Final Destination Bloodlines ★★

Released: 14 May 2025

Director: Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein

Starring: Tony Todd, Richard Harmon, Brec Bassinger

Whenever a major horror franchise returns with a new installment, there’s always a question whether its conceptual beginnings are enough to sustain a belated sequel. If the 2000s saw the exponential rise of bold remakes à la House of Wax and The Hills Have Eyes, the legacy sequel landscape in the 2020s paints the exact opposite scenario: genre cinema is now arguably the most nostalgia-driven facet of commercial filmmaking, with seemingly every other horror icon coming out of the woodwork through the sheer power of Y2K sleepover memories. In that sense, the Final Destination series should be the easiest one to bring back — a major staple of the MTV era, it is a franchise known for its grungy teen aesthetic that’s slowly creeped back into the cultural spotlight. Fourteen years after the fan-favourite Final Destination 5 tied up the series in a neat loop, Jeffrey Reddick’s deathly creation is back with Final Destination Bloodlines: a fun if trivial sequel that borders on self-parody, echoing the trendy tropes seen in the vast majority of post-Halloween horror revivals.

Fittingly, the film’s claim for a fresh idea comes from its title: this time, Death is stalking the members of a single family, rather than following a group of strangers. When Stefanie (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) starts seeing recurring nightmares about a collapsed tower from the 1960s, she comes to the haunting realization that it could be somehow related to her grandmother Iris. Upon learning the secrets of her family’s past, Stefanie tries to warn everyone about their impending doom — that is, until Death starts claiming them via increasingly freakish accidents.

Bloodlines shares most of its DNA with Final Destination 2, hence the abundance of dark comedy and extensive head trauma. Yet paying homage and directly reusing Death’s tricks from previous films are two entirely different things altogether, with this legacy sequel favouring the latter methodology for the sake of empty fan-service. It’s a shame that a franchise as creative as this has chosen the route of diminishing returns, essentially rewiring the classic formula with slight adjustments. It’s not surprising that Jon Watts, the man behind the latest Spider-Man trilogy, was the driving force here — in many ways, this feels like a formulaic MCU rendition of what a Final Destination sequel would be.

And then there’s the gore. As disappointing as it is, the suspenseful tone of the first film was never the focus of the subsequent entries, with elaborate death sequences taking centre stage. This is where Bloodlines finally gets points for creativity: the harrowing Rube Goldberg designs are back in business, traumatizing the next generation of teenagers at sleepover marathons (is that still a thing?). The hospital sequence involving an MRI machine is an instant all-timer, striking that golden ratio between utterly horrific and delightfully goofy. In other instances, though, the script seems to give an edge to millennial comedy gags and overly quippy dialogue, bringing narrative momentum to a screeching halt and almost slipping into parody horror territory. Even if you end up sympathizing with some of these characters, the entire family dynamic rings hollow because each death is quickly followed by yet another CGI-heavy visual gag.

Final Destination has always toyed with the idea that Death can be cheated, with every subsequent entry attempting to alter the mechanics of the deadly chain. Yet Bloodlines seems to be so dead set on familial bonds becoming its defining feature that it forgoes originality elsewhere. The film’s reverence for Final Destination 2, both tonally and thematically, feels like an easy way of getting culture points from anyone who’s ever been afraid to drive behind a log truck. While this series has never been known for narratively compelling stories, the sequels (except for, maybe, the fourth one) had always tried to stand out from the herd, unbeholden by the contrivances of their predecessors. Bloodlines, in contrast, bets all of its chips on nostalgic beats, ending up as a greatest hits compilation without an identity of its own.

There’s morbid fun to be had here — especially during the gratuitously gory premonition sequence — yet the pleasures are just as fleeting and inconsequential as the film’s characters. In a series known for its deep lore and boundary-pushing violence, it’s surprising just how unambitious the latest installment feels. Perhaps, Bloodlines is merely a trial run before the inevitable seventh entry, but one thing’s for sure: the game of death should never feel so safe.