The Final Destination franchise has never been a prestigious one. It’s the Fast and Furious of horror. The standards for a good Final Destination film, in my view, are creative kills and expansion of the mythology. Bloodlines meets these standards more than adequately, creating one of the best entries in the series and, potentially, the best conclusion.

Due to a recurring nightmare, Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) abandons her studies and returns home to recuperate. To her surprise, the source of her nightmare is within her own family as she discovers a distant relative who claims that death itself is targeting her and her loved ones.

The Characters.

Yep. I’m talking about the characters in a Final Destination film. Right off the bat, Bloodlines feels like it’s written by people who know what horror fans can’t stand. Horror fans will take one look at Stefani and immediately guess her purpose; she’s the final girl, our surrogate for the plot. All the other characters are red shirts.  

Fortunately, Bloodlines anticipates these expectations and fulfils them in ways that are surprisingly entertaining. All the scenes in the first act are multipurpose. One scene doesn’t do one thing. While establishing character, a scene will convey backstory or lore. If you find Stefani’s cousins a little annoying in their first scene, don’t worry. Their introduction isn’t the only thing going on. Stefani learns about her heritage, which becomes relevant to her understanding of her nightmare.

Bloodlines teaches us about the characters by showing them in action, a basic strategy many mainstream horrors don’t utilise. This strategy gives the film a great pace. There is no scene featuring a supporting character that isn’t compelling in some way, which is incredible for what is essentially a teen slasher.

Questions pondered upon by fans come up in Stefani’s investigation almost immediately, which just makes the pacing even more rewarding. The third and fourth films were always my least favourite, mostly because they didn’t reveal anything new. They just repeated the format set up by the first one. Bloodlines knows that, being the sixth film in the series, it cannot afford to be timid, hence it unravels all the enigmas, including William Bludworth (the late great Tony Todd).

The Kills

Apart from an overreliance on CGI, the deaths in Bloodlines are some of the most gruesome and shocking yet. Like great slapstick, all the kills are meticulously set up. They immediately get your imagination going as you try to predict how everything shown will come together and shed blood.

There are a couple of things that make the kills in Bloodlines unique. Firstly, some setups turn out to be red herrings, which keep you on your toes. Secondly, some of the kills are so extreme, so over the top, that you can’t help but laugh. These kinds of kills give the impression that Bloodlines is aware of how silly the Final Destination premise can be and is not afraid to embrace it. How can you not respect that?

If Bloodlines is to be the final film in the series, then I think that would be a good move in all honesty. It wraps up everything, and you get the sense that the people making it gave it their all. If Bloodlines isn’t to be the final film in the series, that’s ok too. However, my only concern would be subsequent sequels not being up to standard.

All in all, Bloodlines is undoubtedly one of the best entries in the Final Destination franchise and a great high to end on. Needless to say, if they make another one, it better be good.

I give Final Destination Bloodlines a slippery 7 out of 10.

Rest in power Tony Todd.