Final Destination: Bloodlines is a rare thing in long-running horror franchises: it actually tries. Not just at kills (though they’re here, and they’re wild), but at story, theme, and characters that feel like something more than future corpses with cheekbones. That alone makes it my favorite entry in the series. It’s still messy. Still formulaic. But it actually pulses with something resembling heart until it rips that heart out in true Final Destination fashion.
This time, we follow Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student suddenly plagued by horrifying visions of a skyscraper collapse she was never part of. Turns out, she’s inherited a premonition from her grandmother Iris, who cheated death back in 1969 and lived to regret it. The curse, of course, never really went away. It just waited for her bloodline to ripen. And now death’s design is back to clean house.
So, yes, it’s still the same basic engine: see the future, dodge disaster, watch death get real creative with heavy machinery and bad timing. But Bloodlines tweaks the formula in small, meaningful ways that give it just enough emotional traction to work.
Actual Characters. No, Really.
I cannot stress enough how refreshing it is to watch a Final Destination movie where the people involved don’t feel like theme park mannequins. Stefani is a real protagonist, with a past, a fractured family, and just enough guilt and resentment bubbling under the surface to make her quest feel personal. Her dynamic with her younger brother Charlie (Teo Briones) feels lived-in, layered, and not just “the sibling who will inevitably die horribly.”
Even the extended family (usually nothing more than a cast list of cannon fodder) get at least one scene each to show you who they are before the universe starts flattening them like pancakes. Richard Harmon’s Erik, the smirking tattoo artist cousin, somehow goes from jerk to tragic figure without ever shifting out of third gear. And Anna Lore’s Julia has just enough bitterness beneath her Instagram-ready sheen to make her death sting.
Is the dialogue clunky sometimes? Sure. Is the family dysfunction a little soapy? Absolutely. But in a series where “character development” usually amounts to “this one likes sex” and “that one owns a gym,” this is Shakespeare.
Death’s Still Got It (Mostly)
Let’s be honest: we’re still here for the kills. Final Destination: Bloodlines doesn’t reinvent the Rube Goldberg machine, but it does polish it up and give it a few new spins. The opener, set during the grand opening of the Sky View Tower in 1969, is a giddy, gruesome ballet of falling glass, collapsing beams, and unlucky timing. It’s one of the best disaster premonitions in the whole franchise.
From there, it’s a grab bag. A lawnmower death that’s so brutal you’ll flinch. An MRI scene that might make you take out every piercing you’ve ever considered. And a garbage truck moment that somehow manages to be both shocking and completely inevitable. Not every kill lands with the same impact, with a few feeling more like afterthoughts than set pieces, but there’s a craftsmanship to the suspense that’s been missing for a while.
Welcome Back, Bludworth
Tony Todd returns one last time as Bludworth, the cryptic death whisperer who’s somehow both helpful and completely useless. Here, he gets more screentime than he has since the early films, and it’s a quiet gift. The film wisely folds him into the lore instead of just trotting him out for fan service. His scenes with Iris give the story a generational weight, and his final moments feel like a curtain call in more ways than one. It’s a nice, subtle farewell which, in this series, is saying something.
The Ending That Makes It All Worth It
Look. Final Destination endings are not known for subtlety. You either explode, get decapitated, or walk into traffic. But Bloodlines pulls off a twist so darkly perfect that I had to pause the movie and grin like an idiot.
Without spoiling too much: just when you think the cycle’s broken, it isn’t. It never was. And the film ties the fates of Stefani and Charlie to an out-of-nowhere moment that reframes everything with a sick, grim finality. It’s not the best ending in the franchise but it feels genuinely cruel in a way that makes sense. Not shock for shock’s sake, but tragedy clicking into place. That’s rare.
Final Thoughts
Final Destination: Bloodlines is still a Final Destination movie. It’s still built on jumpy premonitions, people ignoring obvious signs, and death turning everyday objects into murder weapons. But for once, it feels like the filmmakers actually wanted to make a movie, not just a kill compilation. The characters have weight. The deaths have buildup. And the ending has teeth.
It’s not perfect. But it’s smart enough to justify its existence and twisted enough to earn its place at the top of the body pile.