The Final Destination franchise is finally back after a 14-year hiatus, but at the risk of writing a shameless pun, it could be dead on arrival. Halloween (2018) kicked off a new era for horror legacy sequels, with Hollywood studios reviving any IPs they could still get their hands on. From The Craft: Legacy (2020) to Candyman (2021) to Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) to The Exorcist: Believer (2023), the success rate of bringing horror franchises back has been very hit or miss. Even in the instances when the revival was initially successful, like with Scream (2022) and Saw X (2023), those efforts soon ran into a wall as Scream 7 and Saw XI have since faced extremely tumultuous development.
To be fair, a sixth installment in the Final Destination series had been planned since way before the COVID-19 pandemic. How the movie took its final (ha!) form in Final Destination: Bloodlines can be attributed to a few creatives, starting with producer Jon Watts (best known for helming the recent MCU Spider-Man trilogy and co-creating Star Wars: Skeleton Crew). Watts developed the script for Bloodlines with screenwriters Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick, the latter of whom co-wrote Ready or Not (2019), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023), and Abigail (2024) for Radio Silence filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. For those curious, Busick is also writing on Scream 7 and the much-anticipated sequel, Ready or Not: Here I Come.
“Comical to the Point of Self-Parody”
Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, along with longtime franchise producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor, are the last crucial pieces to the collective behind Final Destination: Bloodlines. Lipovsky and Stein made waves with their beloved indie sci-fi thriller Freaks (2018) and then went on to helm the 2019 live-action Kim Possible movie for Disney Channel. Surprisingly, the directing duo is a perfect fit for the unpredictable chaos of the Final Destination series, framing the complex yet amusing Rube Goldbergian set-ups for each death scene with devilish glee. Truly, the major setbacks of Final Destination: Bloodlines fall on the script, which borrows too much from other horror legacy sequels and is comical to the point of self-parody.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
While humor became a prominent element throughout the previous Final Destination sequels, more notably The Final Destination (2009) and Final Destination 5 (2011), fans often take for granted how terrifying the original trilogy was. Similar to how the Saw franchise grew an “unserious” reputation with general audiences thanks to its overindulgent sequels, Final Destination was eventually seen as just an excuse to see people die hilariously complicated deaths on the big screen. Now, without exaggeration, Bloodlines features some of the most absurd deaths in the franchise — people get bent, swung around, squashed, and fall out of buildings as if they were in a classic Looney Tunes cartoon. Yet, very few of these set pieces are actually scary.
Taking Generational Guilt to Extreme Levels
Final Destination: Bloodlines centers on Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a once straight-A college student who has been experiencing a gruesome recurring nightmare. Her dreams take her to the grand opening of the Sky View Tower in 1969, when its luxurious top-level restaurant collapsed and caused dozens to fall to their doom. Only this didn’t happen; one woman saw the tragedy in a premonition and managed to stop everyone from dying that day. Of course, as fans know, you should never change the course of Death’s plans. That woman in Stefani’s dreams turns out to be her estranged grandmother, Iris Campbell (Gabrielle Rose), whose act of heroism has inadvertently put her entire bloodline on a path to certain death.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
The lineage element of Final Destination: Bloodlines introduces a fresh spin on the franchise’s existing lore. This time, audiences follow an entire family that was never supposed to exist according to Death’s plans, and it’s up to Stefani to figure out the order in which her mother, younger brother, uncle, and cousins are all meant to die. The stakes feel more personal compared to previous entries, yet the screenplay’s highly melodramatic dialogue helps none of the actors. Leaning into pure campiness is one thing, and Final Destination is certainly no stranger to that, but constantly poking fun at yourself to look witty is a whole other cheap habit that’s now annoyingly common among legacy sequels.
Final Destination: Bloodlines Sticks Too Closely to the Legacy Sequel Formula
At its worst, the sixth Final Destination movie feels like it’s borrowing one too many pages from another recent horror legacy sequel: Scream (2022). Again, both films share one of the same screenwriters. While Scream can get away with making fun of itself due to its meta backbone, that same type of humor does not come off as genuine here. Because Stefani inherited her grandma’s ability to sense when Death is about to make its move, all duties of exposition essentially fall on her. Early in the plot, she literally explains to her whole family how the “rules” of Final Destination work — something that every character in this series eventually learns, though not in a comical way.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
The protagonists learning how to break the rules of Death is a staple of this franchise, and yet Final Destination: Bloodlines often plays that aspect for laughs. Sometimes, this comedic setup succeeds at crafting a hysterical scenario that highlights just how ridiculously entertaining Final Destination can be. Other times, it leads to an unfunny gag that only adds to this movie’s self-indulgence. Oh, and that self-indulgence grows harder to ignore. This isn’t a criticism about throwing in easter eggs and callbacks to past films. That is to be expected for a legacy sequel like this. However, when the iconic log truck from Final Destination 2 (2003) becomes a recurring bit, there’s no excuse for this movie’s lack of originality.
A Heartfelt Goodbye to the Iconic Tony Todd
For all the bloody mayhem that directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein manage to conjure up, little of it is brought to life via practical effects. Final Destination: Bloodlines certainly looks the cheapest in terms of its kills when compared to the rest of the series, thanks to some unpolished CGI. Still, there are a few insane examples that deserve their flowers, such as a scene featuring a magnetic MRI machine and another with a garbage truck. The opening Sky Tower sequence is also a delightfully deranged “welcome back” moment for the franchise. But, of course, none of these sequences come close to capturing real-life anxieties, like possibly dying on a freak rollercoaster accident in Final Destination 3 (2006).
Death itself doesn’t have nearly as strong a presence in the story as well. Even in the weaker sequels, Death feels like an invisible presence that is looming right over the characters’ heads! Plenty of people are going to be undeniably happy that Final Destination is back after so long, but should that nostalgia-driven hunger come at the cost of a lackluster movie? Certain batshit crazy set pieces, Kaitlyn Santa Juana’s admirable leading performance, and a heartwarming final send-off for the late Tony Todd keep a sincere narrative of fully appreciating our time on this Earth with family from totally falling apart. At the end of the day, though, this is the same Final Destination film you’ve seen before.
Final Destination: Bloodlines hits theaters on May 16!
Release Date: May 16, 2025.
Directed by Zach Lipovsky & Adam B. Stein.
Screenplay by Guy Busick & Lori Evans Taylor.
Story by Jon Watts, Guy Busick, & Lori Evans Taylor.
Based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick.
Produced by Craig Perry, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Jon Watts, Dianne McGunigle, & Toby Emmerich.
Executive Producers: Richard Brener, Pete Chiappetta, Andrew Lary, Dave Neustadter, Chris Pan, David Siegel, Anthony Tittanegro, & Warren Zide.
Main Cast: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Rya Kihlstedt, Anna Lore, Gabrielle Rose, Brec Bassinger, Jayden Oniah, Tinpo Lee, April Telek, Alex Zahara, Max Lloyd-Jones, Brenna Llewellyn, Yvette Ferguson, Mark Brandon, & Tony Todd.
Cinematographer: Christian Sebaldt.
Composer: Tim Wynn.
Production Companies: New Line Cinema, Practical Pictures, Freshman Year, & Fireside Films.
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Runtime: 110 minutes.
Rated R.
