I didn’t grow up with the Final Destination franchise. It wasn’t one of the formative horror staples for me personally, but like any kid who spent enough time on the internet, I felt like I knew it well enough through watching death scene compilations floating around YouTube. And honestly, they might be the most enduring form of this series. More than any other horror franchise, Final Destination seems built for those kinds of clips - Rube Goldberg nightmares that end with a blood-splattered punchline.
There’s something undeniably compelling about the idea that death itself is the villain. Not a killer in a mask or a haunted house, but the very concept of fate taking revenge. And when the films tap into that core idea with just the right tone - balancing absurd spectacle with a creeping sense of existential dread - they can be wildly enjoyable in a way few horror series can match. When they don’t, though, they’re just kind of dumb. And not the fun kind of dumb either - just frustratingly so.
Bloodlines, the sixth entry and the franchise’s first theatrical release in over a decade, is the closest the series has come to figuring itself out since The Final Destination back in 2009. That fourth entry understood that if you’re going to make a movie this inherently silly, you might as well embrace it. Bloodlines follows suit, delivering a surprisingly thoughtful setup, a fantastic cast of doomed family members, and some of the most inventive kills in the entire series. It’s still dumb, don’t get me wrong, but for once, that dumbness mostly works in its favor.
This time around, we open with a slick prologue set decades in the past. The location: a massive luxury skytower with a fancy restaurant and an ominous glass elevator. The tone: tense, playful, and immediately effective. We meet our ill-fated all-American couple (Brec Bassinger & Max Lloyd-Jones) and even knowing what kind of movie we’re in for, I found myself actually liking them. There’s a sense of vertigo and unease the filmmakers really lean into here, and the resulting disaster is a giddy, chaotic blast. It’s exactly what you want from a Final Destination cold open - grisly, over-the-top, and creatively staged with just enough real-world plausibility to make you squirm.
Flash forward to present day, where the whole bloodlines framework kicks in. Stefani, played with genuine terror and conviction by Kaitlyn Santa Juana, is a college student who’s spent her life under the shadow of death - quite literally. Her grandmother Iris (Gabrielle Rose), a survivor of the original disaster, has spent decades shielding the family from anything that might get them killed, isolating them and surrounding them with paranoia in the process. Stefani wants none of it, but of course, her vision of an impending tragedy drags her right back into the generational trauma. Unlike the previous films, Bloodlines takes its time fleshing out this dynamic. It’s refreshing, and actually kind of poignant.
That family connection proves to be a clever twist on the usual formula. Instead of a friend group of teens or coworkers, the death list this time includes uncles, cousins, and estranged parents. There’s a greater emotional weight to it all - even if, yes, the tone still wildly fluctuates between heartfelt sobs and slapstick carnage. One moment, characters are screaming in anguish over a loved one’s death, the next, they’re dodging rakes and shards of glass at a family BBQ gone wrong. You’re not always sure how to feel, but somehow it works more often than it doesn’t.
The set pieces are where Bloodlines truly shines. A tattoo and piercing studio becomes a maze of deadly objects, each teased to kill before the real death comes from somewhere unexpected. An MRI room plays like a Chekhov’s magnet nightmare. It’s all dumb. It’s all ridiculous. But it’s directed and shot with such clarity and confidence that you can’t help but admire the craft. There’s a rhythm to these movies that feels almost musical when done right - setup, tension, fakeout, payoff - and Bloodlines nails it. Directing duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein have certainly made the old formula feel fresh again.
The cast is solid across the board, with standout turns from Erik (Richard Harmon) and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner), who bring just the right level of charm and comic relief. And yes, the legendary Tony Todd is back in a cameo that actually feels meaningful, rather than just fan service. His mysterious coroner character has always been an enigmatic thread across the franchise, and his presence here ties things together in a satisfying, almost mythic way.
Still, it’s hard not to wish the series would go deeper. Six films in and the franchise has never seriously considered the ambiguity at the heart of its premise. Are these really supernatural patterns, or is it just grief-stricken humans trying to make sense of meaningless tragedy? Bloodlines flirts with the idea through Iris and Stefani’s paranoia, but it never fully commits. I keep waiting for one of these films to truly play with perspective - to make the audience the ones to question whether death’s design is real or imagined. Until then, we’re left with glorified slasher setups masquerading as cosmic horror.
But hey, as glorified slasher setups go, this one’s a damn good time. Bloodlines doesn’t reinvent the franchise, but it does refine it. The kills are creative, the tone is (mostly) balanced, and the characters are likable enough that you actually feel a twinge when they inevitably meet their fate. For a series that’s always struggled with what it wants to be, this is the closest we’ve gotten to a definitive answer: dumb, fun and soaked in blood.
'Final Destination Bloodlines' is now playing in theaters.
