FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES (aka FINAL DESTINATION 6, 2025)

New in theaters from New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers!
Directed by Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein.
Written by Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts.
Check out the trailer here!!

After having a premonition that a high-rise restaurant is going to collapse, Iris (played by STARGIRL’s Brec Bassinger) saves hundreds of lives by having them evacuate the building in time. As we have learned in previous FINAL DESTINATION movies, death doesn’t like it when lives are saved and always comes for its just dues. Years later, Iris’ granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) is plagued by dreams of the building collapse and finds out that death has finally tracked down all of the survivors and now it is Iris and her family’s turn to meet their maker.

While watching FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES, I found myself wondering what makes this series so popular and fun to watch. More so than any horror franchise, the FINAL DESTINATION films follow a very specific narrative structure and rarely deviates from it. Someone has a premonition that a disaster is going to occur. That someone saves a group of people. And soon, the people who were supposed to die are killed in extravagant and imaginative ways until it catches up to the one who had the premonition. For six movies now, that has been the basic plot and while many film series are criticized for being repetitive, the FINAL DESTINATION films seem to be immune to such criticism. Why? Well, I think most importantly, the series, even the worst films in it, never fail to be fun. Sure, it’s dealing with death, but through one ridiculous contrivance and one Rube Goldbergian series of events after another, each death has a load of creativity dedicated to each and every kill. We don’t go to a FINAL DESTINATION film for deep plot or strong character work. We go to see one elaborate death sequence one up the last one over and over again. Yes, this appeals to our basest of instincts, to gaze at that car crash on the side of the road on the highway, but the FINAL DESTINATION series understands a winning concept and realizes that if you’ve got a good thing, why change it.

But going a bit deeper, I feel the appeal of the FINAL DESTINATION movies and horror movies in general with young audiences is that fascination with death we all have. Death is the furthest thing from the minds of the young, so the FINAL DESTINATION series serves as a moral lesson for the young to let them know that death can come for them any time, using common instruments we interact with every day as tools of the grim reaper. In many ways, it allows the young and the young at heart like myself to walk that tightrope from the safety of my theater seat.

So how about FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES? “How was it?” you might be screaming at your monitor. It was…a FINAL DESTINATION movie. It followed the well-worn path made by the previous films. There is an additional twist; that this time, it took death two generations to finally track down the survivor who had the premonition and, in that time, that person had produced a family, and thus passing the curse onto them. This twist makes things a little more convoluted and reveals a little more about death’s plan that most likely will be elaborated on in future installments, as this franchise is one of the most consistent, continuity savvy, and connected series in horror film history. But in the end, it’s a bunch of people getting killed in ridiculous ways…again. And as I said above, it’s fun despite the fact that it follows the same plot as the first, second, and so on.

One thing I appreciated was that FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES takes the time to send off the one consistent character of the entire series, Tony Todd. It’s obvious Todd was in poor health during the filming, but he still delivers one of the best scenes in this new film. Not only does it honor a character Todd made classic, but it also adds a little bit of history to the character of William Bloodworth and explains why he knows so much about death’s plan. If anything, this film does Todd a solid for graciously allowing him the opportunity to replay one of his most iconic roles.

The deaths are elaborate, especially the main disaster scene, which takes a very long time to build up to. Thankfully, Brec Bassinger, who plays Iris, and her boyfriend, Paul (played by Max Lloyd-Jones) are strong actors and make the long anticipation for the disaster interesting all the way through. This can’t be said for the rest of the cast. Aside from genre actor Richard Harmon, the rest of the cast is particularly bland, unfortunately. Harmon does appear in quite a few of the most memorable scenes in and film and sure, Kaitlyn Santa Juana is decent as the lead Stefani, and carries some dramatic scenes, but I think a little star power added to this rather dull cast would have done this film wonders. A lot of drama, comedy, and horror had to be conveyed by this group, and I just think that some of these actors just didn’t have the range to do that. I understand that the bulk of the budget is dedicated to the elaborate death sequences, but they could have saved a couple of shekels for a few more recognizable faces.

FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES peaks early with the scene highlighted in the trailer in the tattoo shop and later in a very memorable scene set in a hospital lab. By the time the climax of the film occurs, the threat pales in comparison to the deaths we’ve seen prior. Though I really liked the way the final moments of the film played out.

All in all, FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES is a lot of fun. It offers some gruesome effects and deadly sequences that you’ve never seen before, taking modern day situations and using them in the most gory and devious of ways. This series continues to be one of my favorite horror franchises and while I prefer films that show me something new and different, sometimes it’s fun to rely on the comfort of a series that has perfected the concept, knows what it is, and delivers a solid, albeit familiar movie over and over again.

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Music & Arrangement by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy https://youtu.be/PDySbxQgZMg
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