The Dumbest Mistakes The Final Destination Characters Make
The conceit behind the "Final Destination" franchise is that Death has a plan for everyone. When you stray from that plan, Death will not stop coming for you until you are dead. In that way, Death is the Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, or Freddy Krueger of this unique slasher series. Each film begins with a premonition of a huge disaster resulting in a lot of bloody, over-the-top deaths. Those who escape their fate are then picked off one by one.
It's a cliche in horror movies to say that the characters deserve to die because they make stupid decisions. That isn't totally true when discussing characters with preordained demises orchestrated by a supernatural being like Death itself. However, some of the characters in the series might have lived a bit longer if only they were a little less reckless, or considerate of others around them. While Death may be carrying out these murders, some of these people accidentally hasten their own demise by making some pretty awful mistakes. So, here are the dumbest mistakes the final destination characters make.
Not Looking Both Ways
One of the more shocking deaths in the original "Final Destination" was the scene in which Terry gets hit by a bus. The moment is sudden, bloody, and kind of confusing. At this point in the film, Devon Sawa's character Alex is piecing together that his friend's death was no accident, nor was it suicide. While explaining his theory in front of a cafe to Clear, he sees the reflection of a bus in the window, but no bus passes by. This is yet another premonition of someone's impending death.
The other survivors, Chet, Terry, Valerie, and Billy also wind up outside the cafe. Chet blames Alex for what happened with the plane and accuses him of ruining everyone's lives. Alex tries to defend himself, but Terry is fed up. She shouts at both of them, demanding that they get over their trauma and move on. She, for one, will not allow this tragedy to control her. Then she steps into the road and gets splattered by a bus.
Clearly, her murder was part of Death's new design. The foreshadowing of the bus in the window tells us that. Still, she didn't even look before stepping off the curb? She was so fixated on telling everyone off that she didn't think to look both ways? Sure, Death planned on killing her, but she totally could've avoided this.
Spilling That Tea Water
There are a few things in Valeri Lewton's (perhaps named after classic horror director Val Lewton) death that feel like dumb mistakes on her part. Most of them, however, have to do with her complete obliviousness to what's going on around her. Did she really not notice the vodka leaking from her mug and into her computer monitor? All of them stem from the strangest, seemingly unmotivated, and dumb decision in horror history.
Ever since the plane she was on exploded, Lewton has been edgy. She doesn't even want to live in her hometown anymore. While packing one night, she decides to make herself some tea. A spooky reflection on the kettle tells us Death is here, but she doesn't notice. When the water's ready, she pours it into her mug and immediately lifts it to her lips. The very next second, she spins around and throws the water out of her mug with a scream.
What startled her? It isn't clear. She says to herself, "You've got to stop this. Stop this. It's a stupid mug!" This suggests she was startled by the school's logo, but it doesn't really make sense. Also, she uses the mug again for ice and freezing cold vodka. That chilly combination after such hot water cracks the mug, which leaks vodka all over the place, only to get set on fire a minute later. If she'd just used a different mug, maybe she'd still be alive.
Parking on the Train Tracks
Another shocking death also happened by way of a transportation vehicle, but not in the way the audience was probably expecting. This time, it involved a train and the character who meets their end isn't really to blame. Instead, it was the dumb choice of another character that put him in that situation to begin with.
The jerk of the film is a guy named Carter. He's full of himself and thinks he can push everyone around. He doesn't like the idea that his destiny is controlled by an invisible force out of his control. In order to prove he is the master of his own destiny, Carter drives like a maniac. During his power trip, Alex sees the reflection of a train in the window. Then, Carter decides to park his car on the train tracks as a huge locomotive is headed right for them.
Everyone makes it out alive, barely, but he's unable to get the car started to get it out of the way. Next thing you know, the vehicle is obliterated, but at least everyone survived. Then, Billy (played by Seann William Scott) loses his mind, taunting his former tormentor and declaring he's keeping as far away from him as possible. Just then, a hunk of scrap metal from the car is flung out from under the train, decapitating Billy where he stands. If Carter wasn't such an idiot, Billy would still have his head.
No Garbage Bags
There are a lot of potential methods of murder in and around Evan's apartment in "Final Destination 2." Practically every step he takes and the weird decision he makes could easily lead to a quick and gruesome death. The building he lives in almost looks condemned. There's children's toys strewn all over the hall. The food in his fridge looks rotten. Also, he throws bunch of spaghetti out onto the street instead of tossing it in the trash. Oddly, it's the spaghetti that does him in.
Evan (played by David Paetkau of "Chicago Med") survived the intense traffic accident from the beginning of the film and won the lottery. Therefore, he's probably feeling pretty lucky, like nothing can touch him. This goes a long way in explaining his blase attitude regarding his deadly surroundings, and why he reaches into the garbage disposal to retrieve some jewelry without hesitating. However, it does not explain the spaghetti tossing.
When his apartment erupts in a fireball of chaos, Evan is able to make his escape out of the window and down the fire escape. After his apartment blows up, he observes how lucky he is, just before slipping on the spaghetti he tossed out earlier. He lands on his back and the ladder from the fire escape careens toward him. It stops for a second, giving him a chance to breathe, before falling the rest of the way and impaling him through the eye. Next time, use the garbage.
Scaring the Birds
Tim Carpenter is one of the survivors of the traffic disaster at the beginning of "Final Destination 2." He's a fifteen-year-old kid who is pretty easy to amuse, apparently. So much so, that when people are running up to him, calling his name with real distress on their faces and in their voices, he gets distracted by a flock of pigeons standing below some active construction.
To be fair, he did just walk out of a strange dentist's appointment, so maybe he was feeling a little loopy. Still, it's a pretty dumb decision on his mother's part as well. She's done her best to look after him during the film, but she is too flabbergasted by the people running towards them to hold onto her son's arm and say, "Hey, leave the birds alone. There's construction going on?"
There had previously been a premonition involving the pigeons, which is why the two other characters were there to warn him. Of course, he didn't know about that, but what possessed him to see all those pigeons and scare them away while a crane is holding a massive windowpane above the street? Was he trying to protect them? It looked more like he just thought it'd be fun to watch them fly away. When they do, it causes the pane of glass to fall, landing on top of him and splattering him all over the place. Leave the pigeons alone.
Big Gulps and Tanning
Death gets to take out two characters at once in "Final Destination 3" when two socialite characters named Ashley and Ashlyn decide to bring a huge, sweaty drink into a tanning salon. The first time Ashley does before undressing and stepping into her tanning bed is leave her drink on a table directly above a circuit breaker. In that heat, the condensation on the outside of her chilly beverage only increases.
The pair crawl into their beds and groove along to the music, completely oblivious to the fact that all that condensation is making its way down the side of the giant cup and onto the circuit breaker. Although they are trapped in their overheating, electric coffins by an outside force, the malfunctioning of the heat being pumped through their skin is completely their fault. Yes, Ashley was the one who set the drink on the table in the first place, but Ashlyn could've suggested she set it somewhere else. Or, they could've left their drinks outside, to begin with. Of all the terrible decisions made by characters in the "Final Destination" movies, this is definitely one of the more egregious.
All That Roid Rage
Lewis isn't solely to blame for his head being crushed by weights. Neither is death, by the looks of things. In fact, the blame for this death should probably be put on whoever decided to hang swords over a weight machine. Since the person who did that doesn't appear in the movie, to our knowledge, you have to focus on Lewis himself for deciding to take out all of his aggression on a machine situated below swords.
When Kevin and Wendy (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) show up at the gym to warn Lewis of their discovery of a pattern linking the deaths of their friends, he doesn't want to hear it. At first, his reaction is logical. He surmises that the pair have been suffering from survivor's guilt following the deaths of their friends and are looking for patterns to make themselves feel better. It certainly makes more sense than an evil force is following them.
As Kevin continues to defend his point, however, Lewis becomes increasingly more agitated. He starts pumping iron way too aggressively and it makes those dumb swords over his head start to shake. Wendy sees signs that something terrible is about to go down, but isn't sure what. Then, the swords fall and cut the cords attached to the weights. Lewis, thinking he's escaped death, does another rep and two weights swing down and crush his head. Stay away from swords when working out.
Being A Dumb, Drunk Racist
Sometimes, slasher movies will supply the audience with a character they hate so much, either because they're dumb or annoying, that they are begging for them to get killed so they never have to see them again. While that can sometimes be satisfying, it does kill the suspense. If you truly loathe a character, there's no way you're going to be concerned about their fictional death. So, you watch patiently as they get their comeuppance.
There is a character in "The Final Destination," the fourth installment of the series, that fits that description perfectly. He's a racist who decides to take out his aggression on a black man following the death of someone he loved by installing a cross on his front yard to burn. Although the entirety of the fourth film is cartoonish and silly, this moment is a little much. There's nothing funny about evoking hate groups like the KKK — even if the guy does die horribly.
Obviously, it's dumb and irrational for him to be a racist, but he additionally decides to drive his tow truck while intoxicated. That's two dumb mistakes right upfront. Then, there's the cross-burning idea. Everything about this guy's life is a mistake. Again, it gives the audience someone to actively hate and rewards them with his death, but it's a bit too real world for such a silly film.
Confiscating a Super Soaker
Any character in a horror movie who is totally in love with themselves is going to die. Vanity is often a sin best punished at the hands of evil killers in these kinds of films, and Death in the "Final Destination" films is no different. In the third film, the vain Ashley and Ashlyn were cooked alive in their tanning beds. In "The Final Destination" a cocky jerk named Hunt was disemboweled through his backside.
After having sex, the man struts around the public swimming pool gloating. When a kid has the audacity to splash him with a water gun, Hunt loses it. He takes the toy from the child and drops it behind a fenced-in area protecting the pool's pump. Of course, the gun knocks into the controls. The suction power is so intense, it destroys the grate over the pool's drain.
Hunt dives in to retrieve a coin and gets caught up in the suction from the pump. The pressure is so strong that he can't escape and his insides are sucked out of his body. Maybe if he wasn't such a cocky, conceited idiot who can't let some kid have a good time, he'd still be around.
The Screw On The Beam
One of the more impactful deaths in this franchise occurred in the fifth installment "Final Destination 5." It has a fairly suspenseful buildup to a quick, harsh death that may lack some of the spectacle common in these films, but it really packs a punch. In fact, if it weren't for the strange actions of the characters in the scene, it might be perfect. As it is, there's one big question that weighs the whole thing down — did no one notice that screw on the beam?
During some gymnastics practice, Candice is trying to stay focused to do her best. Apparently, this means that she loses all sense of her surroundings. As she gets started on the balance beam, a screw detaches from the air conditioner above and lands right in her path. She is so focused on her task, however, she takes no notice of it. After a few close calls, she heads over to the uneven bars.
Another gymnast takes over from her and also fails to notice the screw. This is odd because both of them are shown to be looking down at their feet and the space in front of them, yet neither saw the screw? The second gymnast steps on it, falls over, knocking powder into the fan. The powder then blinds Candice and she flies into the air before bending in half upon hitting the floor. Perhaps be more aware of your surroundings.
Stealing From The Dead
Another character the audience looks forward to seeing meet his end is the sleazy Isaac, played by P. J. Byrne. This guy is such a scumbag that he raids the desk of a deceased coworker, finding a coupon for a spa visit. He decides to use his stolen prize and visits the spa, where he proceeds to sexually harass the staff. Naturally, a tough, older woman comes in and punishes him with a painful, awkward massage.
She then pokes him full of acupuncture needles. After she leaves the room, stuff gets wild. A fire starts, he falls on the needles, jamming them deeper into his body, and his head gets crushed by a statue. If he hadn't stolen from a dead person, maybe he would've made it to the end — not that anyone wants that. Again, this is an example of a loathsome character getting what he deserves, but it robs the narrative of any real tension. Instead of fearing his death, audiences just try to figure out how he's going to die.
Leaving Your Patient Alone
The character who dies in this scene, Olivia (played by Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), isn't the one who made the dumb mistake here. True, she committed the sin of vanity, but that's forgivable here. All she wanted to do was get her vision corrected. While she wants to see without glasses or contacts, the idea of having lasers burn into her eyes is a little terrifying to her and she is given a teddy bear to help her cope.
After the doctor sets up his machine and plies her eye open, he realizes his file is incomplete. Meanwhile, Olivia is so nervous, she accidentally pops the bear's eye from its face. The doctor tries to get his assistant's attention, but she doesn't respond. So he leaves his patient alone to get the paperwork he needs. Now, he has no idea that Death is about to burn her with the laser and cause her to freak out. Still, you couldn't have given your assistant a minute?
By leaving the room, he isn't there to stop the machine from malfunctioning. He isn't there to help her out of the machine or press the emergency stop. So she is forced to try herself and fail. Although the laser doesn't kill her, she is so worked up that she ends up slipping on the fallen teddy bear's eye and flying through the window, plummeting to her death. If only the doctor had stuck around.