#REVIEW: “FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

The Franchise about cheating death had died… or so we thought. There really was no way there wouldn’t be excitement for a new Final Destination movie, but with Final Destination Bloodlines, we have genuinely, the best entry into the Series, breaking the mold and upping the stakes tenfold.

Co-Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein who were behind 2018’s Freaks and Writer Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick, the latter of which wrote Ready or Not, Scream V, Scream VI, and Abigail, are responsible for this successful resurrection. It has all the makings for the death ride of a lifetime. This entire Franchise has been based on premonitions of death, so when we slightly change that formula, it takes us for a spin – but honestly the change is wonderful. It starts in the ’50s with a couple Iris (Brec Bassinger) and her boyfriend (Max Lloyd-Jones) about to engage on an evening of elegance at the Skyview – a new sky-high restaurant. Iris is uneasy with the packed elevator, and as the night continues to be magical, everything dives south. The glass floor begins to crack and inevitably gives. The building is unstable, and eventually everyone, Iris included plummets to their demise. There is one death in particular that had the entire audience roar with cheer because it is the gnarliest, most deserved deaths of the Franchise!

As it typically goes with the Final Destination series, Iris would now wake up and tell everyone to get out of the restaurant and save everyone – but instead Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) wakes up and we find out it’s a reoccurring nightmare she’s been having for two months about her grandmother – a grandmother she was convinced was dead – or so her family told her. She returns home to her ecstatic father, Marty (Tinpo Lee) and her less-than-enthused brother, Charlie (Teo Briones). She explains the dreams she’s been having and wants her mom, Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt) to find Iris, as Darlene walked out on them when Stefani was ten years old. Her father tells her to reach out to her Uncle Howard (Alex Zahara) and when she presses him and his wife Aunt Brenda (April Telek) they warn her against finding Iris. Stefani refuses to listen because she needs to escape this hellscape she’s trapped in, she finds her way to Old Iris (Gabrielle Rose) who tells her how she cheated death and has protected herself all these years. Stefani has to learn her ways to protect the rest of her bloodline. However, Stefani rightfully is freaked-out and refuses to listen until she is not given a choice but to believe it after Death makes its presence known and wreaks havoc. She must protect herself, Charlie, Darlene and her cousins Erik (Richard Harmon), Julia (Anna Lore), and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner) before Death takes its course.

This audience is here for the gore and kills and if there are good performances, all the better. The kills in Final Destination Bloodlines are terrific – terrifying, grotesque and absolutely brutal. These kills are perhaps the best of the Franchise yet. Granted nothing is going to top the notorious log-death premonition as that is truly a masterful bit of insanity, but the deaths in Bloodline are top-tier – some of these deaths rival the infamous gymnastics death in terms of brutality or the elevator death for that matter.

It is the Cast that brings this to its full potential – and not just the incredible cameo by series regular Tony Todd playing William Bludworth. While Bassinger playing ’50s Iris is a doe-eyed pinup personified, it works for the time period and helps set everything up. Moreover, Santa Juana and Harmon are standouts in Bloodlines, as they play the opposite ends of the spectrum with skeptic and believer juxtaposed – both wanting and not wanting to taunt death.  The Supporting Cast are all great as well – with a special shoutout to Gabrielle Rose, who is also absolutely magnificent.

Taking a franchise that has had two separate endings and one incredibly distinct and clear finale and breathing life into it is a hard task. However, Screenwriters Busick and Taylor, along with Co-Directors Lipovsky and Stein told Death to hold their beer and breathed new life into this Franchise, while playing homage to its predecessors. Truly a gory good time that merits multiple viewings. We’re talking heart palpitations throughout with these adrenaline-fueled thrills!

Warner Bros. Pictures Canada release FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES in theaters on Friday, May 16, 2025.