The franchise that made you afraid to drive behind trucks with logs is back fourteen years after the fifth movie. “Final Destination: Bloodlines” (2025) continues Death’s penchant for Rube Goldbergian deaths except this time, Death is coming for the Campbell bloodline after Iris (Gabrielle Rose), the oldest member of the clan, had a premonition as a young woman (Brec Bassinger) of a horrific disaster and stopped it. Two generations later, her granddaughter, Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) is having horrific dreams and trying to figure out how to stop Death so she can resume living her life without losing hers. Will she find a way to cheat Death or will Death win? We do because regardless about how you feel about the movie, it is the last chance to say farewell to horror legend Tony Todd, who reprised his role as William Bludworth, his last onscreen performance.
It has been a long time since I saw the first movie, and I do not recall if I saw any of the sequels, but I likely stopped early in the proceedings. While I would have loved to (re)watch the franchise, I do not have time for that so if you are new to the franchise, you will be fine, and if you are a longtime fan, “Final Destination: Bloodlines” has got you. Not having any real memory of a simple mythology is fine. The main unseen character, Death, has not changed a bit. Death really does not like his elaborate, detailed plans changed, will get right back on that agenda and is a messy, old fashioned See You Next Tuesday who prefers not to use anything like mass gunfire. Death wants victims to know that the death was tailored for them and not some quotidian tragedy. There are two ways to get out of it, and one feels borrowed from “It Follows” (2014) or “Smile” franchise, or maybe it is the reverse…?
“Final Destination: Bloodlines” never explains why Stefani started having dreams, and no one else in the family, but my money is that if grandma died of natural causes, then Death would lose a long list of people, so Death meddled a bit. On the other hand, maybe premonitions are a genetic thing, and the clock works both ways. You can see forward, and you can go backwards. Maybe future movies will explore that part of the franchise.
No single character is compelling. It is all about the scenario and working overtime to figure out how the chain reaction will unfold. “Final Destination: Bloodlines” likens it to a math equation because Stefani is supposed to be the top of her class when she is not having night terrors, but that is dumb and not how math works. It is pattern recognition, and the relationship between things and people. If this theme was used, it would heighten the blood connection in the meta part of the film. Again, no one is coming to this franchise for anything so deep.
The Campbell bloodline is collectively adorable. While you may find yourself rooting against anyone who endangers young Iris while she is trying to escape the towering disaster, you will not hope that anyone else dies. Older Iris should have been given the Jamie Lee Curtis a la “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (1998) treatment, not Danny McBride and David Gordon Green’s trash “Halloween” reboot treatment. Grandma lives in a death trap. With families like these, who needs Death with a grudge? Uncle Howard (Alex Zahara) is the family patriarch and is on the ideal dad scoreboard. All three of his children love him: pierced and tattooed Erik (Richard Harmon of “The 100”, who may be the second most famous person in the cast), Julia (Anna Lore), who hates Stefani for vague reasons and sweet Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner), who adores his pet turtle, Paco. It feels as if Joyner should get an award for being wholesome when he could have come off as a frat boy.
The chemistry between Stefani and her brother, Charlie (Teo Briones), works otherwise Briones would probably blend into the background, which may be the point since he is just supposed to be a normal kid. There is a half-baked storyline that the family may be tense with Stefani because she is not close enough with the family and is taking after their estranged mother, Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt), but Stefani is in college. Kihlstedt disproportionately imbues her character with more presence than required. If “Final Destination: Bloodlines” was supposed to be a more substantial flick, the family’s resentfulness would be a red flag, but it is not that deep. (Hey, kids, it is normal to spend time away from your family in your early years. It is a biological genetic necessity.) The entire family is annoying when they brush away concerns that Death is coming for their family, which makes it a little easier to stomach their eventual demises, which are brutal, merciless and not quick enough for the characters’ sake.
Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein understood the assignment and nail “Final Destination: Bloodlines.” Conductors of chaos Lipovsky and Stein have a deep understanding of how to visually convey a character’s uneasiness, make inanimate objects feel oversized and portentous and combine the two without diluting either. The opening disaster feels like the equivalent of the Titanic and nothing that comes after matches that level of complicated, interwoven mayhem. After the directing duo, only someone like Christopher Landon, who directed “Heart Eyes” (2025) and “Drop” (2025), which is set in a space like the opening act, could probably stick the landing and may have the slight advantage at visually establishing genuine rapport and connection between people. To be fair, Landon is working with a skosh more substantial material.
“Final Destination: Bloodlines” deserves credit for creating a multiracial family, and it never becomes an issue in the movie. It also feels consistent since Iris was willing to save a Black boy (Jayden Oniah) at a time when “Nickel Boys” (2024) showed the other end of the spectrum. It could be a bit of revisionist history because the location of the movie is never explicitly stated (grandma’s cabin is in New York and within driving distance)— the license plates were not clearly visible, but even in places without Jim Crow, segregation was a thing. The Sky View opening night had people of all races hobnobbing. It is a nice piece of aspirational society and simultaneously a little dangerous to revise history as if 1968 was not a hotbed of tension on a good day. Again, this movie is not that deep, but more people will watch this than read a history book.
If you are interested in seeing “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” avoid trailers because they reveal too many details about the order of deaths and how characters die, which is half the fun. It is entertaining and satisfying but will not stick to the bones soon after the credits roll. There will probably be a sequel although technically this movie’s narrative could end the franchise since Tony Todd is dead, and his character plays an important role in the chain of events.
Side note: there was an adorable dog, Russell, at the screening. Unreal cuteness as if AI created him, but he is real.
