When the first Final Destination debuted at the turn of the millennium, it had horror fans convinced that death was around every corner. One wrong move and a flying scrap of metal could cut your head clean off. Ignore the premonitions, and you could be squashed to death by a big neon sign. Step into the bathroom funny, and a rogue clotheswire could wrap itself around your neck.
The second and third installments —arguably the best and campiest of the horror franchise — brought the hammer down even harder on paranoia. At its height, the Final Destination franchise had moviegoers terrified that a giant logging truck, or a poorly built rollercoaster could signal their demise.
But then the fourth and fifth Final Destination movies came and went, and fans grew less and less pleased with the franchise’s turn to 3D trends, bad acting, and shaky storylines ridden with plot holes. Final Destination 5 hit theaters in 2011, and for fourteen years, fans thought that that was the end of the Final Destination universe.
Cut to 2025, and Final Destination: Bloodlines is ready to drag the franchise back from the brink of death. This latest installment follows Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student plagued by a violent recurring nightmare involving an ill-fated tower, cracked glass floors, and a grand piano perched a little too precariously off its stage. Stefani eventually realizes that her bloodline is cursed and she must do everything she can to save her family members before death gets to them first. Filipino audiences may also enjoy the fact that Santa Juana and Teo Briones, who plays her younger brother Charlie, are both actors of Filipino descent.
Final Destination: Bloodlines leans hard into what the franchise does best: camp, gore, and a wicked imagination. The kills are believable enough to make you eye your surroundings with suspicion on the way out of the theater, but gloriously over-the-top enough to make you laugh at the idea of getting flattened by a grand piano.
Final Destination: Bloodlines makes no sense, and that’s why it works. Don’t think too hard about why Death is targeting this family, or why they couldn’t just escape Death through a loophole explained in Final Destination 2, and you’re guaranteed to have a good time.
