Now that there’s a sixth installment of Final Destination on its way called Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025), it’s time to revisit all the deaths in the previous five movies. This time Final Destination 2 (2003).

While it’s a slasher, it’s not the question of who the killer is, because we all know it’s Death itself. In this franchise it’s all about how the characters are going to get killed. 

The first movie left us with 5 kills of which two were quite elaborate and original and one had a big surprising twist. According to slasher lore, a sequel has to have a bigger bodycount and the kills have to be bloodier and with more elaborate death scenes. 

Still the plot remains the same. The main character gets a vision about something terrible that will happen and warns their friends. So a few people escape the horrifying event. But not for long. Now Death himself is coming for them. Because he doesn’t like his design getting all messed up. Now the real survival starts. 

So let’s see if this sequel does top the first one. 

Plot

One year after the explosion of Flight 180 Kimberly is going on spring break with her three friends Shaina, Dano and Frankie. But right before she is heading to turn onto the highway, Route 23, she has a premonition of a huge pile-up and sees herself and her friends die and a lot of others as well. So she blocks the highway entrance with her car. In doing so she saves the lives of the people behind her. Not her friends’ lives though.

While she is pulled aside by police officer Thomas Burke, her car gets hit by a truck heading towards the pile-up and all her three fiends die instantly. Knowing about what happend last year, Kimberly suspects the same is happening to her and the people whose lives she initially saved. There’s Evan who has just won the lottery. Fifteen-year-old Tim and his mother Nora. The pregnant Isabella. The business woman Kat, stoner Rory, high school teacher Eugene and police officer Thomas Burke. But now Death is coming for them.

Continue reading below this announcement.

Deaths number 1, 2 and 3: Shaina, Dano and Frankie

Although Kimberly and her friends were supposed to die last, her friends die first while Burke intervened and saved Kimberly, for now. Finding Clear who has locked herself up in a padded room in a mental hospital for her own safety, Kimberly learns about Death’s design, but it’s now working backwards. 

We have a little twist to the order of things to start off the movie. So things are different this time. The death scene itself is quick and over before you know it, while we only see the truck hit the car. 

Death number 4: Evan

Evan died in an explosion on the highway and now Death is trying to kill him in his apartment. Evan was lucky enough to win the lottery but is he lucky enough to cheat Death? This death is a mix of Tod’s and Miss Lewton’s death. He is very careless, luck will safe him, right? There’s oil on the gas that catches fire. Then his arm gets stuck in the drain because his new and expansive ring fell in and he wants to grab it. And even a magnet gets in the microwave. All deadly accidents waiting to happen. He’s living on the edge, but still Evan has luck on his side.

While he is desperately trying to put out the fire, while still being stuck, he makes the fire worse. His apartment catches fire and is about to explode. But he escapes through the window and descends down the escape ladder. Safely on the ground, he slips on the spaghetti he threw out of the window just minutes before, falls and the escape ladder that got stuck now crashes down right into his head. 

Death tried really hard to get him killed in an explosion just like he should have died initially, but luck was still on Evan’s side. Alas, not long enough. Death has to settle for impalement instead of an explosion. 

This is an elaborate death scene with a lot of things going on.  All those little death traps at home, are accidents waiting to happen and they do, they just don’t manage to kill Evan. So it’s even more ironic he luckily escapes only to die by a ladder and his own spaghetti. It is a very funny scene. Evan’s panic, his lucky escape and all the stupid things he does are topped off by a very ironic death. 

Death number 5: Tim

Next up are Tim and his mother Nora who were in a car together, that crashed into a huge log and the car explodes. Tim is at the dentist’s and there’s a lot going on.  And it isn’t the nicest place to be either. Big heavy windowpanes are being lifted into the air outside the dentist. Pigeons are crashing against the windows and even through the window. There’s a leaking fish tank that leaks dangerously close to a socket. When the electrified water almost reaches Nora, she gets up to catch a crashed pigeon. So this time a pigeon saved her life.

Back to Tim who gets treated by the dentist and is even chocking for a short time due to the oxygen being cut off and a toy fish from a mobile above his head is stuck in his mouth. Luckily the dentist is back in time to free Tim from his ordeal. Both Nora and Tim survive all of these harrowing events. That is until Tim safely outside chases some pigeons, which in turn scares a construction worker, causing a windowpane come crashing on top of Tim crushing him to a pulp. This time the pigeons were the death of him. 

This is a very complex scene where a lot is going on and Death is trying his best to get both Tim and Nora at the same time. He only succeeds in killing Tim in a very gory and still surprising death after his ordeal at the dentist’s. Also preceded by an elaborate scene with little accidents. The fish in his mouth is especially funny. And you can guess which will cause his or her death. So it’s rather surprising he walks out alive and even more surprising and rather graphic how he gets killed. And we have learned never to mess with birds or other animals. 

Meanwhile Kimberly, Burke and Clear go visit the mortician William Bludworth, from the first movie,  who tells them that new life can defeat Death. So they think they have to save Isabella and her baby, the last not being included in Death’s Design in the pile-up.

Death number 6: Nora

A water bottle gets stuck under the breaks, and we have already seen at the dentist’s that water was trying to kill Nora, but failed. So Death tries again. Now that they have become aware of the danger they’re in they meet up at Burke’s apartment. But when Nora leaves with Eugene, her hair gets stuck in armprotheses with hooks for hands. While she tries to get out of the elevator, the doors close while she’s still stuck. While Eugene and the other man desperately try to free her, Nora is decapitated when the elevator starts to move again. This one was very entertaining and a little nightmare all at once. The box full of arms with hooks is creepy all on its own. It’s just an accident waiting to happen. And be honest death by armprotheses is far more original than water or an explosion.

Trying to find Isabella, Kimberly, Eugene, Rory, Kat and Burke find out that they all have a connection to the survivors from Flight 180. A connection that saved their lives a year ago. So that’s why Death is working backwards, Death has some catching up to do, because these new survivors should have all died a year ago.

Death number 7: Kat

Kimberly, Burke, Eugene, Rory, Clear and Kat are in a car on their way to find Isabella, when they nearly crash into Isabella’s car. A couple of pipes crash through the car, nearly staking Kat through the head. Isabella is driven to the hospital by a police officer, because she’s about to give birth. The others are alive, but stuck in a field. And Kat is stuck in the car. When a fireman is using a chainsaw to get her out, he accidentally activates the airbag that sends Kat’s head back into a pipe that almost staked her in the accident but didn’t. Second try did it though. Really clever this one. But not a very smart firefighter. Bet you already forgot about the pipe sticking out at the headrest. So we got a little surprise here. The pipe that nearly missed her strikes again. 

Death number 8: Rory

While Kat dies she drops her cigarillo into a trace of gas leaking from a news van, causing an explosion that sends a fence of barbwire flying that splits Rory in a few pieces. It’s over in a flash, but original indeed. And bloody graphic as well. 

Death number 9, 10: Eugene & Clear

Eugene should have originally been crashed by his own motorcycle. Now in the accident Eugene got hurt and was taken to the hospital. The others have arrived at the hospital where Isabella is brought to as well, and they are trying to help the baby being born. When they see it is healthy they think they have escaped Death. But Death is still not finished. Eugene’s room is filled with oxygen due to a leak and when Clear opens the door a big explosion kills them both. Quick and very sad, but not very explicit. 

Now Kimberly knows the meaning of new life. So she drives herself into the lake, drowning herself to save Burke, but is resuscitated by him and she lives. Some time later she and Burke are having a barbecue with the family that helped them during the car accident in the field, when Rory saved the son’s life. 

Death number 11: Brian

This son Brian was thus supposed to die as well in the nearly car crash with Isabella in the field. So when he stands at the barbecue it explodes. Giving us a bonus death that nobody was expecting. 

Ranking the 11 deaths

So according to “the rules” the sequel has indeed more deaths, twice as many in fact. This time there were more scenes that were elaborate and the deaths were also more violent and graphic in nature. 

I don’t count the frist three death’s as they served more as a shocking start and were hardly noteworthy. Death no.6 was a very original one and death no.8 was a blast. Death no.5 gave us some splatter and was very dreadful and a self fulfilling prophecy as well. Death no.7 was a clever one. Deaths no.9 and no.10 were very tragic and very at the last moment before Kimberly could save them. While death no.4 was the most ironic. And death no.11 was just a fun bonus nobody saw coming. 

My personal favorite deaths would be no.6 the man with the hooks, no.8 the barbwire and no.4 the ironic deathtraps.

This sequel had certainly more original deaths, exceeded the first movie in bodycount, graphic deaths, and gore, originality and detailed scenes. Also the mythology of the Final Destination universe gets bigger and more complex leading up to a feeling that there’s much more to this story of Death’s Design. We’ll find out in the next installment. 

Read more about Final Destination:

• Final Destination (2000) review
• Final Destination (2000) ranking all deaths
• Final Destination 3 (2006) ranking all deaths
• The Final Destination (2009) ranking all deaths
• Final Destination 5 (2011) ranking all deaths