Final Destination Bloodlines Review

Final Destination: Bloodlines

Directors: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein

Writers: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts

Watch the trailer here.

Final Destination: Bloodlines breathed some new life into one of the most loved and unfathomably ridiculous fatal franchises. A new spin on the wheel has death lingering through ancestral history, something that could have been brilliantly tied to previous installments but fell short of making meaningful connections, aside from a couple of Easter eggs.

In this film, the grandmother (Iris, played by Brec Bassinger and later Gabrielle Rose) has a premonition of rushed-completed tower restaurant called Skyview collapsing due to a shithead kid and a penny, the richochet of events leads to chaos with delicious kills that would only be more stunning if they had used practical effects instead of CGI. The only difference is that, post premonition, Iris saves everyone, thus creating a deep lineage history of death tracking down families until we get to the Reyes.

I, in all and complete honesty, do not expect much from the Final Destination films, they’re so incredibly full of plot-holes that you have no choice but to suspend reality while watching them, but when we receive a film that’s based entirely on gruesome kills where death is taunting the characters, it’s disappointing to see CGI the focal point of their end. There’s no practical-meets-digital balance here, it makes each kill less impactful and feel weightless. You'd think filming something with IMAX cameras would warrant the VFX pipeline to be less at work here. The tension is almost well done in this film, but the generated images only give instant gratification, making the on-screen deaths forgettable, however gruesome they were.

Kaitlyn Santa Juana and Teo Briones were not strong enough actors to be the leads, their performances lacked the depth to believe they were not only siblings but siblings with the same trauma of mother abandonment, especially when their mother, Darlene, played by Rya Kihlsted comes back post-Iris’s death only to be remarkably forgave by her children. Richard Harmon, Erik, is the standout of this film. Each line is nailed, the humour is deadpan and well delivered, and his character is the only one with any semblance of depth. I understand the nature of the franchise is to be fast paced and pop off kills one after another, but Erik is the only character that seems to genuinely mourn the loss of his father and sister, conveying a realistic, angry character that doesn’t to instantly fall for the mechanics of death-creeping on each character. I wholeheartedly believe that Erik should have been the lead, and the story should have unfolded around him and his brother, Bobby, also well played by Owen Patrick Joyner.

The sound design was also well done. Final Destination has always been able to give tension based on creaks and off-screen cues that hint death is making a plan to strike. Faint rattles and wind chimes make you as aware as the lead that something is about to go down.

Finally, Final Destination is not complete without Tony Todd, and he deserved to finally receive a background story. The death-adjacent character that we have known throughout the series. We have our king of horror one last time in Bloodlines. We hear the importance of his mythology, though I do feel a true tribute should have leaned into his storyline more.

Writers, when we are 7 films in a franchise, we don’t need to keep explaining that death will hunt survivors down one by one. We fucking get it. We are fluent in deaths design.

This is nowhere near the perfect movie—we already received our cinematic horror masterpiece with Sinners this year, but it’s a genuine good time. It’s meta, it understands its legacy and knows exactly what it’s doing, but it had the opportunity to evolve it to the standard of 2025 filmmaking, and they didn’t take it. The kills are creative, the pacing doesn’t drag and the opening sequence is enough to make you gasp and laugh at the same time. I’m not sure any Final Destination movie will meet the same fear-inducing aspect that FD2 did—creating an entire generation that will avoid log trucks at all costs, but it knew how to entertain.

Sometimes we just need a death parade with enough charm and giggles to keep you grinning through the carnage.

3/5.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does Final Destination: Bloodline stay true to the franchise’s style? A: Yes, it delivers the signature inventive death sequences and suspense while adding fresh twists to the formula.

Q: Is this movie suitable for newcomers? A: While longtime fans will appreciate the callbacks, new viewers can enjoy it as a standalone horror film.

Q: How does Bloodline compare to previous Final Destination films? A: It balances nostalgia with new elements, maintaining the franchise’s blend of gore, tension, and dark humour.

Q: What stands out most in Final Destination: Bloodline? A: The creative death scenes and the way it updates the series’ premise for a new generation