Death Runs in the Family in Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
Title: Final Destination: Bloodlines
First Non-Festival Release: April 29, 2025 (Premiere)
Director: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Writer: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts
Runtime: 110 Minutes
Starring: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Rya Kihlstedt
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Death is inescapable and that fact can be upsetting for many reasons. No amount of research, preparation, or sheer willpower can change this. Even still, people try every day.
All Stefanie (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) wants to do is get a good night’s sleep without fear that a recurring nightmare of a tower collapse will frighten her awake. One too many night terrors lead her to academic probation at college forcing her to seek answers in her mysterious, estranged Grandmother Iris (Gabrielle Rose). After tracking her down, Stefanie discovers that when Iris was younger (Brec Bassinger) she saved hundreds of people from death in the same tower Stefanie dreams about every night. What’s worse, Death is coming after every person that escaped, but it’s taken so long that it’s coming after the families of the survivors, too.
Death continues its diabolically twisted and deliciously fun games in a franchise high in Final Destination: Bloodlines.
As a franchise, Final Destination has managed to justify the existence of most of its entries by expanding upon its original story in a satisfying and lore-correct way. Bloodlines is no different. The timeline may get a bit confusing at first glance, but the sixth entry posits what would happen if a visionary managed to save every person from disaster. With so many souls still walking the earth after escaping their fates, Death works overtime. It isn’t enough to stop entire families from forming decades later thanks to the sheer number of lives saved. By removing its core group of survivors from the inciting event, a very different dynamic forms with the Reyeses and Campbells.
Its emphasis on family and the inevitably of death ensures that the focus in Bloodlines remains on its characters. The ragtag groups of previous films vary in terms of its character’s relation to one another: classmates, coworkers, even, strangers. Their relationships grew quickly over the course of their respective films, whereas in Bloodlines every person has an established relationship with each other, making the shared stakes higher. This particularly changes the dynamic that the seer has with the rest of the survivors. Stefanie’s unintentional estrangement from her family during her first semester of college, as well as the deviation from the typical vision setup, gives her a different battle to fight compared to her peers across the Final Destination universe. It also allows Bloodlines to dive deeper into the angst of losing family members and dealing with it together. Not only does this break the franchise free from its formula, but it also allows for it to explore its themes more freely.
Of course, one cannot watch a Final Destination movie and not expound upon its brilliantly orchestrated freak accidental deaths. Gorehounds and casual cinemagoers alike have plenty to look forward to with the sixth installment of the decades-spanning franchise. Broad and specific fears are represented well here, which means fans will have the pleasure of watching just how a peanut allergy or a penny can lead to such hilariously gruesome outcomes. The violence itself is largely cartoonish but still effective in both its humor and brutality. Nothing is more indicative of this than its opening vision sequence, which may just be the best in the franchise.
In the end, the only real dings against the film come from the little things. Peppered with questionable CGI and artificial sets, Bloodlines feels especially emptier than earlier entries. This may be a critique lobbed at the franchise as a whole since the films have gotten progressively more divorced from the grounded approach of the original. The cast does a great job, but a few scenes feel awkward, especially some eyebrow-raising reactions to the unfolding terror. It isn’t enough to detract too much but still salient enough to notice.
An excellent sequel that deeply understands its story, message, and fans, Final Destination: Bloodlines is a crowd-pleasing horror film that reminds viewers that Death always comes out on top. Delivering top-notch horror with its elaborate and unexpected death sequences, Bloodlines captures the anxiety and humor of the series perfectly while providing the necessary scaling to move the overall story further. Some nit-picking aside, it is a capable sequel that expands the story with depth and dimension while remaining true to its core thrills. Reminding audiences and critics alike that there is still juice in longstanding horror franchises when given the appropriate care, Final Destination: Bloodlines is the revelation the series has been hoping for with the box office and critics alike.
Overall Score? 8/10
