It goes without saying that the Final Destination film franchise has scarred audiences for decades with its many grisly, shocking death scenes. It’s enough to make anyone afraid of going on a plane or driving on the freeway. Of course, some of the deaths are quite over-the-top and unlikely – but then that begs the question. What Final Destination deaths are the most likely to happen in real life? As it turns out, an injury lawyer has the answer.
As revealed in a study by Downtown LA Law, they were able to compile a list of the Final Destination deaths most likely to happen in real life. The results are actually quite surprising, and the list uses “data from more than 300,000 ER visits.” The top of the list, interestingly enough, is none other than “ladder-related injury.” This falls in line with the infamous fire escape ladder scene from Final Destination 2.
Here’s the complete list below. Note that it also includes the number of real life occurrences in the US from the last recorded year:
1. Ladder-related injury (Final Destination 2 – eye gouged out by a falling fire escape ladder) – 4,162
2. Scaling/moving fences (Final Destination 5 – cut in half by a metal fence) – 2,121
3. Lifting weights (Final Destination 3 – crushed by weights) – 930
4. Scalded with oil – (Final Destination 5 – oil truck spill) – 335
5. Lawn Mower accidents – (The Final Destination – rock shot through eye socket by a lawn mower) – 229
6. Escalator malfunctions/trips (The Final Destination – caught in escalator gears) – 211
7. Shot with a nail gun (Final Destination 3 – shot by a nail gun) – 160
8. Roller coasters accidents (Final Destination 3 – roller coaster crash) – 14
9. Barbecue burns (Final Destination 2 – barbecue explosion) – 10
10. Tanning bed burns (Final Destination 3 – tanning bed set on fire) – 1
Farid Yaghoubtil, Senior Trial Attorney at Downtown L.A Law Group, included the following statement:
“When looking for film franchises which highlight the wacky and strange ways people can get injured, you don’t need to look any further than Final Destination. Delving into the deaths across the entirety of the franchise though, even I was surprised at just how creative and imaginative the teams working on the films had been.”
He continued by saying he hopes people will take care of themselves because “being injured is something that can happen at any time,” and indeed it is:
“The purpose of the research was to establish how, even though a lot of the casualties in the films are very strange, being injured is something that can happen at any time, and can also happen in extremely unusual circumstances. Looking at the NEISS data, this is certainly true – our hope is that the research will remind people to take care of themselves in every situation.”
Meanwhile, a new Final Destination film is currently in the works. Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts recently delivered a treatment for the script. The actual screenplay is being written by Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick, with the film being scheduled for a release on HBO Max. As such, fans can stay tuned to ScreenGeek for more updates on the Final Destination franchise as we have them.