Review of FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES: Deliverance from Death?

May 20, 2025

"Final Destination" is a horror film franchise that began in 2000. It was about a group of young people who cheated death by missing an airplane that exploded in mid-air, so Death went after them to kill them one by one in gruesome fashion. The story of this first film was actually a repurposing of an idea for the "X-Files" TV series, hence X-philes will recognize the names of director James Wong, and his writing partner Glen Morgan among the creatives behind it. 

Over the years, there had been four more sequels that followed the same story framework -- a premonition causing some people meant to die to avoid dying in a disaster, so a piqued Death came after these survivors. FD2 (2003) was about a massive vehicular pile-up on the expressway. FD3 (2006) was about a roller coaster crash. FD4 (2009) was about a race car crashing into the grandstand. FD5 (2011) was about a major bridge collapsing in a city. 

It was only 14 years later that a new sequel has been released, still following the same formula. In 1968, Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) had a premonition that the glass floor of a nightclub at the top of a new tower was breaking, and her warning saved everyone there. In the present time, Stefani Ramos (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) was having bad nightmares about that disaster, and surmised that Iris was her estranged grandmother (Gabrielle Rose).  

The big twist here was that Death was exacting revenge not only on the main clairvoyant, but also on her whole family. Stefani noted that Death may be going for her relatives in order of seniority, and this upped the sense of paranoia especially for the next one in line. The fact that this series of deaths were happening within a family also gives a different dynamic.  As it had been for the past films, the main draw of this film was the wild mechanisms of death and gore level of these kills -- the more over-the-top, the more gruesome, the better. 

For true fans of film horror, there was a sentimental moment in the middle of this new film because of a cameo from a horror film icon -- Tony Todd. While he was better known as "Candyman" (1992), Todd also appeared in FD 1, 2 and 5 as mortician William Bludworth. In his one scene, Todd already looked weak and cachectic from the stomach cancer he was suffering from. He delivered a line about the preciousness of life, reportedly unscripted, that will surely connect emotionally with viewers.  This was Todd's final screen appearance. 7/10