Planes, tanning beds, speeding buses, escalators, elevators, fire escapes, air bags, pool drains, gymnastics, acupuncture, nail guns, plates of glass, weight machines, trains, corrective laser eye surgery, driving over bridges, and, of course, driving behind logging trucks are all things that have been ruined for someone courtesy of the first five "Final Destination" movies. Now, the sixth installment, "Final Destination Bloodlines," is ready to terrorize a new generation by awakening new anxieties within us all that we never knew we had.

But how do the twisted minds behind these movies decide what everyday occurrence is going to be irreversibly associated with freak accidents and irrational paranoia? As "Bloodlines" co-director Zach Lipovsky tells me, "It takes many years, and it's an incredible iterative process." Part of that process is a legitimate roundtable with the writers, where they sit back and brainstorm, "What are the things that we can ruin for people?...