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Maybe it's supposed to be colder for the machines or whatever. Ashley, guessing why Yuri keeps the tanning bed room cold. |
Ashley Freund was one of the survivors of the Devil's Flight roller coaster derailment in Final Destination 3.
Ashley was the first survivor to die.
Biography
Ashley lived in McKinley, Pennsylvania, and attended McKinley High School. She and Ashlyn Halperin were two ditzy best friends, who were very popular among their fellow classmates. But they weren't the stereotypical popular mean girls; they were very kind to everyone.
Final Destination 3
Ashley and Ashlyn visit the carnival for their senior class field trip, and board the Devil's Flight roller coaster together. Before the ride starts Wendy Christensen has a premonition that the ride will crash, killing everyone on board. When she panics a fight breaks out between several other students and Ashley and Ashlyn leave in annoyance, shortly before the ride crashes as Wendy predicted, killing the remaining passengers on board.
Ashley and Ashlyn
Weeks later, Ashley and Ashlyn are at school signing yearbooks when they see a distraught Wendy walking alone in the rain, and they decide to invite her to the tanning salon to help take her mind off Jason, but she declines the offer.
Death
When Ashley and Ashlyn enter the tanning bed room, Ashley leaves her iced beverage on a table, unaware that the VAC machine controlling the tanning beds is right underneath it. Ashlyn decides to turn up the heater, stating that a few degrees won't hurt. Ashley then decides to look through the CD's on a wooden shelf above one of the tanning beds. While doing so, she accidentally pulls the shelf loose. As the temperature in the room rises, the iced beverage cup starts to condense and begins to drip onto the machine under it, causing it to malfunction. The VAC then rises and the two girls notice something is wrong when it starts getting too hot.
Ashley tanning
Ashley was dancing to the music on her iPod while Ashlyn was falling asleep. Over at the desk where Ashley left her drink, it started to condensate and form a small puddle. The water seeped over to the temperature box, and fit in through the cracks and caused a spark, making the beds warmer. After a few minutes, the girls started to sweat, but only Ashlyn noticed. The air was turned on, and knocked over a coat rack. Ashley took off her earphones. Ashlyn opened up her tanning bed and went to get up as the coat rack hit the shelf, which fit into the opening in the handle for Ashley's bed and the handle for Ashlyn's bed. Ashley banged her head against the lid of the tanning bed, which was sudden and unexpectedly not opening. The other side of the shelf fit in the now closed lid of Ashlyn's bed, and things started to get toasty.
Ashley started sweating and breathing hard, and her hair was sticking to her head. She was worried that someone was going to have to come in their and help them out. Ashley tried opening her bed again, and burned her hand against the top of the bed. The lights got very bright. Suddenly, Ashley started screaming as she was burning up. She winced panically as she struggled to get out of her bed.
Ashley tried getting out through the top, but a fan meant to keep the occupant of the bed cool blocked the way. On the other side was the wall. Panicking and burning up, Ashley screamed in alarm and banged against the bed. Suddenly, the glass above her exploded on her face, which sent thousands of tiny pieces of glass upon her, slicing into her skin. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she squirmed around. The bottom glass cracked and burst, sending Ashley to the bottom panels, possibly setting her on fire.
Ashley burned alive
While Ashley screams in sheer agony, and shaking violently, the flames melt the flesh everywhere from her body, and her brain gets fried, as well as her heart. Ashley looked through the slot but the flames engulfed her. The fire set the entire tanning bed ablaze, with Ashley's blood-curdling scream echoing, as she burnt to a crisp.
Signs/Clues
Final Destination 3 Ashley And Ashlyn's Death Scene
- Wendy's photo of Ashley and Ashlyn is overexposed, making it look like they're on fire.
The over-exposed photograph of Ashley and Ashlyn. The picture also shows how they died.
- After Ashley wins at the water gun booth, her prize is an inflatable palm tree, which represents the potted palm, which knocked over the shelf, that locks the tanning beds, trapping Ashley & Ashlyn.
- The water gun booth can be seen as foreshadowing for the smoothie (liquid) that causes the bed's VAC to malfunction.
- Ashley and Ashlyn listen to Love Rollercoaster before the beds burn.
- Both girls have the word "ash" in their names.
- Ashley's number written on a piece of a paper lays beside Wendy's overheating lamp.
- When Wendy is in her room, her lamp's light bursts at the same time Ashley and Ashlyn get incinerated in explosion.
- Before they could even go to the tanning room, the camera shows a canister containing an alcoholic (flammable) liquid. Causing a fire in the beds.
- When Ashley's phone rings it plays a horror tune.
- During Ashley and Ashlyn's funeral, the song Hundred Grand by Pete Atherton plays, which is the same song that played at the unveiling of the Flight 180 memorial in Final Destination.
- In the opening sequence, there are two women, known as The Electric Sisters, who were electrocuted in their electric chairs, their skins, were overexposed.
- On one of the tanning beds there is a sign that says, "These beds are ready. Are YOU?"
- During the song Love Rollercoaster, you can hear one of the singers says "high!" again and again in the scene where the tanning bed temperature rises higher and higher.
- The song Love Rollercoaster by The Ohio Players is the subject of a very popular urban legend, where the screams of the model who posed for the band's Honey album cover was heard in the song as she was being stabbed by the studio's owner for threatening to file a wrongful injury lawsuit against them. This legend, of course, is false, and while the scream was indeed faintly heard during part of the song, it was in fact caused by microphone feedback.
- The name of the salon is "Phoenix Tanning Salon". According to mythology, Phoenixes are associated with fire, and arise from their own ashes after death. Quite fitting, considering the girls' first names.
- Right before their deaths, Wendy leaves a message on Ashley's phone saying "Sorry I was too late"
- Frankie tells both girls that they are "smoking hot".
- The alcohol in the tanning salon is likely a reference to Valerie Lewton's liquor.
Alternative Death
In the bonus features of the Final Destination 3 movie, viewers get to 'decide the fate' of Various characters from the movie. If the viewer chooses to change the temperature that Ashlyn decides to set, the tanning bed scene will change to the alternative death. In this scene, the events that start the scene are the exact same up until the point where Ashlyn notices that the temperature is too hot.
Ashlyn knocked out.
In this version Ashlyn decides to get out earlier while Ashley remains in her bed which leads to Ashlyn getting knocked out by the falling shelf (which was knocked off by the coat hanger). The shelf then slides across the gaps in both beds, locking in Ashley while Ashlyn is unconscious on the floor. As the temperature rises, Ashley tries desperately to escape her tanning bed, pounding on the lid to try and free herself, but only to end up burning her hands each time. Desperately Ashley screams out for help but to no avail as Ashlyn is still out cold. At this point Ashley's skin burnt brown and shiny due to the sweat pouring out of her. A look of terror on Ashley's face as the glass above her cracks and shatters, slicing her face and chest, she lets out a loud shriek in pain.
Trying to slide through the end of the bed, Ashley screams for Ashlyn, shrieking "Somebody, help me!". Ashlyn finally starts to wake up to the screams of Ashlyn which are getting higher and higher, repeating her cry for help. Ashlyn quickly makes it to her feet and pulls the shelf out of the wedge in the tanning bed and opens the lid to a terrified Ashley, with her arms covering her chest and face to protect herself from the heat. Ashley's entire body burnt to a dark brown and her skin shiny
A terrified Ashley saved by Ashlyn
with sweat. Ashlyn looks at her in shock of how burnt she, but Ashley just stares back in relief. Ashlyn extends her hand to lift Ashley up, Ashley grasps her hand in relief. As Ashlyn lift her up the extent of her injuries is clear, her chest covered in shards of glass and cuts from that glass. As she is lifted out of the bed the glass under her shatters, exposing the live wires underneath. In an instant Ashley and Ashlyn are electrocuted, dying instantly, leaving Ashlyn's body on the floor and a steaming, burnt Ashley still in the tanning bed.
Ashley and Ashlyn's alternative death
Appearances
- Final Destination 3 (portrayed by Chelan Simmons)
- Final Destination 3 (novel)
- The Final Destination (opening credits) (CGI image, not actor)
- Final Destination 5 (archive footage in ending credits) (portrayed by Chelan Simmons)
Trivia
Ashley's death in the opening sequence of The Final Destination.
- Ashley's death (along with Ashlyn's) appears in the opening sequence of The Final Destination.
- Ashley and Ashlyn are referenced in the opening credits of Final Destination 5 by the tanning bed bulbs breaking on the screen.
- Ashley looks very similar to Christa Marsh from Final Destination while Ashlyn looks similar to Blake Dreyer, who is also Christa's best friend from the same movie. Also all of them die by getting burned to death.
- Ashley and Ashlyn were going to be sisters, according to the direction commentary. This was also mentioned on a early draft of the script: Two fraternal twin sisters, JENNIFER and JESSICA HALPERIN are perfectly tanned wearing low cut spaghetti strap Von Dutch mid drift T's and low riding shorts exposing whale tail.'
- The song played during Ashley and Ashlyn's funeral is the same song as the one played during the memorial service of Flight 180 in Final Destination.
- Ashley and Ashlyn were the only survivors in the franchise to die and get a funeral on-screen.
- The scene taking place in the tanning booth was a closed set. Only the camera operators were in the same room with Chelan Simmons and Crystal Lowe and black curtains were draped to keep onlookers out.
- Ashley's surname is derived from Karl Freund, director of ''The Mummy'' (1932) and cinematographer of ''Dracula'' (1931).
- There's a possibility that both Ashley's and Ashlyn's death was based off of the urban legend where the bride to be, literally cooked herself on a tanning bed before her wedding.
- In the premonition Ashley dies after Ashlyn and Frankie.
- Ashley was seemingly the leader of the two, with Ashlyn as her follower. This is implicated during a few scenes when Ashley says something and Ashlyn will blindly agree with her or follow her commands, such as when Ashley tells her to look around to see if she's winning during the carnival scene.
- Ashley's dimness might really be a refference to the "dumb blonde" stereotype.
- Both Ashley and Ashlyn are shown to wear thongs, which can be seen while they are sat down to play that game which they won their prize for