The Horror Movie Scene That Will Make You Think Twice About Tanning
Tanning beds are notoriously bad for your skin, so it's not the worst thing that one 2006 horror movie gave tanners a reason to stay out from under the artificial UV lights — and not just because of the usual dangers they pose.
According to the FDA, the use of tanning beds comes with serious health risks like skin cancer, premature aging, immune suppression, eye damage, and allergic reactions. The organization advises against unsafe behaviors like not wearing protective goggles, increasing exposure time too quickly, not being mindful of one's skin type, and taking medications or using cosmetics that interfere with the body's reaction to the blue-tinted rays.
What the FDA doesn't warn potential users about, though, is wearing headphones, messing with the room's temperature, and how adamant death is in the "Final Destination" franchise. No amount of tanning lotion in the world could have spared the unfortunate teenagers in "Final Destination 3."
'Final Destination 3' ruined tanning beds for an entire generation
Beyond the usual concerns associated with tanning beds, "Final Destination 3" offered another reason to be afraid of those glowing, metal coffins. The film follows a group of recent high school graduates who narrowly escape death via rollercoaster after one of their classmates experiences a premonition. However, death refuses to let them escape, and the group begins to die in freak accidents. In one of the franchise's most horrifying and iconic kill scenes, Ashley Freund (Chelan Simmons) and Ashlyn Halperin (Crystal Lowe) are burned to death in tanning beds.
Hoping to deepen their tans before graduation, the best friends hit up the tanning salon. They obliviously set themselves up to boil and fry after a slushie, an A/C unit, and loose shelf work together to trap them in the rapidly overheating beds. Their goggles melt, the glass beds shatter around them, their skin blisters and chars, all while "Love Rollercoaster" ironically plays overhead.
It's a brutal, fiery death that's guaranteed to make viewers think twice about going tanning.