For 25 years and through five movies, the Final Destination franchise has been making people afraid to drive behind logging trucks and relax in tanning beds. It’s made me personally think twice about laser eye surgery, that’s for sure. And the hits keep coming, all the way up to and including the newest installment, .

Final Destination Bloodlines is about a young woman named Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana from The Friendship Game) who is plagued by a recurring nightmare about the collapse of a high-rise restaurant that kills hundreds of people. After a little investigation, Stefani discovers that her dream is actually a premonition that was had by her grandmother, Iris (Stargirl’s Brec Bassinger), that helped Iris save those hundreds of lives.

Final Destination fans see where this is going.

All of the lives saved by Iris wound up “cheating death,” and Death does not like to be cheated. So, one by one, the survivors die in brutal and mysterious ways as Death, an enigmatic supernatural force, tracks them down. Except the sheer number of lives saved by Iris means that it takes Death decades to do its job, so the survivors all start families of their own. And because none of these second- and third-generation survivors should be alive, Death goes after their…Bloodlines.

The Final Destination movies are as formulaic as they come. With the exception of Final Destination 2, which tossed in a secondary life/pregnancy angle, these movies are all the same. But the concept has managed to support, so far, six films. It’s not the story that gets fans coming to see Final Destination movies. The creativity is in how Death, the obvious antagonist of the series, goes about claiming its victims. Fans want unique and gruesome kill scenes. And that’s what they get. These are pretty much slasher movies with the paranormal entity of Death itself as the masked killer.

It’s worth noting that the nightmare of the premonition does give Final Destination Bloodlines a fresh take on things. In the hands of co-directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky (the duo behind Freaks), the script and story from Guy Busick (Ready or Not, Abigail), Lori Evans Taylor (Cellar Door, Bed Rest), and Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Cop Car) breathes new life into a premise that, while not at all stale, had been recycled for five movies. And while Final Destination Bloodlines is by no means a departure, it is a new direction that results in killing on a grander scale. And on a more ridiculous one.

Those Death-comes-calling scenes that keep the audiences coming back are more over-the-top and ludicrous this time around. While the domino effect, Rube Goldberg machine way that Death operates provides plenty of suspense and tension, the payoffs here are darkly comedic. In one of the early scenes, for example, the camera shows a piece of broken glass fall into an ice chest, a rake sitting underneath a trampoline that is wearing out, and gas seeping dangerously from a barbeque grill, all while revelers go about their merry way, oblivious to the constant danger. Some of these things are red herrings and some are indirect threats, but everything comes together in a kill that everyone knows is coming, they just don’t know how. And that’s the joy of it.

In true Final Destination fashion, the creative ways that Death kills are also very gory. The effects are clearly CGI, but that seems to work just fine in the context of what is going on. Heads explode, bodies catch on fire, limbs are impaled, and it’s all in the spirit of good old entrails-soaked fun. It’s the kind of stuff that makes horror fans giddy with laughter.

Another aspect of Final Destination Bloodlines that will please fans of the franchise is how it basically ties all of the previous movies together. While it’s always been clear that the series all takes place in the same universe, this latest installment provides rhyme and reason to the events of the previous entries. And while, sure, sometimes it raises more questions than it answers, it’s a Final Destination movie. Just go with it.

And speaking of tying the previous movies together, Final Destination Bloodlines features what would wind up being the last performance from the late, great Tony Todd, best known for both the Final Destination series and for being the original Candyman. Todd returns as the coroner Bludworth to give his usual sagely advice to the impending victims of Death. Todd clearly looks a bit more frail than usual, but it’s great to see him reprise the character that helped define the entire franchise. It somehow seems fitting for his final role to be as Bludworth.

Final Destination movies are kind of review-proof. People essentially know what to expect, and everyone who is interested already knows that they are going to see it. But if anyone is on the fence – see it. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does add a few spokes. And those spokes are splattered in blood.

Rating: R for violent, grisly accidents and language
Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Release Date: May 16, 2025
Studio: Warner Bros Pictures