After five movies over 11 years, 2011’s Final Destination 5 appeared to end a series that began in 2000. However, successful horror franchises never die, and this one returns with 2025’s Final Destination: Bloodlines.

College student Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) suffers from terrifying recurring nightmares in which she sees the horrifying deaths of dozens when a Space Needle-style tower collapses in the late 1960s. These appear to connect to her estranged grandmother Iris, so she connects with her family to investigate.

When Stefani finds her granny (Gabrielle Rose), she discovers that a premonition warned Iris of the 1969 tower disaster and she averted it at the time – or so she thought, as death stalked and claimed the intended victims over the years. Death appears to come after all the descendants of those who should’ve died in 1969 as well, so Stefani needs to figure out how to break the curse and keep her family safe.

That feels like a lot of plot for this particular franchise. Face it: no one goes to Final Destination movies with deep characters and compelling narrative beats.

This means that Bloodlines can feel unnecessarily complicated. It throws out so many curves related to Stefani’s clan that the end result can seem a bit messy.

It feels weird to argue that a movie needs thinner characters and a lighter narrative. However, horror flicks tend to rely on their mayhem so if they bog down in semi-complex story beats, the final product may lose some punch.

Despite these potential issues, Bloodlines sets out what it attempts to do. We get the expected mix of graphic violence, dark comedy and tension.

Though perhaps not a lot of tension because we know pretty much everyone will die. Few folks from prior films managed to survive their brush with death.

I admit I don’t love the series’ nihilism. I get that this serves a purpose thematically but it can become hard to embrace movies in which we know the characters will get killed.

Spoiler alert? Maybe, but only if you never saw a Final Destination flick until this one.

As I implied earlier, though, fans of horror franchises don’t tend to want to see movies that deviate tremendously from their MO. I suspect they’d feel less than thrilled with a Final Destination tale that came with a happy-sunny finale.

But I think some variation in that domain would make the movies less predictable. If viewers thought the characters might actually survive, that would increase the tension.

All of this feels like I’m complaining too much about a film I actually found pretty entertaining. Despite its sense of narrative inevitability, Bloodlines manages to find a lot of creativity.

As with prior entries in the series, the main “fun” comes from the way Bloodlines toys with the audience. It throws out red herrings galore and capitalizes on the many ways the environment in which we live could kill us.

My viewing of Bloodlines made me eager to surround myself in bubble wrap and never leave the house. But if I did that in the Final Destination universe, a piece of bubble wrap would come off and choke me in my sleep.

That’s the kind of ominous environment Bloodlines produces, and the film revels in all the various possible methods of death. The movie develops these in a crazed manner that makes the movie compelling.

As with the prior chapters, we know the order in which characters will die. This makes our discovery of how death will arrive the most delightful aspect of Bloodlines, and the filmmakers know it.

This leads to drawn out prefaces to the deaths and complicated “Rube Goldberg” slayings. Bloodlines understands the dark comedy of all this and plays these elements well.

Fans of overt gore will get what they want, too, as Bloodlines comes with a bunch of truly nasty killings. The squeamish should stay away, but fans will enjoy the extreme massacres.

Really, it’s that over the top nature of Bloodlines that makes it entertaining. As a cynical romp through multiple horrible deaths, it delivers perverse thrills.

Footnote: during the start of the end credits, we see information about how the various “Sky Tower victims” died.

Final Destination: Bloodlines appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K product, the movie delivered an excellent Dolby Vision image.

Sharpness worked well. Nary a sliver of softness occurred, and this meant the flick boasted solid delineation.

No concerns with jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws failed to become an issue.

The movie’s palette tended toward a generally low-key set of ambers along with some teal as well. The hues came across as intended and HDR gave them some added range.

Blacks felt deep and dark, while shadows brought positive clarity. HDR added punch to whites and contrast. I felt happy with this top-notch presentation.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos mix suited the story at hand. This meant it didn’t dazzle at all times but it fleshed out the spectrum in a satisfying manner.

Of course, the many violent moments offered the most engaging material, and they used the various speakers in a vivid manner. Environmental information as well as music also filled the soundscape in a rich way.

Audio quality pleased, with speech that appeared natural and concise. Music felt full and dynamic.

Effects came across as accurate and bold, with solid low-end. I thought the audio added to the experience.

As we head to extras, we get an audio commentary from directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion of story/characters, connections to other movies and Easter eggs, cast and performances, sets and locations, music and audio, editing, effects and stunts.

Chatty and active from start to finish, the directors touch on all the appropriate topics and do so with verve. They make this a pretty terrific track.

We also find three featurettes, and Death Becomes Them goes for six minutes, 11 seconds. It involves Stein, Lipovsky, producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanna Taylor, key stunt rigger Dustin Brooks, and actors Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones, Brec Bassinger, Teo Briones, Tinpo Lee, and Anna Lore.

The show examines cast and characters, the director’s work on the set, links to the rest of the franchise, stunts, and the series’ legacy, A few minor insights emerge but “Them” remains too fluffy to tell us much of value.

The Many Deaths of Bloodlines spans seven minutes, 26 seconds. We get notes from Stein, Lipovsky, Lore, Bassinger, Perry, Lloyd-Jones, Brooks, Harmon, Joyner, Santa Juana, costume designer Michelle Hunter, stunt coordinator Simon Burnett, special effects coordinator, director of photography Christian Sebaldt, isual effects superrvisor Nordin Rahhali and actor Bernard Cuffling.

Unsurprisingly, the short gets into the gory demises seen in the film. Though not a deep dive, it comes with some useful details.

Finally, The Legacy of Bludworth occupies five minutes, 24 seconds. This one delivers info from Stein, Lipovsky, Santa Juana, Taylor, Bassinger, Perry, Lore, Joyner, Harmon, Briones, and actors Tony Todd and Rya Kihlstedt.

The program discusses the Bludworth role and his participation across the franchise. It mixes some decent notes with an epitaph for Todd since the actor died

After 14 years, the Final Destination franchise returns with Bloodlines. Though it doesn’t reinvent the gory wheel, it comes with the expected sadistic antics. The 4K UHD offers strong picture and audio as well as supplements highlighted by an excellent commentary. Bloodlines should satisfy fans of the series.