Final Destination Bloodlines
Hey everyone, and welcome. Today, we will be talking about the film Final Destination Bloodlines. Fun Fact: Tony Todd has appeared in the most Final Destination movies playing William Bludsworth, the man who usually gives the main characters a clue about how to understand death. Unfortunately, Tony Todd passed away, and this was his last role, which makes what is his character's last line bittersweet when he says, "Life is precious. Enjoy every single second. You never know when.”This film came out in 2025 and stars Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, and Richard Harmon, and was directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein. So without further ado, let's get right into it.
Final Destination Bloodlines follows Stefani, who has dreams of her grandmother, Iris, at the opening of the Skyview in 1968, and sees how everyone was going to die until her grandmother saved them. Stef returns home and is on a mission to hunt down her grandmother and learn more, which brings death knocking on her family's door.
Final Destination Bloodlines is a horror film. It has similar vibes to Final Destination 2, The Monkey, or Saw X.
Final Destination is one of the horror movies that started my love for the genre because I just thought it was such a cool idea. I’ve seen them all and obviously the first one stands out but then theres the 5th one that stood out because it directly ties back to the first at the the end and then this one adds to the lore by having the main characters grandmother save so many people that it took death so long to get through their families. It's such a cool way to expand on the lore of the film to show that so many deaths were delayed by this grandmother saving everyone, and how death has a particular order that it won't divert from. Death is a tricky bastard, and if there is one thing these films have told me, it's that if by the end you are too confident that you are safe, well, you probably are not.
The Final Destination films have these iconic opening sequences that have definitely stuck with me, cause til this day, I will not be driving behind a truck with logs, and this film was no exception. The film starts off at this place, the Skyview, where all the deaths happen, which go from bad to worse. It looks like the Space Needle to me, which does have a clear floor where you can see all the way down, and at least this one didn't rotate, but it does crack, which sends so many to their death. I love how the creators aren't just like everyone dies and moves on, they show specifically how everyone dies and take some time out to highlight some important ones. While I already didn't want to go to the Space Needle again, this solidified it. It was a great opening and really made you grasp how many people she saved, which I think is more than any of the other premonitions.
Having this story revolve around a family was cool because it adds to the emotional impact of the movie and makes you care more. Don't get me wrong, I have cared about the other characters, but seeing how this entire family was getting picked off was so sad. I love how the grandma kept notes, and unfortunately, in order to prove she was right, she let death take her, but she helped get past that learning curve that we see in the movies, where they don't know what is going on. I love how the bait and switch with the oldest cousin, who I must add annoyed me, who we think died but doesn’t, then Stef explains ways he could die which ends up being the way his sister dies, and then we find out that its because he had a different dad so he wasn’t actually related to the anyone in line for death. He tries to help trick death, so he eventually dies, but that was a nice twist. It's smart to make it center around a family, too, because the premonition didn't happen to her, so you couldn't get the group together that way, but instead, you can get them together because they are related. The family dynamic just increased my interest in the film's characters and made me root for them more.
For some reason, I didn't connect the dots that the little black kid was the one black person who always comes up in these movies, William Bludsworth. He is played by Tony Todd, who unfortunately passed, and got to help one last group accept their fate. I love how they tie him into the story, and even though his role is so small, it's always important. I love that they included him and how the film immediately shows why they should listen to him when they play with death, and death decides to take someone not on its list, but he did warn them. It's nice that Tony Todd made an appearance, and sad that he is gone.
I love how the deaths are always not what you expect, or maybe they are what you expect, but there are just so many options as to what could be the cause. I love the constant bait and switch, like with the uncle, we think someone might drink the glass and die that way, but it's actually not, but the glass still plays a part because it's what causes him to get cut and fall to the ground, allowing his head to get cut. I love how they present it like it will be this and then you're like, oh, it won't be that, it'll be something else, and you may be right, but the original thing will play a part in the scenario. I do think the effects in some of the death scenes weren’t the best, which made it look like some of the deaths looked a little too fake. I do think this franchise has always been super creative when figuring out these deaths, which makes it interesting.
I did wonder if this film was connected to any of the other films because that board had so many people. Even if it's not, I feel like them having this board opens the franchise up to explore prequels as an idea, and it would be interesting to see them tie in the premonition. This is one of those franchises where having the movies connect is fun, but they don't actually need to.
My favorite part of the movie is the last deaths of Stef and Charlie, who think they are in the clear. These show how cheating death isn't easy and how you need to know what it means to really die and come back to life, not assume. First off, I think they forgot that even if Stef died and came back to life, she would be in the clear, not Charlie. I love how they tell this doctor this, and he laughs and is like You didn't die, you just passed out, and you see them freak out. It's also important to note that Stef gets pricked by Charlie's boutonnière, and if you know the Final Destination movies, then you know that once someone pricks their finger, they are about to die. A train derails and wipes out the entire neighborhood, and what ends up killing them, you may ask, are logs, just like the ones that traumatized a generation from the second film. I love how it's different from that film, but that they understand how many people have talked about the log scene, and they decided to make a call back to it, but make it a little different. The ending also solidifies the idea once again that death can't be fooled, but it does like to play with its prey from time to time.
Final Destination Bloodlines is a great entry into the franchise that shows how to keep true to predecessors while doing something a little different. It will have you wondering how everyone will die, and may have you paranoid in real life. The cast was great and made me think that there are still more things that they can do in the franchise to keep it alive.
