Commentary: ‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ Stretches The Formula

The Final Destination franchise burned very hot and short. When it first burst on the scene, it had numerous installments, all of which followed the same formula, starting with a premonition before featuring a series of grisly deaths. Fans of the series liked the formula, and so that’s why filmmakers kept to it with small tweaks along the way. But it definitely faced the law of diminishing returns. After a while, the formula became tired and the franchise was put on hiatus. Final Destination Bloodlines brings it back from dormancy, and although it more or less follows the same format, it blows it up to immense proportions.

The film starts in the 1960s as Iris (Brec Bassinger) has a premonition of a restaurant atop a giant tower collapsing. Many people would have died in the accident, but Iris saved all of their lives, causing entire generations to be born because of her actions. These people should have never existed, so Death spends the decades going after them, saving Iris and her family for last. When their time is up, her granddaughter, Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), is haunted by premonitions of her own and seeks to save her family before it’s too late.

For the most part, the Final Destination films dealt in the present and the immediate aftermath of the initial premonition. It has explored the unintended consequences of these premonitions a bit, but never to the extent that Bloodlines does. Usually, it’s a small group of survivors who are affected, and Death begins to hunt them. Bloodlines brings the franchise back decades, allowing a large group of people to survive and spread out those unintended consequences to a number of families and generations. The film takes the overall formula to an extreme. It’s unclear whether or not that approach will work with another installment, but for now, it was an interesting decision and allowed the series to survive a bit longer.

Final Destination Bloodlines is now streaming on HBO Max.