Note: As the five films in this franchise have proven, death doesn't play by the rules — but we did stick to one guideline: Only deaths that happened outside the premonitions and the opening accident count.
37. Alex Browning (Devon Sawa), Final Destination
36. George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson), The Final Destination
35. Clear Rivers and Eugene Dix (Ali Larter and T.C. Carson), Final Destination 2
34. Perry (Maggie Ma), Final Destination 3
33. Jonathan Groves (Jackson Walker), The Final Destination
32. Dennis (David Koechner), Final Destination 5
31. Samantha (Krista Allen), The Final Destination
Cause of death: Rock through eye
There were so many missed opportunities to kill Samantha in the endless salon scene that preceded her death, and they would have rocked much harder than this. —JW
How they gonna do my soap opera queen Krista "Billie Reed #2 on Days of Our Lives" Allen like that?! —IM3
30. Brian Gibbons (Noel Fisher), Final Destination 2
Cause of death: Explosion
The lamest movie-ending kill of all the films. —JW
I'm more focused on the fact that Kimberly and Thomas seem to be the only people to have ever survived death's design. Were they supposed to come back for Final Destination 3? The continuity up until the fourth sequel is so damn spotty. —IM3
29. Roy (Brent Stait), Final Destination 5
28. Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton), Final Destination 3
27. Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott), Final Destination
Cause of death: Decapitated
Given the elaborate staging and setup every other death got in this movie, decapitated by a metal shard feels like a throwaway. —JW
I'm inclined to give this death some leeway, if only because the spinning set pieces that got us to it were entertaining. The tension during the train tracks scene was genuinely nerve-racking. I just wish the denouement had been more artful. Seann William Scott deserved better. —IM3
26. Nick O’Bannon, Lori Milligan, and Janet Cunningham (Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, and Haley Webb), The Final Destination
Cause of death: Run over by a truck
Using the X-ray effect was a pretty innovative way to end the franchise’s most ridiculous installment. —JW
I feel like these characters died 75 different ways in 75 different fantasies. But this one is the most memorable for how damn hilarious it is. —IM3
25. Isaac Palmer (P.J. Byrne), Final Destination 5
24. Lewis Romero (Texas Battle), Final Destination 3
23. Peter Friedkin (Miles Fisher), Final Destination 5
22. Nathan (Arlen Escarpeta), Final Destination 5
21. Ian McKinley (Kris Lemche), Final Destination 3
Cause of death: Crushed
Probably the character I most wanted to die in the entire franchise. He was just such a shit. Good riddance. —JW
That arm twitch is so rewarding. Agreed on how much he was an asshole. I was hoping he'd be the one to get the nail gun to the head. —IM3
20. Agent Jim Block (Courtney B. Vance), Final Destination 5
19. Carter (Justin Welborn), The Final Destination
18. Tim Carpenter (James Kirk), Final Destination 2
17. Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano), The Final Destination
Cause of death: Gutted by pool vacuum
The most insane moment in any Final Destination movie — and, also, maybe, any movie, ever. —JW
Nick Zano is so hot. What was the topic again? —IM3
16. Kat (Keegan Connor Tracy), Final Destination 2
Cause of death: Impaled in the head
An excellent misdirect and the perfect example of how expertly the franchise deploys chain reactions. —JW
15. Nadia Monroy (Stephanie Honore), The Final Destination
14. Carter Horton (Kerr Smith), Final Destination
13. Evan Lewis (David Paetkau), Final Destination 2
12. Tod Waggner (Chad Donella), Final Destination
Cause of death: Asphyxiated
The franchise's first post-premonition kill set the stage perfectly for how everyday objects could spell doom and how easy it was for the Grim Reaper to wrap his death grip around the survivors. —JW
Knowing the original film was an unused X-Files spec script makes so much sense with a death like this. You can just imagine Scully investigating this and explaining it all away to coincidence while Mulder thinks there's something sinister going on. —IM3
11. Wendy Christensen, Julie Christensen, Kevin Fischer, Laura, and Sean (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Amanda Crew, Ryan Merriman, Agam Darshi, and Dylan Basile), Final Destination 3
10. Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), Final Destination
Cause of death: Stabbed
Valerie’s prolonged death scene is easily the most heartbreaking, even all these years later, because her guilt over everyone’s death rings so true in actor Kristen Cloke’s hands. —JW
The entire franchise puts a new spin on the traditional slasher movie and no other scene in the series feels so much like a victim being stalked by a deranged killer. It's one brutal mishap after another until that knife plunges into Valerie's chest. —IM3
9. Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), Final Destination 5
Cause of death: Falls out a window
Lasik may not have actually been Olivia’s cause of death, but it certainly killed any interest I ever had in undergoing the procedure. —JW
People who haven't even seen the movie remember this terrorfest from the trailer. Fuck Lasik. (Although the revelation that this film is a prequel to the first has me wondering if Lasik is less A Clockwork Orange in 2015.) —IM3
8. Nora Carpenter (Lynda Boyd), Final Destination 2
Cause of death: Decapitated by elevator
The only thing worse than losing a child is, I’m guessing, getting decapitated by an elevator after your ponytail is accidentally hooked on the prosthetic arm of a pervert. —JW
This death is a bit like a scene from a John Waters film. It's so fucking absurd and yet equally terrifying. —IM3
7. Erin (Alexz Johnson), Final Destination 3
Cause of death: Nail gun to the face
So, so, so brutal. A mangled mess of gore and terror. I loved it. A fact I'm still discussing with my therapist. —JW
I don't know how Pinhead makes nails in your head look so elegant. That's what Erin gets for trying to keep up with the Joneses, I guess. —IM3
6. Rory (Jonathan Cherry), Final Destination 2
Cause of death: Dismembered
Cube really perfected this mode of death in 1997 — and Resident Evil popularized it in 2002 — but it was still damn effective in 2003 when it was deployed in the sequel. —JW
5. Ashley Freund and Ashlyn Halperin (Chelan Simmons and Crystal Lowe), Final Destination 3
Cause of death: Burned alive
No one suffered en route to the great beyond quite like Ashley and Ashlyn as they very slowly burned to death inside twin tanning-bed coffins. —JW
I think these basic heffas died mostly for trying to pretend like the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Love Rollercoaster" was anywhere on their damn iPod tanning playlists. —IM3
4. Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), Final Destination
3. Andy (Andrew Fiscella), The Final Destination
Cause of death: Mangled by fence
Best use of the 3D technology that should have really been more effective across the board, tbh. —JW
The best use of 3D in a movie ever, so take that, 300. —IM3
2. Sam Lawton and Molly Harper (Nicholas D’Agosto and Emma Bell), Final Destination 5
Cause of death: Plane explosion
From the opening bridge collapse to the brilliant twist of letting the characters become killers, this movie had hooked me big time. And then it dropped the mother of all shockers: The fourth sequel was actually a prequel to the entire franchise, as Sam and Molly died on Flight 180! Mind blown. Mic dropped. Errrebody dead. —JW
Who knew the fifth movie of the damn Final Destination franchise had a shock like this up its sleeve? This was a fantastic twist and, on top of it, a really sad death once you realized there was absolutely no chance Sam and Molly would survive. —IM3
1. Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe), Final Destination 5
Cause of death: Gymnastics
There were so many individual things to worry about (the nail on the balance beam, the live wire inching closer to water, the oscillating fans) that I didn’t expect them to be triggered in unison and create a chain reaction that would lead to the most visually excruciating death tableau. —JW
Aside from how brutal and gory this death was, it course-corrected a lot of the more obvious deaths that had been in the previous sequels by going all in on the suspense and tension. I knew Candice would die, but I didn't know how. This death is masterful. —IM3