Film Review – Final Destination: Bloodlines

May 15th, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

It’s hard to fathom that the last installment of the Final Destination franchise was released fourteen years ago. The series, much like the Saw films, had grown into a yearly tradition. Audiences went to the theater to see a bunch of characters stumble their way into complex and preposterous deaths. How many horror franchises can boast having a villain that can’t be seen or heard? Apparently, the Grim Reaper works incognito. Someone accidentally dropping a coin causes a domino effect of ridiculously intricate design, culminating in a cartoonish blood splattering. The later Final Destination entries lacked the fun of the first few – looking cheaper and more thrown together to just meet the yearly deadline. 

Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025) brings us back to the basics. Co-directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (along with co-writers Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor) exhibit a clear love for the franchise. They insert several callbacks to the most memorable moments of the past (such as Part 2’s infamous freeway scene), while adding enough new material to make this stand on its own. The premise is roughly the same, where characters that survived a terrible accident (when they weren’t meant to) are picked off by Death one by one. But this time, the twist is that the curse follows everyone down a person’s bloodline – hence the title. The offspring of those who were meant to perish are now targets. I guess Death has a thing for family trees!

Of course, this brings up a whole host of questions. Are half-siblings included on the death list? What about in-laws and stepsiblings? Who cares. Once the narrative sets the rules, we are again treated to the franchise’s bread and butter – the death scenes. Lipovsky, Stein, and the rest of the production lean in on what made the Final Destination films popular: dynamic and needlessly complicated set pieces. They start out with a bang, opening on a high-rise tower that is an obvious stand in for The Space Needle. We meet Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger), a young woman about to take the next step in her relationship with her boyfriend. Of course, all her plans get tossed aside when tragedy strikes. One of the interesting facets of the series is how Death makes its presence felt. Whether it is a certain song playing on the radio, a rickety elevator, someone’s hat getting blown off their heads, etc. All these seemingly innocuous incidents build up to a red alarm, and Iris feels it immediately. 

What follows is no less than spectacular. The construction of the scene is clever in how it incorporates smaller events within a larger whole. We witness one deadly accident after another, building on top of each other toward an explosive climax. If there is one downside to how big the opening is, it’s that everything else that follows pales in comparison. Iris’ experience on the tower has ripple effects that is felt throughout her family. We fast forward in time, catching up with her granddaughter, Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana). Stefani is a college student suffering from nightmares over her grandmother’s accident. Little does she know that these are not just nightmares, but premonitions. Death has returned to finish the job and take out her entire family. Stefani, her brother Charlie (Teo Briones) and cousins Erik (Richard Harmon) and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner) join forces to find out everything they can about the curse and to put a stop to it before anyone else bites the dust.

The production not only understands the inherent comedy within the death scenes, but in the fear and paranoia that builds from it. Anyone who manages to survive Death’s attacks are forced to live afraid of everything. The older Iris (Gabrielle Rose) now lives as a hermit inside of a handmade bunker, constructed out of wooden spikes and barbed wire. Iris is so geared into Death’s presence that the light reflected from a mirror poses as a threat to her. We see glimpses of this in her grandchildren. One of the funnier sequences has Stefani, Charlie, Bobby, and Erik huddled together walking down the street anticipating an accident coming from anywhere. “Get away from those kids!,” “Move away from that tree!,” “Don’t stand too close to that garbage truck!,” Stefani yells to her family as they shuffle their way down the sidewalk. A scene like this could be examined in how it reflects certain mindsets people have about living life to the fullest. Would it be better to be cautious about everything to live as long as possible, or would one rather live carefree knowing that we’re all heading toward the same ending anyway? Of course, a movie like Final Destination: Bloodlines doesn’t really bother to investigate those themes extensively. Instead, it opts for extreme measures to get the most shocks and laughs simultaneously. 

It should be noted that this marks the final film Tony Todd worked on prior to his passing last year (IMDb says he still has other projects set to release). From his first lead role in the Night of the Living Dead (1990) remake, to his memorable turn in The Rock (1996), his extensive array of supporting and voice work, to his legacy making role in Candyman (1992), Todd made his presence felt in every project he participated in. His contributions to the Final Destination franchise have mostly been cameo parts or characters that provided expositional dialogue. That trend continues with Bloodlines. While his part is relatively small, it acts as a fitting curtain call for an actor whose place in history – not just in the horror genre, but in cinema history as a whole – has been solidified. 

Final Destination: Bloodlines is a return to form for the long dormant series. It offers exactly what these films have been good at: creative kill scenes, slapstick comedy, and enough tongue-in-cheek self-awareness to let us know that this is all in good fun. Who knew clumsiness would make such an entertaining time at the movies? Will this jumpstart the franchise to once again release a new installment every year? We’ll have to wait and see on that. At the very least, this latest entry delivers as promised.

Adam B. Stein, Brec Bassinger, Candyman, Featuerd, Final Destination, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Gabrielle Rose, Guy Busick, Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Lori Evans Taylor, Night of the Living Dead, Owen Patrick Joyner, Richard Harmon, Saw, Teo Briones, The Rock, Tony Todd, Zach Lipovsky