Movie Review: The origin of Final Destination revealed in new horror thriller Bloodlines, actor Tony Todd’s last

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Our review of the movie Final Destination: Bloodlines, which sheds light on the origin of the franchise and features the late Tony Todd’s final appearance as the mortician.

This week’s release of Final Destination: Bloodlines is the fifth sequel to New Line Cinema's 2000 original—a movie that actually started as an X-Files episode. The story formula remains the same: a character has a vision of a mass tragedy, resulting in multiple deaths, and then steps in to prevent it, thereby pissing off Death. This time, though, there's a unique twist—the premonition takes place way before the first movie, seemingly in the 1960s. Preventing that catastrophe set off the chain reaction leading to all the Final Destination movies. Well, the events in the movies, at least.

Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), the protagonist, doesn't have the premonitions that Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) did in the original. Instead, they came from her grandmother—the woman who prevented hundreds of deaths in the ’60s disaster (the skyscraper restaurant collapse seen in the trailers). Stefani has to use the old woman’s notes, which document years of visions—including the Flight 180 crash in the first movie and the logging truck accident in the second—to try to ward off Death, which has now come for her family. The kicker? All those people saved in the '60s tragedy weren’t supposed to live, meaning their descendants weren’t supposed to exist. It’s taken Death decades to catch up (as seen in each movie). Presumably, there are more freak accidents happening every day (read the news, I guess), but in the Final Destination world, there’s no Mulder and Scully around to point that out.

The premise pulls a bit on credibility, considering that in most movies, Death doesn’t seem too interested in the parents of the doomed characters. But looking back at the first film, it’s actually the survivors from the fifth movie—who were also on the plane—that caused Death to go after Flight 180 in the first place. Browning and the others just got caught in the middle. Bloodlines backs up this theory when a non-family member bites it mid-film.

Another survivor—the last to die in the grandmother’s initial premonition—was a young boy named JB, who we learn is Tony Todd’s character, William Bloodworth, the mortician who has appeared throughout the series. Sadly, this is Todd’s swan song, as he passed away in real life after filming. While his appearance is brief, it doesn’t disappoint.

If you're here for suspense and gore, you’ll get plenty, but if you’re looking for a thrilling mystery with solid character drama, you'll be happy too. It doesn’t live up to the first one—nothing likely ever will—but we still recommend seeing it.

The best part of this flick? The subtle nods to the previous films. Everything seems wrapped up—or so we think. We’re always down for a good mid-20th century period piece, but the next entry should go back to the beginning. And by that, I mean bring back Devon Sawa’s Alex Browning. Yeah, the brick supposedly killed him off-screen, but what if it didn’t? What if he’s cheated Death just like the old woman in Bloodlines? Bring back the FBI agents from the first movie, too. Having an outsider’s point of view—like law enforcement—added tension to the original, but the sequels haven’t pursued that angle. It’d be a welcome return.

I’m always torn between watching movies in theaters or waiting for streaming. The experience is never great, and the whole thing feels like a chore, but I still want to support our only small theater whenever I can.

In the case of Final Destination: Bloodlines, time flew by. Once the 900 trailers and commercials (seriously, who wants TV ads on the big screen?) were out of the way, the movie delivered a thrill ride packed with layered storytelling, scares, and gruesome deaths. This one is definitely a theater movie. Go see it—for no other reason than to ensure they make more. And one day, Alex Browning might return for a final battle to the death.

Oh…see what I did there?

Four and a half pennies out of five. Or, if you prefer, four and a half nuts out of five. Apparently, they’ll both kill you.