Final Destination Bloodlines Brings the Franchise Back to Life

Each Final Destination movie follows the same opening formula. Our protagonist, usually in their teens or twenties, jolts out of a terrifying premonition of a freak accident—a highway pileup, a runaway roller coaster, a pre-9/11 plane crash. They desperately try to convince those around them that they’re all in danger, only to end up narrowly escaping the situation and watching from the sidelines as their ominous vision becomes reality. 

It’s a tried-and-true blueprint that’s worked for five movies over the past 25 years (yes, this franchise can now legally rent a car). And it’s one that the latest installment, Final Destination Bloodlines, turns on its head. Don’t worry: we still get that nail-biter of a Rube Goldberg death scenario, this time at the tippy-top of a Space Needle-esque restaurant tower in the 1960s. But after Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) saves everyone from their foreseen deaths at the restaurant, the movie shuttles us to modern day and plants us in the shoes of Stefani Lewis (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student haunted by the same vision her grandmother Iris had 50 years prior.

With this switcheroo, Bloodlines makes it clear it’s not just another by-the-numbers franchise money-grabber, but one that’s willing to play around—and have a little fun—with the rules of the game. In doing so, it joins the ranks of self-aware horror sequels like Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and Bride of Chucky. It’s a smart move after a 14 year break and one that neatly balances deranged death scenes with new humor.

Faced with unending nightmares, Stefani heads back home to learn more about her grandmother, who dropped off the face of the earth after abandoning Stefani’s mother and uncle when they were children. Turns out Iris kept her kids under lock and key to protect them from death (or… Death?) before eventually abandoning them to live in a self-made fortress in the middle of nowhere. When Stefani ventures out there for some answers, she’s confronted with the rantings and ravings of the now-elderly Iris (played ably if briefly by Gabrielle Rose), who shoves a grimoire in Stefani’s hands before dying in a freak accident right in front of her.

Stefani’s quick to discount Iris as a madwoman, until she starts reading through her grandmother’s careful accounting of how Death’s machinations work and the decades of incidents that plagued each survivor of the 1968 tower crash. And when a Lewis family member dies at the post-funeral barbeque, Stefani realizes that Death is making its way not only through the survivors, but their subsequent generations too—including Stefani, her cousins, her uncle and her mother.

This setup is a little convoluted, but Bloodlines screenwriter Jon Watts, alongside co-writers and directors Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, do their best to put each domino in place as quickly as possible to get back into the Final Destination swing of things. Instead of characters dying in the order they would have in the original premonition, like in the previous five movies, this time it’s by birth order. Where the movie stumbles is in setting up the characters facing death this time around. It’s easy to get invested in Stefani and her younger brother Charlie (Teo Briones), who portray a strong sibling relationship, and Richard Harmon ends up a scene-stealer as their caustic cousin Erik. But the other cousins get short-shrift in terms of storylines, and a side-plot with Stefani and Charlie’s estranged mother Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt) feels more shoe-horned in than emotionally charged. There’s too much at work in the screenplay and not enough time to let its characters breathe and engage with each other before they start meeting their gory ends.

But while Bloodlines struggles with characterization, it succeeds in over-the-top deaths. Part of the fun in the franchise is trying to guess just how Death will set up his complicated killing mechanics. Bloodlines does well to both point things out for the audience to notice with a wink and a nudge—keep your eye on that loose spring and upturned rake!—and subvert expectations in surprising ways. Like its earlier predecessors, most of the stunts and death contraptions are done via practical effects, and it’s genuinely difficult to make it through some scenes without covering your eyes. 

Bloodlines might bite off more than it can chew in terms of plot, but it’s an homage to the franchise that comes from a place of genuine appreciation, elevating the movie from being just another cash grab. In a scene that drew a round of applause from the audience at my screening, Tony Todd reprises William Bludworth, one of the only recurring characters in the franchise and his last on-screen appearance prior to his death late last year. It’s a moment of rare gravitas for the films and a fitting farewell for its most memorable character—and maybe for the franchise as a whole.