Gruesome deaths, tongue-in-cheek humour, and one last haunting turn from Tony Todd give this unexpected final chapter a shockingly fun farewell.
Okay, so what number is this? FD 14? 80? Final Destination 482?
Meh, who cares.
To be perfectly honest, I really wasn’t expecting much from this, so did it deliver? Drum roll… well, you’ll see.
The plot is: College student, Stefani, is plagued by the same super-violent nightmare night after night so investigates to find out what’s the deal. Then blah de blah, something, something about cheating death and it coming back to get you.
IRL SPOILER ALERT: Death catches up with everyone in the end.
Starring… well, I don’t know. Other than Tony Todd (in his final role before his passing) reprising his usual role, there’s no big ‘stars’… unless you count the Maya Hawke lookalike. This obviously makes the cast extra-expendable when they meet their bloody end. And boy oh boy, did they not scrimp on the blood and gore!!!
Every death is gratuitously gore-rific. The audience at the screening, the sick puppies they were, erupted in absolute fits of laughter every time one of the characters was killed.
Again, sick puppies… myself included of course.
But that’s it too. It most definitely plays for laughs. The writers are comedy and/or horror specialists. Between them they are responsible for: “Abigail”, “Ready or Not”, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” to name but a few. And they’ve had a great deal of fun with the script for this.
The Prognosis:
For me, “Final Destination: Bloodlines” was a great surprise. The makers have promised this is the final chapter of the long-exhausted franchise but hooly dooly, what a way to go out.
Now let the franchise die and head to its final destination.
The turn of the millennium was a defining moment for horror, giving rise to new trends and innovative storytelling. Among them, Final Destination (2000) arrived with a fresh, terrifying concept—one that not only played with the supernatural but also turned everyday life into a potential death trap. Directed by James Wong and co-written with longtime X-Files collaborator Glen Morgan, the film turned the slasher genre on its head by removing the traditional masked killer and replacing it with something far more sinister: Death itself.
What sets Final Destination apart is its antagonist—or rather, the lack of one. Death is an omnipresent force, stalking those who were never meant to survive. Unlike slashers where the villain can be outrun or outwitted, Death is patient, meticulous, and utterly inevitable. The film introduces the concept of “Death’s Design,” a predestined pattern that, once disrupted, seeks to correct itself. The brilliance of this idea lies in its execution: every near-miss, every subtle hint, and every Rube Goldberg-like demise adds to the sense of unease, making audiences hyper-aware of their surroundings.
One of the most memorable elements of Final Destination is the brief yet powerful appearance of Tony Todd as Bludworth, a mortician who seems to know far more than he lets on. His eerie demeanour and cryptic warnings serve as a grim reminder that Death is not something to be played with. Todd’s performance elevates the film, adding a sense of mythos and foreboding that lingers long after his character exits the screen.
Much of Final Destination’s effectiveness comes from its strong cast, led by Devon Sawa as the reluctant psychic Alex Browning. Sawa brings a raw intensity to the role, capturing the paranoia and helplessness of someone who can see what’s coming but can’t fully prevent it. Ali Larter’s Clear Rivers provides a grounded, emotional counterbalance, while Kerr Smith’s jock-turned-survivor adds depth to what could have been a stock character. Seann William Scott, fresh off American Pie, plays against type as the vulnerable Billy, while Kristen Cloke’s panicked teacher gives the film one of its most unsettling sequences.
While some horror films rely on a knife-wielding maniac or grotesque monsters, Final Destination finds horror in the mundane. Death’s methods are elaborate, with each kill playing out like a meticulously planned accident. The infamous bus scene, which arrives with no warning, remains one of the best jump scares in modern horror. The bathtub electrocution, the train decapitation, and the airport bathroom sequence—all highlight the film’s ability to make even the most ordinary moments feel like impending doom. The unpredictability keeps audiences on edge, reinforcing the film’s central theme: no one is safe.
One of the film’s most intriguing recurring motifs is the number 180. Flight 180 is the ill-fated plane that Alex and his classmates were meant to die on, but the number continues to appear throughout the movie in subtle and eerie ways. From license plates to clock readouts, the presence of “180” serves as a constant reminder that Death has not forgotten. It’s a clever detail that rewards attentive viewers and adds to the film’s underlying sense of inevitability.
Final Destination kickstarted a franchise that would spawn four sequels, each expanding on the concept of Death’s Design with increasingly elaborate and over-the-top kill sequences. While the later films often leaned into spectacle, the original remains the most grounded, effectively blending psychological tension with supernatural horror. More importantly, it left a lasting impact on horror cinema—introducing a new kind of fear that made people second-guess every seemingly harmless situation in their daily lives.
The Prognosis:
With its gripping concept, strong performances, and masterful execution of suspenseful set pieces, Final Destination remains one of the standout horror films of the early 2000s. It took the slasher formula and reinvented it, proving that horror doesn’t need a masked villain when fate itself is the enemy. Even after 24 years, the film still resonates, reminding us that no matter how hard we try, you can’t cheat Death.
Surgeons of Horror 