The Final Destination franchise has been chilling audiences since its first film back in 2000, where the killer is Death, who doesn’t like being cheated when those who should have died, don’t. The last movie came out in 2011, and when it takes so long for another film to come out, it’s usually the kiss of death to a series. Going into this, the expectations were low, but I have to say, while it’s not as good as the original (whenever are they?), this was a far more entertaining entry to the series that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and in one particular scene, it is surprisingly emotional.

Stefani is a college student plagued by a recurring nightmare of a skyline restaurant that suffers a horrific accident. It becomes apparent that the events were a premonition of her grandmother, a woman who managed to save everyone that night and is the final target as death feels it has been robbed. To protect her granddaughter, she hands over a book of facts collected over the years that leads to a bloodline that her family will be next in death’s cruel game of collecting victims.

The thing about the Final Destination series is that it tries to get its audience to believe that death has a personal vendetta against anyone who cheats it, and so starts singling out those who escape it the first time. Death is the serial killer, the villain of the films, and once it catches up with the next to die, their deaths are as cruel, violent and often as incredibly inventive. Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein understand this and decide to go all out to make this as shocking as possible while giving knowing winks that this is utter nonsense, but just go with it.

Starting with a spectacular opening based around a restaurant high up in a tower, with glass floors and somewhat dodgy ironwork holding it together, the tension is built up slowly as we follow a young couple heading for the opening of this skyline and ending up part of a long sequence where the building collapses and bodies are thrown out to their ultimate demise. This, however, is nothing more than a gentle breaking in to the rest of the carnage that is to come.

Where the series wins favour is the way the deaths are set up. We get shots of objects that will eventually become involved. For example, a family barbeque has tragedy written all over when a shard of broken glass ends up hidden in a sink full of ice, but this is just the start of a chain reaction that will end in a very grisly death.

As the film progresses, the family involved in this deadly bloodline finds themselves trying to cheat death, but with disastrous results and some set pieces so unnerving that you do find yourself squirming slightly. Where the film doesn’t quite work is the use of CGI to complete the deaths. Gone are the days of practical effects, but this allows the filmmakers to go even more over the top with the gore.

The performances are fairly routine for this type of film, but it does have one moment that sends shivers down the spine and a sense of sadness. Tony Todd, who had appeared in previous films and was more known for playing Candyman, sadly died not long after completing this film. His scene is one quieter moment in which the actor, obviously looking ill, gives a speech that turns out to be closer to real life than anyone would have liked.

Final Destination: Bloodlines is a fine example of how to breathe new life into a franchise that we all thought ended. For fans of horror films and of the previous films, it will please them. It would have been better if the whole film hadn’t been based around CGI effects. We can say that Death isn’t the only one being cheated.

3 out of 5

Directors: Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein

Starring: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Tony Todd, Rya Kihlstedt, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Alex Zahara, April Telek

Written by: (also story) Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, (story) Jon Watts and (characters created) Jeffrey Reddick

Running Time: 110 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 14th May 2025