Film Review: Final Destination Bloodlines May Be Among The Best In The Series

For twenty-five years, the Final Destination franchise has followed a tried-and-true formula: a person has a premonition of a deadly disaster occurring, they panic and save themselves and a multitude of other people from the inevitable disaster, thus cheating Death. One by one, following the order in which these people were saved, Death begins to come for them in ridiculous, over-the-top ways only fit for a horror film. Live, kill, repeat.

Each movie has brought a new eye-popping, hand-over-mouth-inducing moment that has thrilled moviegoers for two decades. Even when the franchise started to rely more on CGI and the 3D technology that was embraced in the early aughts, the movies were still fun. Final Destination: Bloodlines, the sixth entry in the series, may be one of its best. Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel; it spins the damn wheel at high speed without losing any traction in the process.

In the late 60s, a woman named Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) and her fiancé Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones) dine atop the newly opened Skyview, an upscale high-rise restaurant in the heart of town. Iris has a premonition that the entire building is going to come down, killing everyone. But instead of saving herself, she saves everyone onboard and stops the event from happening completely. This act does go against the usual formula of a Final Destination film, making for an interesting deviation from the usual path.

Decades later, Iris’ granddaughter, Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) begins having nightmares about the tower collapse. After confiding in her family, all of whom have disowned her grandmother as batshit crazy, she decides that the only way to get answers is to go and visit the aging Iris (Gabrielle Rose). Living in a bunker secluded in the woods in a house that is booby-trapped on the outside to dispel Death from coming near her, she passes off her life’s work to her granddaughter, telling Stefani that she is the only way to put a stop to Death coming for every member of family in its sinister ways.

Since everyone in Iris’ bloodline was never meant to be born in the first place, Death is now coming for everyone in her family in over-the-top ways that could only be delivered by a movie like this. There is a dark humor to some of the death scenes, and Lipovsky and Stein try to invoke the nostalgia of the original trilogy while making something all their own. Santa Juana is an effective lead amongst an ensemble cast featuring Teo Briones (Charlie, Stefani’s brother), Richard Harmon (cousin Erik) Owen Patrick Joyner (cousin Bobby), and Anna Lore (cousin Julia). Harmon’s cousin Erik character is a standout, and may be among one of the best characters in the series, hilarious when needed yet the exact person you want on your side when shit hits the fan.

The only other note I can add about this movie is that it was released after the death of the beloved horror icon Tony Todd (Candyman), whose William Bludworth is a recurring character in the Final Destination series. Todd gets a proper send-off, and the filmmakers do it justice by leaning into the sentimentality of the moment without detracting from the story. Weirdly, much like the Saw movies, horror films like Final Destination remind us to enjoy our lives and not take anything for granted, as easy as it can be to do so. “Life is a gift,” Todd says in his closing monologue before exiting the screen.

Final Destination Bloodlines reinforces this idea while delivering an effective and fun entry in the franchise. But I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I’ll look at a penny the same way again. You’ll understand when you see it.  

Release Date: May 16th, 2025
Rated: R (for strong violent/grisly accidents, and language)
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Directed by: Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stein
Screenplay by: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor
Story by: Jon Watts, Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor
Produced by: Craig Perry, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Jon Watts, Dianne McGunigle, Toby Emmerich

Starring: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Brec Bassinger, Tony Todd