Final Destination: Bloodlines - Death Franchise Makes Killer Comeback

By Thom Ernst

Rating: B

After taking a holiday for more than a decade, Death makes a formidable return in Final Destination: Bloodlines, the sixth installment in the franchise that taught us to fear flying, highways, roller coasters, stock car races and bridges.

True to form, Death is back as an unseen, ethereal force with a creative flair for inventive ways to die—like Jigsaw from the Saw movies, but with less taunting and better effects.

Each Final Destination film revolves around a character who narrowly escapes a mass-casualty event thanks to a premonition, only to learn that cheating death is a temporary reprieve. And it is paid back in ways more painful and gruesome than Death originally intended. What follows is a grim parade of creative fatalities, as Death reclaims its victims in complex ways that would have Rube Goldberg tipping his hat in admiration.

When it was announced that there would be a 6th entry in the Final Destinationfranchise, screenwriters Jon Watts, Lori Evans Taylor, and Guy Busick indicated that they planned to deviate somewhat from previous entries. While not all previous entries hit the mark, altering a familiar format raised some concerns among devoted Final Destination fans.

But fans can breathe easy. Though billed as a reboot, Bloodlines wisely tweaks the formula without tossing it out. It’s the highest-rated installment on both Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb, quite a feat considering the franchise’s history of diminishing returns.

One bold change? The initial premonition doesn’t come from our central character, Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), but from Iris (Brec Bassinger), a girl in the 1960s who foresees a disaster at the grand opening of a dangerously unstable tower. What follows is deliciously gruesome and sets the tone for the time-jump to the present, where Stefani is plagued by disturbing dreams that threaten her grades and her scholarship.

Seeking answers, Stefani returns home to reconnect with her family—her brother (Teo Briones), cousins Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner), Julia (Anna Lore), Erik (Richard Harmon), her uncle Howard (Alex Zahara), and her estranged mother (Rya Kihlstedt). The mystery deepens as family secrets and supernatural clues converge, offering more emotional stakes than the franchise typically allows.

Bloodlines leans further into dark comedy than any of its predecessors. That tonal shift may account for the warm reception—it’s self-aware, occasionally absurd, and even emotionally grounded in a way that works. While the suspense is present, the film sacrifices some of the dread that made earlier entries feel like horror rather than horror-comedy.

A particularly moving moment comes with the return of franchise icon Tony Todd. He appears less as a spectral harbinger and more as a parting presence—frail from illness, a real man confronting mortality in a film that revels in fictional death. His appearance is unexpectedly affecting, a pause in the chaos that reminds us of the fine line between horror and humanity.

Final Destination: Bloodlines doesn’t completely reinvent the wheel. It realigns the tires and tightens a few bolts. And for a franchise that is built on inevitability and expectations, that’s as close to cheating death as you could hope.

Final Destination: Bloodlines. Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein. Stars Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Brec Bassinger, Teo Briones, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Richard Harmon, Alex Zahara, Rya Kihlstedt and Gabrielle Rose. Final Destination: Bloodlinesis now playing in theatres