Killer Clues: In 'Final Destination 3' Wendy Holds The Key To Survival
In Final Destination 3 Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is the unfortunate bearer of the death premonition. However, this film in the franchise mixes things up, because in addition to ephemeral clues from other films, like a breeze or an odd feeling, Wendy spots hints of everyone’s deaths in the photos she had taken the night of the accident at the carnival. Before they even get on the roller coaster, Wendy takes a picture of her friends on a ride called “High Dive,” but in the photo the “v” light is out, so it reads, “Die.”
Many of the clues also point back to flight 180, which is the one Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) got kicked off of after having his terrifying premonition in the first film. The first clue Wendy finds is in the photo of her boyfriend, Jason (Jesse Moss), who is standing in front of the roller coaster that killed him, Devil’s Flight. From there, just like in the original, they discover that people are dying in the order they would have died on the roller coaster.
Read on below to learn more about the Final Destination 3 hints Wendy finds in her photos, as well as some additional hints she sees when Death is present.
Jason's death clue
In the beginning of the movie, Wendy takes a picture of a ride called “High Dive,” and the light is out in the photo, so it reads, “High Die.” That could be a hint that Jason would fall to his death from a great height on the roller coaster. The jacket Jason is wearing - blue with red and white stripes - looks similar to the design on Flight 180 from the first film.
In Jason’s photo from the carnival, the roller coaster is blurred on the tracks, and looks to be heading right for his head. There are also numerous signs from the roller coaster itself. First of all, the ride is called Devil’s Flight, and there is a large statue of the devil in front of it, which spits out a number of creepy phrases. At one point, it says, “You may never return from Devil’s Flight.” It also says, “You can run, but you cannot hide,” seemingly implying that there is no escaping Death, and “This is the beginning of the end,” which it was for all the characters who survived the ride. Tony Todd, who plays the mortician in other Final Destination films, voices these lines.
Jason tries to comfort Wendy, who is afraid of getting on the ride, by telling her, “The real fear with these rides comes from the feeling of having no control,” a theme that recurs throughout all of the Final Destination films, because there is no controlling Death.
Jason and his friends say the word “kill” a number of times before getting on the roller coaster. He tells the group they have to make it to the roller coaster for their assigned time slot, or ”We’ll stand in line for like a day and a half, and that’s gonna kill me.” Kevin says it won’t kill them to have a deep-fried Snickers and a Coke. Jason responds, “Before riding Devil’s Flight? Yeah, that might kill me.” Kevin also says, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Ashley and Ashlyn death clue
The first clue in the photo of Ashley (Chelan Simmons) And Ashlyn (Crystal Lowe) is the fact that it is overexposed, making it look like they are on fire, which is how they die. They are also holding a big, inflatable palm tree from a carnival game, and a potted palm is what knocks over the loose shelf in the tanning salon, trapping the girls in their tanning beds.
It’s ironic that both of their names have the word “ash” in them, when they died from fire. A clue that was given to the audience during the opening credits of Final Destination 3 can be found on old, freak show-style posters, one of which features “The Electric Sisters,” whose skin is red and inflamed.
Death is here: Ashley and Ashlyn
Before Ashley and Ashlyn get into the tanning beds, the camera zooms in on a canister containing alcoholic, flammable liquid - which not only hints at their deaths, but also refers to the spilled vodka that leads to Valerie Lewton’s death in Final Destination.
There are many signs, including one that says, “This bed has been cleaned and is ready for tanning. ARE YOU?” There's also a sign on a machine that says it should NEVER be set above “250 VAC,” which it later rises above. Ashlyn also turns up the temperature, because she thought it was too cold, even though Ashley thinks it's probably low because of the machines. Ashlyn says, “Oh, a few degrees won't hurt,” but it then leads to their deaths.
Ashley and Ashlyn are listening to “Love Rollercoaster” just before their deaths, which is symbolic, 1) because there is an urban legend that the scream in that song is a real death scream from a woman being murdered, and 2) the accident they were supposed to die in initially was on a roller coaster. When Wendy is in her room - the same time the girls go up in flames at the tanning salon - the lightbulb in her lamp bursts, yet another hint at what was happening.
It's happening again
Though skeptical at first, Wendy begins to believe in the death curse after Ashlyn and Ashley pass. Now, she has to talk Kevin (Ryan Merriman) back into believing it, which she does by showing him a series of photographs. One features Abraham Lincoln, with a line across his head. The photographic plate was broken, which caused the line, that could not be removed. The line just so happened to mark exactly where he ended up getting shot.
Wendy also has a photo of the World Trade Center buildings, one of which has a shadow of a plane on it, suggesting it was foreshadowing the 9/11 attacks. Finally, she pulls out a newspaper clipping covering the catastrophic car accident that opens the second Final Destination film. Wendy notes that it happened one year to the day of the Flight 180 disaster, and if you look at the road sign in the photo, it says 180.
Misdirection from Frankie's death clue
At first, Wendy and Kevin think the photo of Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton) on the “wacky ladder” ride is his death clue. They hypothesize a rope will somehow be a part of his death. While that is not the case, there are a few clues to be found. First, the booth features the woman’s silhouette that is found on mud flaps of big trucks. Frankie brags about winning the necklace from the game while in line for the roller coaster, and later, while they’re in the drive-thru, Wendy guesses that a truck could be involved.
It is, seeing as a driverless truck rolling down the hill was what led to Frankie’s death. After the accident, Wendy and Kevin only realize that Frankie was the victim at the Andy’s fast food restaurant when they see that very same necklace on the ground, covered in blood. Looking at the other prizes, Kevin jokes that Frankie might get “crushed by a giant Spongebob.” Though that is obviously not the case, it is interesting to note that there is also character in that cartoon with the last name Cheeks.
Death is here: Frankie
Wendy first notices something is up when there is a glitch in the drive-thru menu screen, and the word “control” disappears. This seems to be suggesting that Wendy is not in control, and cannot do anything to stop Frankie’s gruesome death. Then, the truck that blocks Wendy and Kevin in so they can’t get out of his car, is a Hice Pale Ale beer truck, which is also seen in Final Destination 2. Another similarity with the second film is that there is also a character named Frankie, who also dies because of a truck.
After the truck traps them, the song “Turn Around, Look At Me” by The Vogues plays. That song contains the lyrics, “There is someone walking behind you. Turn around, look at me. There is someone watching your footsteps.” When Wendy looks behind her, she sees the runaway truck heading right in their direction.
Frankie's death clue
After Frankie’s death, Wendy and Kevin begin to question their photo theory, as there was nothing in the ladder image that seemed to suggest the drive-thru death. However, there was another photo of Frankie they hadn’t spotted at first, because he was only in the background.
It was the up-skirt shot of Stacy that Kevin took at the carnival. There is a big fan behind Frankie’s head, which foreshadows his death, because when the truck runs into Kevin’s car, the engine shoots out, and the cooling fan inside slices off the back of Frankie’s head. During the opening sequence of the film, there is a poster of a circus freak biting down on a saw.
Lewis's death clue
When Lewis (Texas Battle) wins at the hammer game, he yells, “I just win!” - which he also shouts just before his death at the gym later. He plays again, and hits the target with so much force that the wooden figure’s head at the top of the game is knocked off, and Wendy watches it fall in front of the devil at the entrance to the killer coaster. This foreshadows Lewis losing his head after the weights crush it at the gym.
Wendy snapped the photo of Lewis as he was swinging the mallet down, so his head was out of frame. It made it look like a weight is coming down on his head. The phrase “Hell's Game,” can be seen in the background of his picture. When he’s playing the game, Lewis can also be heard saying, “That is 3, number 3, number 3,” and if you count Ashlyn and Ashley’s death as one death scene, that would make Lewis’s death scene the third in the film. In the opening scene of the movie, there is a picture of a sword swallower (like the swords hung up in the gym).
Death is here: Lewis
The sign in the gym says, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger,” (with kill underlined), which is what Kevin says when Jason thinks it's a bad idea to eat fried Snickers and a Coke before they ride the roller coaster. Someone in the gym is blasting the song “Killing Time” when Lewis dies.
A stuffed bear can be seen as one of the game’s prizes in Wendy’s picture, and there is a large, stuffed bear in the gym that plays a part in Lewis’s death. There is a cardboard sultan in the picture from the carnival, which is just like the team Lewis plays for, The Sultans. The cardboard cutout is wielding a pair of swords similar to the ones in the gym that end up falling and cutting through wires that were holding up the weights on the bow-flex machine Lewis was using.
Erin and Ian's death clue
In the photo from the carnival, Ian (Kris Lemche) is pointing a gun at Erin’s head. Erin (Alexz Johnson) is also giving the camera the middle finger, and when you look at the gun and her nail next to each other, it could hint “nail gun,” which is what kills her. The way Erin is posed in the photo, with her hand covering her face, is the same position she dies in, after all of the nails go through her head.
While complaining about customers not putting away things they don’t want at the hardware store, Erin calls them “pinheads.” That refers to the character from Hellraiser who has nails in his head - just like Erin will when she dies. There is also a freak show poster during the opening credits that features a woman with nails through her face.
Death is here: Erin and Ian
While trying to convince Erin and Ian that the death curse is real, Wendy notices several fans, reminding her of Frankie’s death. Then, a gust of wind comes through the hardware store, and the lights flicker for a moment.
In the photo of Ian and Erin, there is a banner made of plywood that reads, “skill,” but the “s” is kind of in the dark, so the sign reads, “Kill.” At the hardware store, Wendy sees wooden stakes with a similar edge to the banner, and figures out that they will fall on Ian, killing him. However, she sees it in time to intervene, so he doesn’t die. Death skips Ian, and moves on to Erin. Later, just before Ian is killed by the falling cherry picker, he looks up at it just like he looked up at the plywood points that were originally going to kill him.
Julie's death clue
In the photo of Julie (Amanda Crew) flipping off her sister at the carnival, there is a carousel horse in the background. There is also a horse on Julie’s charm bracelet, which can be seen in a photo Wendy took on Devil’s Flight. Seeing that charm bracelet is what made Wendy realize that Julie had been on the roller coaster, too, so death would also be coming after her.
In the opening sequence of the movie, in a reflection, a merry-go-round is spinning out of control. That could reference the horse that almost kills Julie when it gets spooked and runs through the tricentennial festival. However, Death skips Julie because Kevin saves her. It could also suggest that something circular takes Julie out, which it does in the train wreck at the end. On the train, Kevin yells to Julie to “stay down,” but, again, she doesn’t listen, and ends up getting killed when a wheel flies through the train’s windows and crushes her.
Kevin's death clue
The photo Wendy took of Kevin is overexposed, making it look like fireworks went off in his face - or an explosion of flames from a gas grill - which was supposed to be how he died. However, Wendy intervenes, and saves him. Had she not intervened, his death would have been similar to the way Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) died in Final Destination 2.
The picture of Kevin could also look like he is being squished or crushed against a wall, which foreshadows how he dies on the train at the end. Earlier in the movie, Kevin asks Wendy if his picture suggests he’ll be “pressed against the windshield,” and he is later pressed up against the window on the train, and he dies when the window breaks, and he gets sucked out of the train. There is also a sign on train 081 that says “do not lean on the glass,” which is what Kevin ends up doing thanks to being thrown around during the train crash.
Wendy's death clue
Initially, Wendy’s death clue seemed to be that her shirt said “McKinley,” which is the name of their school and also Ian’s last name. Ian is destroyed by Erin’s death, and after Wendy sees him following her to the tricentennial event, she believes he will cause her death. Another hint that it would be Ian is the fact that “Turn Around, Look at Me,” plays in the car when he is following her.
Earlier in the movie, Ian complains that his last name is the same name as their high school. This throwaway line also seems to hint that Ian McKinley causes Wendy’s death. However, the McKinley clue actually pointed to the cherry picker, which ends up killing Ian, after he shouts that Death “cannot kill him.” There are many times throughout the movie when the song “Turn Around, Look at Me” warns Wendy that Death is coming. She also notices Death's presence when a random gust of wind comes throughout the movie.
While they are at the gym trying to convince Lewis the death curse is real, Kevin says something about two sisters who were killed going to visit each other. Wendy talked about Julie visiting her after she movies out, and the two both die on the train at the end. In Wendy's premonition, she dies by falling on the roller coaster tracks, and at the end of the movie, she dies on train tracks.
Train accident clues
Five months later, the hints begin again when Wendy’s friend Sean (Dylan Basile) complains to her roommate, Laura (Agam Darshi), that since he’s not going home for Thanksgiving, he at least wants something resembling a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Laura says, “If you don’t have turkey for one Thanksgiving, is that really gonna kill you?”
A musician on board starts singing “Turn Around, Look at Me,” which has been a sign for Wendy the entire film. She then notices the train’s reflection in a mirror, and sees the number 180, which is the same as the flight from the first film. Jason’s face is blurry in Wendy’s death clue photo, and when she is looking out the window as the train rushes past, everyone’s faces look blurred. Looking around the train for clues, Wendy sees an ad for Andy’s, the fast food place where Frankie died, followed by an ad for the hardware store where Erin died.
There is an ad on the train for the Slushies Ashley and Ashlyn were drinking the day they died (the ones they weren’t supposed to bring into the tanning room). Wendy also sees an ad for the tanning salon where Ashley and Ashlyn died, before noticing a sign for accounting services that says, “There is no escaping DEATH and taxes.”
The train conductor, also voiced by Tony Todd, says - in a menacing voice - “The next stop is the end of the line.” Wendy tries to get off the train, but gets distracted when she sees her sister, Julie, getting on. Julie says their dad’s car “broke down out of nowhere,” which is why she was on the train. That coincidence, as well as the fact that she also spots Kevin on the train, confirm to Wendy that Death is still coming after the rest of the roller coaster crash survivors.
The original publication of this article is on Ranker.
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