s the suspense that truly makes it appealing.
The fatalities are intricate, surprising, and at times, even humorously grim, and nobody is protected. That uncertainty is what establishes Final Destination as a horror classic. In this regard, certain deaths are particularly shocking. Here are seven of the most surprising entries in the franchise.
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7 unforgettable deaths from the Final Destination franchise
1) Samantha's haircut (The Final Destination)
Samantha Lane is one of the lucky few who escape the chaos of the McKinley Speedway disaster in The Final Destination. But luck doesn’t last long in Death’s game.
While getting her hair done at a salon, her kids, bored out of their minds, start messing around outside. They throw rocks at a nearby sign, because, well, kids. One of those rocks lands in the path of a running lawnmower. Samantha was a victim of bad timing and worse luck.
As Samantha steps outside, the lawnmower launches the rock straight into her eye. It’s one of those deaths that’s both ridiculous and terrifying because, technically, it could happen. Lawnmowers and flying debris are a bad mix.
2) Olivia’s eye surgery (Final Destination 5)
Olivia was just another employee at Presage Paper, the company tied to the North Bay Bridge Collapse in the movie. In the premonition, she’s the third to go.
Olivia’s actual death is one of the franchise’s most unsettling because it plays on a very real fear: laser eye surgery. Sick of her glasses, she books an appointment, not knowing she’s walking straight into Death’s trap. A machine malfunction turns a simple procedure into pure nightmare fuel. The laser burns through her eye and hand, and before she can escape, she trips and falls out the window.
It’s brutal and terrifying, making that “routine” eye exam feel a little less routine.
3) Candice’s gymnastic accident ( Final Destination 5)
Candice Hooper, an employee at Presage Paper, is the first to die in the premonition of the North Bay Bridge Collapse. She plummets off the bridge and gets impaled on a sailing yacht’s mast. Since she was supposed to go first, Death wasted no time coming for her.
Candice is a skilled gymnast, which makes her actual death even more horrifying. It all starts with small, seemingly harmless things—a broken AC unit, a loose screw, and a spilled bowl of chalk powder.
While practicing on the high bars, the powder blinds her mid-swing. Disoriented, she panics, loses her grip, and flips uncontrollably. The landing is devastating. Her spine snaps on impact, her legs fold unnaturally over her head, and the internal damage kills her almost instantly.
While the franchise has its fair share of nightmare-inducing deaths, Candice’s is a gut-wrenching reminder that Death doesn’t need anything elaborate—sometimes, a single misstep is all it takes.
4) Nora Carpenter’s death (Final Destination 2)
Nora Carpenter and her son Tim weren’t meant to survive the Route 23 pileup. In the premonition, their car swerved when a log truck’s chains snapped. Tim dropped his water bottle, it rolled under the brake pedal and Nora couldn’t stop in time. They crashed into a log, and their car exploded on impact.
Tim doesn’t make it far in reality, either. A massive pane of glass falls from a construction site, crushing him instantly. It’s a brutal and shocking moment. Nora, completely shattered by her son’s death, doesn’t care much about trying to cheat fate. She leaves Officer Burke’s apartment with Eugene, unknowingly walking straight into her own demise.
On an elevator ride, her braid gets caught on a box of hooks. Panicked, she thrashes and tries to break free, but it only makes things worse. She gets stuck between the doors as the elevator moves, and in a gruesome moment, she’s decapitated by the sheer force. It’s one of the most unsettling deaths in the franchise, making elevators feel just a little more dangerous.
5) Brian’s death (Final Destination 2)
Brian Gibbons is one of the few characters who wasn’t supposed to be on Death’s list. He wasn’t a survivor of the big disaster in Final Destination 2—just a random kid who got caught up in all the chaos. He almost dies when a news van nearly hits him, but Rory saves him at the last second. Unfortunately, that act of heroism unintentionally puts Brian in Death’s crosshairs.
Brian’s death is the final one in the film, happening during a seemingly normal backyard barbecue. Kimberly and Officer Burke, thinking they’ve finally beaten Death’s plan, are enjoying the gathering at the Gibbons' house. They’re chatting about near-death experiences when Brian heads over to the grill.
And then the grill explodes, sending him flying in pieces. It’s a shocking and brutal ending, but what makes it even more unsettling is how realistic it feels. Maybe a barbecue explosion isn’t an everyday occurrence, but accidents involving grills and cooking equipment definitely happen.
6) Ashley and Ashlyn's death (Final Destination 3)
Ashley Freund and Ashlyn Halperin were inseparable in the movie, so it’s only fitting that their deaths were a shared event. Both were unintended survivors of the Devil’s Flight roller coaster disaster. In Wendy’s vision, they sit together when Ashlyn knocks a camera out of Frankie’s hand. It lands on the tracks, sealing their fate. The coaster derails, and they die in the crash. But since they got off the ride, Death still comes for them.
Ashley and Ashlyn hit their usual tanning salon for a session, unaware of what was coming. It starts with Ashley setting her drink on the machine controlling the beds. The condensation drips, causing a malfunction. The temperature spikes, and by the time they realize something’s wrong, it’s too late.
This scene left a mark on audiences. While tanning is already linked to skin cancer and premature aging, this took it to another level.
7) Hunt’s pool accident (The Final Destination)
Hunt Wynorski is part of the main friend group in The Final Destination, with his best friend Nick, being the one who foresees their deaths at McKinley Speedway. In Nick’s vision, Hunt meets a pretty standard fate—crushed by a massive chunk of the collapsing ceiling. But in reality, his actual death is anything but ordinary.
Hunt's death is one of the most brutal and downright unrealistic in the entire franchise. It happens at a country club pool, all because he is obsessed with his lucky coin. When it falls into the water, he dives in after it. But things take a turn when his swimming trunks get caught in the pool's vent. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but thanks to a mechanical failure, the suction goes way beyond normal levels.
At first, Hunt just struggles to stay above water, slowly drowning as he’s pinned in place. But then, the pressure spikes. In one of the goriest moments in the series, leaving a bloody explosion in the water. It’s one of the franchise’s most unforgettable deaths.
Final Destination has never shied away from delivering some of the most shocking, gruesome, and downright absurd deaths in horror history. These seven moments prove that no one is ever truly safe from Death’s design. The entire franchise can currently be streamed on Max.
