15 Craziest 'Final Destination' Deaths, from the Log Truck Accident to Eye Surgery Gone Wrong (2025)

Final Destination is back — and the kills are more creative than ever.

After 14 years, the franchise returned with Final Destination Bloodlines on May 16. The new installment serves as both a prequel and a sequel, following Iris (Brec Bassinger) as she saves everyone dining atop the Skyview restaurant, before her descendants begin to feel the consequences.

The Final Destination films are known for their wild death scenes, which often involve a series of events creating the perfect trap for their victims. The film series centers on various groups of people who survive catastrophic accidents they weren’t supposed to live through. To bring the world back to equilibrium, Death itself hunts them, doing everything it can to kill them.

Throughout its six films, the franchise has killed hundreds of people in ways that are horrifying, agonizing and sometimes even a little humorous. The franchise has also featured a few big-name stars throughout its run as well, including Ali Larter, Tony Todd, Seann William Scott, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Devon Sawa, among others.

But what are the wildest deaths in the Final Destination franchise? From a particularly memorable plane disaster to the most bonkers roller coaster ride in history, here are the 15 craziest Final Destination kills.

Final Destination: The plane explosion

The original Final Destination film starts off with one of the most traumatic scenes in the entire franchise. The movie kicks off with a group of passengers boarding Volée Flight 180, which is departing John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and headed for Paris, France.

But shortly after takeoff, an engine catches fire. The plane starts to fall apart, with pieces of the plane (and passengers) falling out, dropping thousands of feet to the ground. The incident ends in an explosion that kills everyone on board.

The most terrifying part of this first kill is how real it is, as many fans have pointed out its similarities to the real explosion of TWA Flight 800. In 1996, a Boeing 747 was headed from New York to Paris and exploded mid-air, causing the plane to break apart before crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.

Final Destination: The car decapitation

One of Final Destination's biggest fake outs happens relatively early on in the franchise. The scene begins when the group’s car stalls on a set of train tracks while a giant freight train is speeding straight towards them. Audiences don’t know who — if anyone — will get out of the way and survive.

Luckily, they all manage to escape just before the car is obliterated by the train. But it turns out Death still has a plan: While the train itself didn’t kill anyone, one of its wheels rolls over a shattered piece of the car, shooting it through the air and directly through Billy’s neck, decapitating him.

Final Destination: A stabbing and a house fire

The true wackiness and complexity of Death is showcased with the demise of Ms. Lewton (Kristen Cloke). It all starts when she pours herself some vodka into a mug that cracks, subsequently spilling the liquid onto her computer. When the vodka drips down into the mainframe, it starts a fire, exploding the screen's glass into her neck.

With her throat slit and house catching on fire, Ms. Lewton tries to grab a rag hanging off of her kitchen counter. But she doesn't realize that it's tangled up in a set of knives, which, naturally, fall directly into her chest.

Final Destination 2: The highway pileup

Final Destination’s plane explosion was horrifying because it’s a disaster that could actually happen. The sequel took that to a new extreme by focusing on something even more common: deadly car crashes. Final Destination 2 begins on a freeway that’s still slick from a recent rainfall.

The disaster starts when giant tree trunks spill out of the back of a logging truck, crashing into cars and causing drivers to swerve. Thanks to the wet roads, it causes a massive pileup that kills dozens of people.

Final Destination 2: The fire escape

Another example of the franchise's excellent ability to fake out viewers happens during the death of Evan (David Paetkau). First, his hand gets stuck in his garbage disposal. Then, a grease fire starts on his stove. Even worse, after Evan knocks the burning pan off the stove, it lands on a bunch of flammable paper towels and cardboard boxes. Now, with his hand stuck and his apartment on fire, audiences are certain that this is how he’ll die.

Despite all this, Evan manages to flee out the fire escape. But once he's on the ground, the ladder from the fire escape comes crashing down, impaling him through the eye.

Final Destination 3: The roller coaster disaster

Final Destination 3 kicked off with one of the wildest incidents in the franchise's history. On a theme park's roller coaster, one man attempts to film himself; naturally, he drops his camcorder and it gets caught in the tracks, causing the ride to partially derail. Some of the cars fly off into the night, flinging bodies everywhere.

But it’s not over yet. The shoulder restraints unlock, and in the final loop, the remaining cars get stuck upside down. Eventually, the rest of the cars derail, killing the last person onboard.

Final Destination 3: Tanning bed fire

During the 2000s, tanning beds became incredibly popular, and Final Destination 3 utilized the zeitgeist to create one of the most disturbing deaths in the entire franchise.

In the scene, two friends, Ashley (Chelan Simmons) and Ashlyn (Crystal Lowe), get trapped in their tanning beds, which malfunction and begin to overheat. The beds get so hot that they ignite, burning the two alive.

Final Destination 3: Shot with a nail gun

One of Final Destination's goriest kills comes in a hardware store where Ian (Kris Lemche) and his girlfriend Erin (Alexz Johnson) work.

After a rogue forklift runs into one of the store shelves, it knocks down a bunch of fence pickets that almost kill Ian. He’s able to avoid the falling pickets, but his girlfriend Erin isn’t so lucky. While trying to escape the falling materials, she accidentally trips into a nail gun that shoots her through the head nearly a dozen times.

It’s macabre and shocking — especially since the scene sets Ian up as the one who is about to die.

The Final Destination: Killed by the pool

The Final Destination’s resident bully Hunt (Nick Zano) dies after he dives into his country club’s pool. Unbeknownst to him, the pool’s drainage system is malfunctioning and running way harder than usual.

His butt gets pulled down into the drain — and while it’s never fully shown, it’s implied that his insides are essentially sucked straight out of him.Even worse, the other people in the pool have no idea it's happening.

The Final Destination: The NASCAR incident

The opening disaster of The Final Destination is a NASCAR race gone horribly wrong. Of course, NASCAR crashes happen and can even be deadly — but typically, they remain on the course's track.

In this scene, a crash causes numerous cars to go careening into the bleachers, killing people on impact and causing a stampede. Eventually, the entire grandstand collapses.

The Final Destination: Dragged by a tow truck

Early on in The Final Destination, Carter (Justin Welborn) is shown to be an antagonist — at the NASCAR race and subsequent memorial, he makes several racist remarks to George (Mykelti Williamson). But a few days after the funeral, Carter gets his just desserts.

After blaming George for the incident, Carter drives a tow truck to his house to burn a cross on his lawn. After Carter gets tangled up in the truck's chain, the car starts rolling down the street, dragging him with it.

Final Destination 5: The plane explosion — with a twist

Final Destination 5 plays out like your typical sequel until the very end, where it’s revealed to actually be a prequel. Just when audiences think the protagonists have safely escaped Death, Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Molly (Emma Bell) board a flight to Paris.

Unfortunately for them, it turns out the plane they’ve boarded is Volée Flight 180, a.k.a. the exploding plane from the first movie. Fans are forced to watch that terrifying accident all over again — knowing exactly what's about to happen.

Final Destination 5: The LASIK laser

One of the most squirm-worthy deaths in the entire franchise is when Olivia (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) gets strapped to the operating table for laser eye surgery.

Of course, being Final Destination, the operation goes horribly wrong: The laser becomes super-charged and begins incinerating her eyeball. Scared and disoriented, Olivia trips into a window and falls four stories to her death.

Final Destination Bloodlines: Skyview tower collapse

One of the wildest opening death scenes yet comes in Final Destination Bloodlines. Set during the 1960s at a new restaurant and observation tower called the Skyview, protagonist Iris arrives on a date with her boyfriend.

Sadly, the date is ruined when the restaurant’s glass floor shatters, some 40 stories above the ground. Even worse, a huge fire breaks out and the structure begins to collapse, causing huge sections of the tower to break off.

Luckily, Iris has a premonition of the accident and saves everyone — but that causes unintended consequences, as Death begins to come for her descendants.

Final Destination Bloodlines: The malfunctioning MRI

Final Destination has a long history of malfunctioning machines, but none of them compare to Bloodlines' MRI. One of the characters, Erik (Richard Harmon), works at a tattoo and piercing parlor — so naturally, he has a number of piercings himself.

But when all that metal comes into contact with a malfunctioning MRI machine, it doesn’t end well for Erik. In fact, it becomes the most gruesome and wild kill of the entire film.