The Final Destination series has instilled an entire generation with the fear of tanning beds, rollercoasters and log trucks, all thanks to their infamous – and very grisly – death scenes.
The first film released back in 2000, followed by four more that all explored Death’s relentless pursuit of those who evade it. The last hit cinemas in 2011 and served as an unexpected prequel.
With a new film, Final Destination: Bloodlines, on the way this week 14 years after the last, Gen Z are now next in line to develop some irrational new fears… but wait, just how irrational are they?
An injury lawyer has analysed the likelihood of the on-screen Final Destination deaths happening in reality, suggesting we should swap our fear of log trucks for ladders and lawn mowers.
Final Destination: Bloodlines’ trailer hints at a horrific lawnmower incident, and according to the Downtown LA Law team, this garden tool does pose a genuine threat.
Data from over 300,000 ER visits in the United States revealed 229 reported lawnmower accidents, reports Surrey Live.
While the Final Destination films feature only one ladder-related death, real life tells a different story, with ladders causing 4,162 recorded incidents, making them the most common accident.
Fences are the second biggest culprit, leading to 2,121 injuries from moving or climbing them, and lifting weights comes in third with 930 accidents.
Surprisingly, nail gun mishaps were not that uncommon with 160 reported incidents, while Final Destination viewers only had to sit through one nail gun-induced death in the films.
And what of the tanning bed horror shown in Final Destination 3? It turns out that the gruesome demise of two women isn’t so implausible, with one case of tanning bed burns among the 300,000 ER visits documented.
For those with a fear of rollercoasters, known as veloxrotaphobia (there’s an estimated 10 million such individuals in the UK) there were three emergency room visits following rollercoaster accidents.
The study by the firm was released in 2022 using data from the most recent year available. At the time, Senior Trial Attorney Farid Yaghoubtil commented: “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.
“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.”
Final Destination: Bloodlines is out in cinemas on May 14