Final Destination Bloodlines remixes the franchise’s mythology by introducing the idea that Death’s design can extend towards descendants of its original victims. More than offering a fresh perspective on the series of overly complicated accidents that turned Final Destination into a hit horror franchise, Bloodlines uses its premise to revisit the rules of Death’s design and help iron out inconsistencies introduced in previous installments. By the time the credits roll, Final Destination Bloodlines offers fans a better understanding of how every franchise movie ties together and how people can escape Death once and for all. So, does someone survive their deadly ordeal in Final Destination Bloodlines?
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Warning: Spoilers below for Final Destination Bloodlines
Final Destination Bloodlines focuses on Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student who begins to experience terrifying nightmares about hundreds of people dying when a panoramic restaurant called Sky Tower topples down. Stefani finds out that the woman at the center of her recurring nightmare, Iris (Brec Bassinger), is her estranged grandmother. Once Stefani tracks Iris down (now played by Gabrielle Rose) to uncover the truth about her visions, she realizes her nightmares are the exact premonition Iris had decades earlier, which allowed her to save all the patrons and staff members of the Sky Tower.
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Since Death is a vindictive force with a penchant for the theatrics, all the survivors of the Sky Tower start to die in logic-defying accidents. However, since Iris saved so many people in the Sky Tower, some survivors have children or grandchildren before Death comes knocking at their door. This forces Death’s design to accommodate all the new life that wasn’t supposed to exist. Death’s plan is to wipe out each bloodline, one by one, tracking down every descendant of a victim before moving to the next name in its list.
Once Iris realizes what’s happening, she dedicates her life to understanding Death’s design. Eventually, Iris locks herself alone in a cabin in the woods to ensure she will live for as long as possible. That way, Iris can ensure the survival of her two children and all her grandchildren, who will be next on Death’s list once the matriarch dies. Unfortunately, no one can escape Death forever, and Iris eventually meets her end. That thrusts Stefani into a desperate race against the clock to figure out how to prevent her entire family from meeting a gruesome fate.
Final Destination Bloodlines Final Stand Against Death
In the final stretch of Final Destination Bloodlines, Stefani and all her relatives are fully aware of Death’s design. Thanks to a heartbreaking scene featuring Tony Todd’s William Bludworth, Stefani also learns that the only way to cheat Death is to kill someone and take their remaining years, or to die and be revived, gaining new life. Once the bloodline of Stefani’s uncle, Howard (Alex Zahara), is completely wiped out, her mother, Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt), becomes next on the list. To protect her children, Darlene decides to retreat to Iris’ old cabin in the woods, keeping herself safe from Death’s design for as long as she can.
Since it’s too dangerous for Darlene to drive alone to the cabin in her RV, as Death could easily kill her in a traffic accident, Stefani takes the wheel. They are joined by Stefani’s younger brother, Charlie (Teo Briones), who’s determined to help however he can. Once there, Stefani’s seatbelt jams, trapping her in the driver’s seat. Time is of the essence, so Charlie and Darlene exit the RV and rush towards the cabin. Death is smart, though, and it had years to prepare, so it forces a chain reaction that leads to an explosion that destroys the cabin and throws the RV into a nearby pond. Darlene is killed by a falling post, while Stefani slowly drowns inside the RV, unable to escape the entrapment of the seatbelt. In a heroic move, Charlie dives after his sister, using a pocket knife to cut her loose. The young man also applies CPR to revive his sister, finally breaking Death’s curse.
One week later, Charlie prepares for the prom. He and his sister slowly recover from the traumatic experience and are ready to make the most of the life they struggled so hard to keep. However, the father of Charlie’s date is a doctor who quickly explains that Stefani wasn’t actually resuscitated. If her heart had stopped, Charlie would not have been able to bring her back with CPR. Stefani and Charlie look at each other, realizing their understanding was wrong and that Death is still after them. Elsewhere, a chain reaction using the same coin that was supposed to kickstart the Sky Tower tragedy forces a train off its tracks and into the streets. Charlie and Stefani try to run away, but they are crushed by logs falling from the derailed train. Just like that, Death finally gets closure, eliminating the last people it needs to undo Iris’s intervention. It’s a happy ending… for Death, at least.
The credits for Final Destination Bloodlines reinforce the finality of this ending by showing how the newspaper scraps collected by Iris depict the deaths of previous movies. That means the survivors of every installment in the franchise are descendants of the Sky Tower accident, meaning Death has been hunting them down for decades. We must admire Death’s work ethic, as it mostly sticks to its rules while dealing with all the loose ends of an incomplete job, no matter how long it takes.
Final Destination Bloodlines is now playing in theaters.
How did you like Final Destination Bloodlines? Is the revival a worthy entry in the franchise? Let us know in the comments!
