All 39 Gruesome ‘Final Destination’ Deaths, Ranked — Yes, the Uneven Bars Still Haunt Us

In 2000, Final Destination immediately established itself as a different kind of horror movie. Lots of people die, yet there is no killer. Final Destination is a slasher film without anyone doing the slashing.

Instead, the enemy is the inevitability of death. In the 2000 film, a group of high school students narrowly avoid getting on a plane that explodes, killing everyone anpard. When they start to die in bizarre circumstances, they come to realize that they were never supposed to survive, and that death was coming for them no matter what they did.

That's a formula repeated throughout all five Final Destination movies, but there's only a minimal interest in the plot in these films. It's all about getting as many artfully executed, ridiculously implausible (yet remaining just within the realm of possibility) kills as quickly as possible. All five Final Destination movies are under 100 minutes (and most under 90), resulting in kill fests trimmed of fat.

And, folks, they're a blast. It's been fourteen years since the last film in the Final Destination franchise, but for fans, there's something big to celebrate: A sixth film, Final Destination: Bloodlines, is coming. To celebrate the revival of Death's crazy kills, we're ranking every death in the franchise.

The kills define the franchise, often set up as crazy Rube Goldberg machines as characters avoid dozens of different potential pitfalls before lives are taken in shocking, bloody, disgusting (and sometimes disappointing) ways. We're considering factors like ingenuity, shock value, memorability, sense of humor (these films are often very funny!), and how well the kill is executed. To clarify, we're including the big fake-out kills that happen at the start of each Final Destination movie; they're essential to the fabric of each film, and they technically do happen, even if we don't see what really goes down.

Though these kills don't happen exactly as we see them, they're still consequential and impact the entirety of the films in which they appear. In the instances where the visions don't actually happen (ie the shopping mall sequence in The Final Destination), it won't appear here. Place yourself in the safest room possible, make sure no items can randomly fall on you, and enjoy Men's Health's ranking of every single kill in the Final Destination franchise.

Watch Final Destination Here [1] Watch Final Destination 2 Here [2] Watch Final Destination 3 Here [3]

Watch The Final Destination Here [4] Watch Final Destination 5 Here [5] Buy Final Destination: Bloodlines Tickets Here [6]

The Final Destination (aka Final Destination 4) - The Ambulance

No sugar coating it: this one sucks.

George (Mykelti Williamson) gets decked by an ambulance, killing him instantly. It's just a cheap copy of the first movie, but worse. See the original post on Youtube [7]

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The Final Destination - The Truck

Nick (Bobby Campo), Janet (Haley Webb), and Lori (Shantel VanSanten) meet their doom in amusing fashion: a truck smashes through the cafe they're sitting in and runs them over. What makes this awful is a diabolically stupid shift to hideous sub-par video game graphics, which show their skeletons shattering. Unforgivable.

See the original post on Youtube [8] [embedded content]

Final Destination 5 - The Gun

Arguably the least creative death in the franchise, Agent Block (Courtney B. Vance) gets shot in the back by Peter (Miles Fisher).

It's extra disappointing because it's not even the specter of death that causes this one. See the original post on Youtube [9] [embedded content]

Final Destination 5 - The Kitchen Skewer

Same goes for this kill.

It's a clever murder weapon at least, and we do see how dangerous the giant meat skewer looks in an earlier scene. But Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) stabbing Peter with them is a letdown. See the original post on Youtube [10]

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Final Destination 3 - The Flagpole

There's something amusing about being impaled with a 'Don't Tread on Me' flag, but this kill feels insignificant and comes out of nowhere. See the original post on Youtube [11] [embedded content]

Final Destination 3 - The Cherry Picker

Though he believes himself to be unkillable, fate feels otherwise towards Ian (Kris Lemche) as he gets swiftly crushed to death.

In a kill that feels simultaneously underwhelming and derivative of one of the very best in the franchise, he gets crushed by a cherry picker. See the original post on Youtube [12] [embedded content]

The Final Destination - The Bathtub

An overflowing bathtub crashes through the ceiling, crushing Cowboy (Jackson Walker).

It's boring, but it also feels more like a nurse's negligence being responsible for death than death itself - that bathtub was overflowing when he left the room! See the original post on Youtube [13] [embedded content]

Final Destination 5 - The Wrench

A wrench goes flying and impales Dennis (David Koechner), killing him instantly.

It's not particularly consequential to the film, nor is it very interesting. See the original post on Youtube [14] [embedded content]

Final Destination - The Bus

Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer) gets hit by a bus out of nowhere, killing her instantly.

It's very low-key compared to the franchise's more outlandish deaths, but it's been imitated so many times that it's hard to deny its impact. See the original post on Youtube [15] [embedded content]

Final Destination 5 - The Hook

Warehouse worker Roy (Brent Stait) falls through a walkway and gets impaled by a giant hook.

It's gross, and the visual is arresting, but Roy isn't a character we've come to care about, or even know much at all. See the original post on Youtube [16] [embedded content]

Final Destination 3 - The Subway

A disappointing finale for Final Destination 3 takes place on a derailing subway, where Kevin (Ryan Merriman) and Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead [17]) meet their demise.

It feels cheap and unimaginatively executed. It's set up as a vision, only to realise they can't actually escape, which is a fun twist. See the original post on Youtube [18]

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The Final Destination - The Racetrack

A massive killfest at a racetrack should be nothing short of epic. But The Final Destination has some abhorrent 3D effects that looked terrible then and even worse now. That tanks the scene's potential, and regardless, what's here doesn't feel exciting or disgusting.

And it's another fakeout. See the original post on Youtube [19] [embedded content]

Final Destination 2 - The Explosion

It's shocking to have Clear (Ali Larter), the only character left over from Final Destination, go out so suddenly.

But she and Eugene (T. C. Carson) are wiped out in a single hospital explosion.

It's underwhelming, but it effectively shows that death doesn't give a damn how you die, as long as you do. See the original post on Youtube [20] [embedded content]

The Final Destination - The Rock

This scene has so much fun playing with the audience, as Samantha (Krista Allen) gets almost killed by just about everything in the salon.

Then, on her way out, she gets a stone blasted through her skull from (of all things) a lawnmower collision across the street. A missed opportunity - it's not hard to imagine a much more exhilarating kill within the walls of the salon itself. See the original post on Youtube [21]

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The Final Destination - The Pool

Hunt (Nick Zano) is a total dickhead, which makes his brutal death by swimming pool intake jet (one probably at least somewhat lifted from a famous Chuck Palahniuk short story called 'Guts') feel somewhat slightly deserved. This should have been way more horrifying, but we're only left to imagine how horrible things get. But the drain at the bottom of the pool always terrified me growing up, so this one got under my skin.

See the original post on Youtube [22] [embedded content]

The Final Destination - The Tire

The Mechanic's Girlfriend (Stephanie Honore) - yes, that's what she's credited as - gets her head blown off by an errant tire flying out of the racetrack crash scene. This one's not a fakeout.

It's icky, quick, and surprising. See the original post on Youtube [23] [embedded content]

The Final Destination - The Tow Truck

Another charming credit, 'The Racist' (Justin Welborn), meets his end via his tow truck.

He gets dragged by his truck down the street, set on fire, and when the truck explodes, his head goes flying. It wouldn't be that memorable, but it's set to War's 'Why Can't We Be Friends?' - a most welcome inclusion. See the original post on Youtube [24]

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Final Destination 5 - The Buddha Statue

Isaac (P.J. Byrne) is the kind of character whose demise you root for, but his death is needlessly drawn out. A massage parlor makes for a fun setup, however.

His multiple narrow escapes being thwarted by a buddha statue crushing his head to a pulp is pretty damn funny. See the original post on Youtube [25] [embedded content]

Final Destination - The Billboard

Just when you think the last survivors are safe, Carter (Kerr Smith) dies in the film's final second, getting smashed by a giant billboard in Paris.

It's a killer punchline to Final Destination, and one that lingers throughout the entire franchise: you can't cheat death. See the original post on Youtube [26] [embedded content]

Final Destination 2 - The Airbag

Kat (Keegan Connor Tracy) is doomed.

She survives the unthinkable, narrowly avoiding a pipe through her head. The EMTs use the Jaws of Life to save her, but they inadvertently set off the car's airbag, sending her head through the pipe. See the original post on Youtube [27]

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Final Destination 2 - The Barbecue

Poor Brian (Noel Fisher). We barely know anything about this kid. He appears earlier in the film and narrowly avoids getting hit by a van, which of course means he must be exploded by barbecue in the film's last scene.

It's a hilarious and ridiculous ending to Final Destination 2. The arm landing in front of Brian's mother is wild. See the original post on Youtube [28]

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Final Destination 3 - The Rollercoaster

There's little doubt that Final Destination 3 contributed to people's fear of rollercoasters, but this scene could have gone a whole lot further. It's frightening, but there aren't any major surprises, and everything unfolds more or less as you'd expect it to. See the original post on Youtube [29]

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Final Destination 3 - The Car Engine

Easily the most obnoxious character in Final Destination 3, Frankie (Sam Easton) is so awful that his death is one for fans to celebrate. The fun part of his death is that it's a total misdirection: you think Kevin (Ryan Merriman) and Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) are about to die, but Frankie is in the same drive-thru lineup - something we don't realise until we see his head sliced open by a car engine. See the original post on Youtube [30]

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Final Destination - The Plane Crash

The one that started it all. Alex (Devon Sawa) and his friends go down in a brutal plane crash, complete with the hull being ripped open, people being torn from their seats, and fires that reduce people to skeletons. And it's all a fakeout.

The real plane crash does happen, as becomes Final Destination tradition, but we only see it from afar. It's rough around the edges, but this setpiece sets the bar for every kill to come. See the original post on Youtube [31]

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Final Destination - The Scrap Metal

A quality misdirect (we think Carter's about to die) leads to surprising doom for Billy (Seann William Scott), who gets decapitated by a piece of scrap metal. It's quick, gory, and exciting. See the original post on Youtube [32]

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Final Destination 2 - The Highway Pile-Up

Final Destination 2 continues the legacy of an epic multi-death kill that winds up being the vision of our main protagonist. This one's a deadly highway pileup, and it features an especially unhinged kill in an entire tree launching through a police officer. See the original post on Youtube [33]

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Final Destination 2 - The Staircase

Evan (Daid Paetkau) may have won the lottery, but he's got seriously bad luck. Final Destination 2 embraces full camp as there are approximately 175 things that could kill Evan in the span of a few minutes, though he's ultimately done by the fire escape ladder crashing through his eye. This is why you don't throw spaghetti out your window.

See the original post on Youtube [34] [embedded content]

Final Destination 2 - The Elevator

Tim's mother, Nora (Lynda Boyd), faces a less disgusting, but more prolonged death than her son. After a man with a box full of prosthetic hooks (!) smells her in an elevator (!!), she inadvertently gets her head stuck in the elevator doors.

Her friends try to save her to no avail, but rest assured, they're plenty shaken by the horror they've just endured. See the original post on Youtube [35] [embedded content]

Final Destination 5 - The Eye Surgery

A routine operation descends to hell when Olivia (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) has laser eye surgery.

The doctor leaves the room, and the laser overheats, burning through her eye. But that doesn't kill her. Instead, she trips out of a window and smashes into a car, killing her instantly.

Olivia's other eye rolls away from her and gets run over by a car. Who said this franchise didn't have jokes? See the original post on Youtube [36]

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Final Destination 5 - The Bridge Collapse

A heck of a way to kick things off: Final Destination 5 goes big with the collapse of a suspension bridge. It's got fantastic and legitimately disgusting kills, like someone being impaled by a ship mast, and another getting melted by hot tar. Shame it's a fakeout, but it's the most shocking, well-choreographed fakeout they've done.

See the original post on Youtube [37] [embedded content]

Final Destination 2 - The Barbed Wire Fence

Rory's (Jonathan Cherry) death feels like the full evolution of Billy's expiration in the first film. Rory gets sliced into pieces by a flying barbed wire fence.

It's immediately after Kat's demise, which adds a dash of gruesomeness. Not that it needs it - this is one of the nastiest, most satisfying kills in the franchise. See the original post on Youtube [38]

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Final Destination - The Shower Cord

Tod (Chad Donella) is our first proper victim, and his death is easily one of the most memorable. His demise is met by a shower cord that strangles him to death. The small details here elevate a straightforward kill, like the bloodshot eyes that send a chill down your spine.

See the original post on Youtube [39] [embedded content]

Final Destination 3 - The Weight Machine

Lewis (Texas Battle) feels invincible, shouting 'Fuck death!' with each new rep on the weights machine. But he's wrong; the weight machine is sliced by falling scimitars, leading the weights to pop Lewis' head like a balloon.

The kill itself is undeniably unique and brutal, but it's the masterful editing that makes this scene unforgettable. See the original post on Youtube [40] [embedded content]

Final Destination 3 - The Nail Gun

After surviving every imaginable trap at the hardware store, Erin (Alexz Johnson) falls back against a shelf and hits her head on a nail gun.

One nail at point-blank range surely would have sufficed, but the world's supply of nails are shot into her skull. It's one of the nastiest, most graphic kills in all of Final Destination. See the original post on Youtube [41]

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Final Destination 5 - The Plane (Again)

Talk about a twist you'd never see coming: who could have predicted that Final Destination 5 leads directly into the fatal plane crash in the first Final Destination? The shock factor alone makes the ending an all-timer. Watching Sam and Molly perish on board the plane to Paris is as harrowing as it is well-executed.

The plane landing on Nathan (Arlen Escarpeta), who thought he was skipped over, is the devilish twist that seals the film as a classic. See the original post on Youtube [42] [embedded content]

Final Destination - The Knives

You've got to wonder who Mrs.

Lewton (Kristen Cloke) wronged to deserve the cavalcade of errors that leads to her demise. The Rube Goldberg machinations are in full effect here, with everything from a cracked mug, a knife block, and a chair working together to finish this teacher. It's sheer bloody outrageousness and a total classic.

It's so excessive that it ends up being funny, an ideal blend of Final Destination's ability to balance terror and laughs in equal measure. See the original post on Youtube [43] [embedded content]

Final Destination 2 - The Glass Pane

The highlight of Final Destination 2 comes with this especially shocking kill.

Tim (James Kirk) narrowly escapes a series of fake-outs at the dentist's office (including a fake fish being lodged in his mouth for a dangerous amount of time). But once he's outside, he can't resist chasing a group of pigeons, who fly into a man operating a forklift, sending an enormous glass pane down onto Tim, shattering both the glass and Tim. It's disgusting, with an unforgettable comic bent - why is this kid so excited to chase these pigeons?

See the original post on Youtube [44] [embedded content]

Final Destination 3 - The Tanning Beds

Ashley and Ashlyn (Chelan Simmons and Crystal Lowe) just wanted to re-up on their tans, but they get way more than they bargained for. The pair gets trapped in their way-too-hot tanning beds and slowly burn to death.

The surrounding details are amusing, like the shop owner using a lotion bottle to prop open a door, but this is Final Destination at its gnarliest. It's eerily prolonged and deeply disturbing to watch. See the original post on Youtube [45]

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Final Destination 5 - The Uneven Bars

Has anyone in the Final Destination franchise met a more horrific fate than Candice (Ellen Wroe)? The franchise has always built tension around kills brilliantly, but the intensity here is nothing short of immaculate. You just know something awful is coming, and this scene delivers harder on that front than any other.

Candice nails her balance beam routine, narrowly avoiding a precariously placed nail, but the uneven bars prove her undoing. When another gymnast does land on the nail, it sets off a chain of events that mess with Candice's landing, leading her to fall off the bars in the worst way imaginable, killing her instantly. Or so it seemed - her hand twitches, suggesting she's still alive and can feel what's happening, which makes it so much worse than any other kill in all of Final Destination.

See the original post on Youtube [46]

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References

^ Watch Final Destination Here (www.amazon.co.uk)
^ Watch Final Destination 2 Here (www.amazon.co.uk)
^ Watch Final Destination 3 Here (www.amazon.co.uk)
^ Watch The Final Destination Here (www.amazon.co.uk)
^ Watch Final Destination 5 Here (www.amazon.co.uk)
^ Buy Final Destination: Bloodlines Tickets Here (www.cineworld.co.uk)
^ See the original post on Youtube (www.youtube.com)
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^ Mary Elizabeth Winstead (www.menshealth.com)
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