Final Destination: Bloodlines review – A slick, ghoulishly entertaining reboot
The first film in the horror franchise for 14 years is suitably wince-worthy and packed with gallows humour.
When it comes to horror-movie franchises, many have lengthy success and then eventually wither, but they never really die. Right now, both the Scream and Saw series are back in their murderous groove following a hiatus, and there's even a new instalment due for release in 2025 for another gore horse, I Know What You Did Last Summer.
So maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised that a new entry in the Final Destination franchise has been produced. Launched in 2000, the first in the series took teen horror away from slasher antics and made Death himself the relentless villain after being cheated of lives by a high-school student’s premonition of an air crash. The survivors then become victims of violently horrific "accidents", even after they realise what is out to get them and the order in which they will perish.
The macabre methods of demise, the ominous atmosphere and a decent cast established the creepy template but over four further films, only the elaborate death-dealing carnage tended to stick in the memory, although Final Destination 5 (2011) did tie off at least one narrative loop.
Now, 14 years after that fifth film comes this tension-filled reboot, only here Death is spreading his wings further than just a few frantic survivors of a crash or bridge collapse.
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In a dazzling opening, lovey-dovey couple Iris and Paul are attending the 1968 opening of the Skyview Restaurant Tower where the party (on a glass dance floor!) is really swinging to a storming rendition of Lulu’s Shout. Everything is wrapped in a sun-dappled glow that belies the premonition/catastrophe to come, which takes its cue from the fiery and vertiginous terror of '70s disaster epics like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.
Cut to the present, and student Stefani Reyes (Kaitlin Santa Juana) is plagued with visions of the Skyview incident, and returns to her parents’ home where her search for answers unearths long-buried family secrets involving her estranged mother and a reclusive grandmother.
However, her arrival also drags her brother, her uncle and her three cousins into a new game of (avoiding) death, which is brought home gruesomely at a family barbecue. Take your pick from a gas canister, trampoline, assorted gardening tools or a simple shard of glass as to what unleashes the grisly mayhem.
The wrong-footing close calls and death-dealing set pieces are suitably wince-worthy – anyone with a metal-piercing somewhere on the body may want to look away – but the “familial unit as prey” connection adds a different dimension to the doomy proceedings.
Also eye-catching is the swansong of the late Tony Todd whose creepy, enigmatic William Bludworth appeared in four of the previous Final Destinations, and pops up to impart some much-needed advice on how to dodge Death’s clutches as well as finally revealing his own personal connection to events.
It is a poignant moment and a fitting tribute to the veteran actor who became a horror icon himself after playing the hook-wielding Candyman, and died last year before the release of the film, which is dedicated to him.
Co-directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky proved their genre mettle with 2018 sci-fi thriller Freaks starring Emile Hirsch and Bruce Dern, and here, produce plenty of gallows humour to accompany the torturous torment and blood-letting thanks to classic tunes like Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, Without You and Spirit in the Sky.
The result is a slick, ghoulishly entertaining reboot.
Final Destination: Bloodlines is released in UK cinemas on Wednesday 14th May 2025.
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