STACK #250 August 2025

FEATURE MOVIE

GENRE: Horror Mystery RUN TIME: 1h 50m

The latest chapter in this bloody successful franchise takes audiences back to the very beginning of Death’s twisted sense of justice in Final Destination: Bloodlines . Words Gill Pringle I f you’re a fan of the Final Destination franchise, you probably know it’s all about cheating Death - and paying for it in

gruesome accidents. And this latest film is both a throwback to what people loved about the series and an attempt to expand the mythology in an unexpected way. At its core, Bloodlines sticks to the franchise formula: a group of people escapes a catastrophic disaster thanks to a premonition, only for Death to hunt them down one by one in increasingly creative and horrifying ways. But this time, there’s a twist baked into the title itself. The “bloodlines” part suggests that Death’s design doesn’t just target those who cheat it in the moment - it extends to their family trees. This idea gives the movie new stakes. It’s not just “I want to survive,” but now it’s “If I survive, I might doom someone I love,” adding new layers of tension and moral dilemma.

out into the middle of the road and something falls off a truck and takes my head off?’ “So this story taps into the

construction site with towering cranes, collapsing floors, and an insane chain reaction of falling debris, it’s exactly the kind of spectacle fans expect - and co-directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein are happy to give it to them. “When we heard that Warner Bros. was reinventing the Final Destination franchise in a way that made it new for this age - but also much more character driven - we went through the process of trying to convince the powers that-be that we were the filmmakers who should bring it to life. We even faked our own death in the pitch meeting to show them we understood the DNA of Final Destination,” says Lipovsky. And he’s not kidding. Together they ratchet up the suspense, giving you multiple “it’s going to happen now - no, wait!” fake-outs before the big carnage. Fans of the original franchise, the directors spent a lot of time pondering why it is that these films tap into our psyche. “Final Destination really brings to life anxieties that everyone experiences,” says Stein. “Everyone has those intrusive thoughts where they think, ‘What if I step

fear of, ‘What if that were real? What if those anxious thoughts were brought to life?’ And the other part of it that I think people really relate to is the idea of fate. Can you change your life’s path, or are you fated to follow this path that’s been set out for you? The other thing that we think makes Final Destination so special as a horror franchise is that there’s no personified villain,” he says. He has a point. Overall, Final Destination: Bloodlines is a fun, nasty return to form that gives the franchise just enough of a new hook to justify its existence. If you’re in the mood for some inventive, over-the-top horror deaths and that creeping dread that comes from seeing

The opening disaster is classic Final Destination . Set at a massive urban

every ordinary object as a potential weapon of fate, this one surely delivers.

The cast and crew with series legend TonyTodd, who sadly passed away before the film’s release.

• Final Destination: Bloodlines is out Aug 13

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