Warner Bros.’ latest installment in the Final Destination franchise, Final Destination Bloodlines, continues to explore the inescapable nature of death’s revenge. The film follows the series’ long-standing theme of death targeting those who try to cheat fate. As the sixth entry in the franchise, the movie maintains its trademark intense gore and violence while attempting to incorporate elements of so-called “moral reflection.” However, this approach arguably heightens the film’s unsettling tone.
Shortly after the opening, the film presents multiple graphic scenes depicting characters being impaled, crushed, torn apart, or otherwise violently dispatched. Yet, due to a weak narrative foundation, these bloody sequences quickly lose their impact. What remains is a cold and cynical treatment of human life.
The story centers on college student Stephanie (played by Kaitlyn Santa Juana), who is tormented by recurring nightmares tied to a horrific disaster decades earlier at Skyview, a Space Needle–style restaurant. These nightmares severely impair her daily functioning, ultimately forcing her to drop out of school and return home. There, she uncovers a startling truth about Iris (Brick Basinger), a key figure linked to the disaster—revealed to be a younger version of Stephanie’s grandmother, now living reclusively in a bunker-like cabin deep in the woods.
Iris recounts the true events: she foresaw the impending collapse of Skyview, and while all occupants attempted to escape via elevator, death’s grasp proved inevitable. As the plot unfolds, the shadow of death extends over everyone connected to the incident, culminating in Iris becoming the next victim.
Directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky continue the franchise’s tradition by crafting meticulously staged death scenes featuring extreme and graphic demises, often accompanied by disturbing sounds of crushing and tearing. Writers Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor build a tense atmosphere emphasizing death’s merciless inevitability.
A notable plot element reveals that death’s curse can transfer among family members, following birth order. This leads to familial tensions as characters question their lineage and fate. Additionally, a brief but chilling scene shows two boys in a hospital being told that killing others can prolong their own lives, leading them to debate targeting a newborn baby or an elderly woman. Despite its brevity, this sequence is profoundly unsettling.
Overall, Final Destination Bloodlines is saturated with graphic violence and a devaluation of life, including the lives of infants, alongside crude language. OSV News rates the film as O (morally objectionable), while the Motion Picture Association assigns it an R rating, requiring viewers under 17 to be accompanied by an adult guardian. The film is poised to become one of Hollywood’s more controversial thrillers, leaving many viewers deeply disturbed.
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