10 Things You Didn't Know About Final Destination
2. The Character Names Are Tributes
How do scriptwriters come up with the names of their characters? Do they just pull them out of a box? Ask their kids? Name the ones they like after loved ones and the ones they don't after old enemies?
In this case, they're all nods to names that helped pave the way for movies like Final Destination to exist.
Alex Browning and his family all take their name from Tod Browning, an early pioneer of horror known for directing the 1932 movie Freaks. The "Tod" part of Browning's name was given to Tod Waggner, Alex's best friend. Billy Hitchcock, naturally, comes from Alfred Hitchcock, whilst FBI agent Schreck is named for Max Schreck, the German actor who famously brought Count Orlok to the screen in the original Nosferatu.
Some names are just straight-up copies of famous people, like French teacher Val Newton, who shares her name with a Russian writer from the 1940s, and Tod's father George, who was named after an old Universal Horror producer.
Interestingly, Tod spelt as it is (with one D instead of two) is also the German word for death. Spooky.