The Final Destination movies are something of a cult favorite for horror movie fans. They’re not good movies. In fact, they can be quite insufferable at times. However, the films themselves are products with an identity that never wavers. It’s sheer, dumb, gory horror that is meant to make you guess how people are going to meet their maker and how ridiculous their death is going to be. Similar to how the developers at NetherRealm studios have had to get creative when it comes to the Fatality animations in their flagship Mortal Kombat games, the filmmakers for the Final Destination movies flex their creative muscles when it comes to crafting the elaborate death scenes. As a result, you’re really not in it for the story or the characters in this formulaic franchise. You’re here for the gory and outlandish deaths.

Thus, a drinking game built around these movies is pretty simple and straightforward. In fact, it will probably be the shortest list of rules I’ve written for a Hair of the Dog up to this point. There are not many rules you need, based on my own experience watching these movies—my hangover can attest to it.

DagonDogs does not endorse or encourage binge drinking. Please drink responsibly.

Death Prepares

I’ll start off with the rule that you can choose to follow or ignore, depending on how much you want to drink. If there is one thing this franchise has an excess of, it is extreme close-up shots of inanimate objects. Most often, this occurs during the sequences leading up to the death of a character as we watch the various pieces of Death’s Rube Goldberg machine start to take shape. However, there are plenty of instances throughout the rest of the films that just like to zoom in real close. Like I said, it happens a lot. So you may want to tweak this to only when there is something that specifically breaks or changes in a way that you suspect will lead to someone’s demise.

• Take a sip of your beverage whenever there is an extreme close-up of an inanimate object

Death Strikes

Like I said in my opening, the only reason you’re watching these stupid movies is because you want to see the one-dimensional characters face their demise in wild and crazy ways. The deaths in the Final Destination movies have always been the highlights of the films and are, frankly, the best parts of the movies. You could just look them all up on YouTube and skip the movies/games altogether if that’s all you wanted to see. If you did, I wouldn’t say you missed out on much other than simple characterization of the selfish characters you can’t wait to see die, or the creative setups that lead to the deaths. If you do decide to take the plunge into the franchise, revel in the destruction and take a sip when a character is killed off.

• Take a sip of your beverage whenever a character dies, including the premonition sequences.

Death’s Design

The premise of Final Destination is simple: Someone has a premonition of their and several other people’s deaths in a public place and, despite being able to prevent their deaths at first with the extra knowledge, Death eventually comes back and picks them off one by one in dramatic Rube-Goldberg-machine-like fashion. As it is often referred to in the film, avoiding the initial death featured in the premonition sequence is known as escaping “Death’s Design.” As a result, the characters refer to the design often enough to warrant a drink.

• Take a sip of your beverage whenever a character mentions the Design.

Death’s Name

Other than the extreme close-up rule, this might be the only rule you need. The characters are constantly talking about the Grim Reaper lurking in the dark. Whether it be about Death’s design or just how they fear the inevitable, the word “death” is frequently falling from their lips. Therefore, you should put your drink to yours.

• Take a sip of your beverage whenever a character says the word “death.”