If you’ve even driven on a highway behind a large truck carrying logs or some other load like it, you probably immediately merged into another lane.  And you probably did so because of one iconic scene in Final Destination 2.

One scene alone managed to traumatize an entire generation, and remains one of the highlights in horror movie history.  So in honor of its 20th anniversary today, we thought it would be fitting and fun to look at 20 fun facts about Final Destination 2!

1. New Line very quickly greenlit a sequel after the success of Final Destination.  The first film’s director James Wong was unavailable to return however, because he was already working on his next project The One, starring Jet Li.

2. Devon Sawa was originally meant to reprise his role of Alex from the first film.  But an alleged contract dispute led to him not returning.  Thusly, he died off screen in between movies, as evidenced by a newspaper clipping.

3. Prior to directing Final Destination 2, David R. Ellis had primarily worked as a stunt coordinator, and his only other feature film prior was Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco.  He would go on to direct Snakes on the Place, Asylum, as well as 2009’s The Final Destination.

4. Prior to filming, A.J. Cook dyed her natural blonde hair brunette in order to appear different enough from Ali Larter, who was reprising her role of Clear.

5. Keegan Connor Tracy was cast as Kat a mere five days before shooting began.

6. Michael Landes (Thomas) revealed that they received scuba training for the underwater car sequence and that because of it, he felt quite comfortable being underwater.

7. The script was written by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress.  The two of them agreed to write Final Destination 2 if they were given the freedom to direct another script of theirs, which would become The Butterfly Effect, released a year later.

8. The iconic and infamous highway pileup scene was based on a real life 125 car pileup that occurred on I-75 in Ringgold Georgia on March 14, 2002.

9. Initially, they tried to use real logs for the infamous highway crash sequence, but when they tested real ones, they didn’t bounce well enough.  So they opted to use CGI instead.

10. Despite the CGI logs, not a single car in the scene was CGI.  Everything was done via practical stunts.

11. Nora’s elevator death was based on a real life incident that occurred in a hospital in Houston in 2002. Dr. Hitoshi Nikaidoh was actually decapitated by an elevator that malfunctioned.

12. James Kirk (Tim) had previously appeared in the first Final Destination as an uncredited extra.

13. The pigeon entering the dentist’s office was based on a superstition that if a pigeon enters a building, someone in that building will die.

14. During the crash scene, the bus full of students shouting “pileup” had the name Mt. Abraham, the same high school from the first movie.

15. After playing such an important and foreboding role in the first film, John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” was featured again, albeit via instrumental version, during the dentist office scene.

16. The sanitarium in which Clear checks herself into was the same location used to film the opening of Halloween: Resurrection.

17. Shot in and around Vancouver, British Columbia.  As a result, all the news anchors featured in the movie are actual reporters from the area.

18. Nominated for Best Horror Film at the 2004 Saturn Awards, but lost to 28 Days Later.

19. Final Destination 2 grossed $90 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $26 million.  It remains the lowest grossing film in the franchise, but still made a healthy profit, more than tripling its budget.

20. In retrospect, many fans have cited this movie as their favorite in the series, and the car crash scene as one of the most iconic and memorable sequences in horror movie history.

Which of these did you already know?  Which ones surprised you?  Let us know in the comments!

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