Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
A Fresh Take on An Old Formula
The longer a series has been around, the more difficult it is to find a fresh way to tackle the material. It’s a monumental task to wring originality out of a formula when you’re five sequels in, but Final Destination: Bloodlines finds a clever way to do just that.
The movie begins in 1968. Iris (Brec Bassinger) and her boyfriend Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones) are planning a fancy get together at the Skyview, a brand new Space Needle-like attraction. The couple is denied a table for dinner, but they sneak around and make their way onto the observation deck. Paul shocks Iris by proposing. She says yes, and tells him that she’s pregnant.
No, this isn’t the beginning of some goofy romcom. If you’re at all familiar with this series, you know what happens next. Iris has a premonition of disaster: the Skyview glass floor shatters and countless people plunge to their deaths. Her urgent warnings lead to an evacuation, saving countless lives.
Death worked quickly in the previous Final Destination installments, but it takes its sweet time in Bloodlines. Remember that famous quote about casinos? The house always wins. The same can be said for Death in the Final Destination movies. During the ensuing decades, nearly everyone who died in Iris’s vision meet grisly ends in bizarre accidents.
We flash forward to the present day. College student Stefani Reyes (Kaitlin Santa Juana) suffers from terrifying recurring nightmares about the Skyview collapse. She makes contact with her long lost granny, Iris (now played by Gabrielle Rose), who is living alone in a secure, remote facility.
She gives her granddaughter a book she believes will help her cheat death. Stefani gathers with the rest of her family and explains that Death is targeting them because they were never supposed to exist. They think she’s crazy, of course, until family members start dropping like flies.
The Smartest Sequel In The Franchise
Bloodlines is fully aware of audience expectations. We expect Death to claim victims in the order they were supposed to die (or in the order they were born, in this case). This installment throws a bunch of wrenches into the works, keeping us on our toes.
One of its best scenes involves a garbage truck that’s rumbling through the family’s neighborhood. We expect a character to die gruesomely, and indeed one does, but not the person we expect. There is an equally unpredictable scene in a hospital later. I wish I could say more, but i don’t want to spoil anything.
It would have been easy for the filmmakers to phone this one in and just make a standard installment (*ahem* Fear Street: Prom Queen) but thankfully they weren’t satisfied with mediocrity. The result is the best Final Destination since the original.
The idea of Death itself as the villain, instead of some psycho slasher, is never going to feel novel again. But the family angle is brilliant. It adds emotional weight that was missing in previous installments.
This is Tony Todd’s final role and he gets the best scene in the movie. After five films (he didn’t appear in the fourth one), William Bludworth reveals his origin story, dispenses brutally honest advice, ties up a loose end from Final Destination 2, and gives a moving final message. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect last scene, for both Todd and Bludworth.
As with the rest of the series, this movie’s only goal is to entertain. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a rollercoaster ride. You won’t find allegorical themes or social commentary here. It doesn’t have the depth of films like Sinners or Companion. But Bloodlines knows exactly what its assignment is, and it executes it with aplomb.
Rating
Final Destination Bloodlines is the best installment since the original. It’s punctuated by a fantastic final scene with Tony Todd and ingeniously inventive set pieces.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 8
