The Final Destination franchise has always relished in turning the ordinary into the extraordinarily lethal -- delivering a pulse-pounding cocktail of suspense, chaos and inevitable death. Now, over a decade after the last instalment, the series is back on the big screen with Final Destination: Bloodlines, a visceral, terrifying reinvention that digs deeper into emotional stakes while doubling down on its signature Rube Goldberg-style carnage.
Directed by Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky, Bloodlines centres on Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student plagued by violent, recurring nightmares. Drawn back to her hometown, she seeks out her enigmatic grandmother, Iris (Gabrielle Rose), hoping to uncover a dark secret buried in the past. What she discovers is a decades-old tragedy linked to averted disaster in 1968 and an ancestral curse that Death is determined to fulfil.
"When we heard that Warner Bros was reinventing the Final Destination franchise in a way that made it new for this age -- and also much more character driven -- we went through the process of trying to convince the powers that be we were the filmmakers who should bring it to life," said Zach Lipovsky during a recent online conference along with co-director Adam Stein. "We even faked our own death in the pitch meeting to show them we understood the DNA of Final Destination."
It was that level of commitment -- and love for the genre -- that earned Stein and Lipovsky the keys to Death's deadly playground. Collaborating with producer Jon Watts and writers Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, the pair helped craft a chillingly intimate story that pulls the franchise in a new, more personal direction.
Kaitlyn Santa Juana as Stefani Reyes. Photos Courtesy of WARNER BROS PICTURES
"Jon Watts came up with the story for this film based around a family and its bloodline, where death is making its way down a family tree," Stein explained. "We thought that was such a great way into this franchise. The other movies were about groups of friends or even groups of strangers. But this is a family all trying to survive together. And something about that felt a lot more relatable, emotional and personal."
What hasn't changed is the franchise's signature hook: death as an unseen but inescapable force, weaving elaborate traps out of the mundane.
"There's no man with a knife. Death itself is the villain," Lipovsky emphasised.
"There's no monster that's coming after them," Stein added. "It's all the inanimate, domino effect, chaos theory of how these people are going to get killed… That's become part of the franchise's trademark and something that we had a lot of fun bringing to life.
"The fun of Final Destination is all those little elements that lead up to deaths," Stein said. "It's basically up to the filmmakers to bring it to life. It's really the filmmaking that is the villain that's chasing the characters."
This unique demand challenges directors not just to scare, but engage audiences in an active guessing game -- a core part of the experience.
"The audience is participating in every Final Destination movie," said Lipovsky. "You're sitting in the theatre, you know what's gonna happen but you also know that there are gonna be surprises. We can misdirect the audience. We can play with the way that we set up certain inserts and closeups. We left Easter eggs around the film."
"Spoiler alert, everyone dies," Stein laughed.
Owen Patrick Joyner as Bobby Campbell in Final Destination: Bloodlines.
That balancing act -- delivering the expected while subverting expectations -- is something Stein and Lipovsky took very seriously. Before shooting even began, they conducted a comprehensive analysis of the series' infamous death sequences.
"When we were first hired, we did a deep dive analysis on the death sequences in all the other Final Destination movies," Lipovsky recalled. "There are some where the audience is in the know, but the characters aren't. Others where the character knows that they're going to die but they're trapped. And then there are times where neither the character nor the audience knows, and a truck just comes out of nowhere."
Stein added: "We always try to play with the audience's expectations. Because they think a certain thing is going to happen, or this certain person is going to die. It's always great to have that inevitability also feel surprising."
For all the dread and gore, what sets Bloodlines apart is its emotional weight. The two filmmakers approach directing not just with an eye for scares, but for empathy.
"We always come at directing from the audience perspective," said Stein. "What do we want the audience to feel at this moment? To make them experience what the character is feeling. We'll try every camera trick, every sound effect or music cue we can think of to really get into your heart and make you feel terrified or connected or whatever we're trying to make you feel."
Lipovsky added: "We love films that give you all the genres at the same time. You're deeply caring for a character, you're crying when they're crying, but you're also at the edge of your seat and then you're laughing. We love that rollercoaster of different emotions."
That thrill carried over into the filmmaking itself, particularly with the decision to lean heavily on practical effects.
"One of the most exciting things about making Final Destination: Bloodlines was all the effects and stunts we were able to do," Stein said.
"The team, the producers, and the studio were really excited to do as much of this movie practically, 'right in front of our eyes', as we could."
Lipovsky added with a grin: "Built a cabin in the woods, and then we blew it up."
"We blew a lot of stuff up," Stein confirmed. "Which, when you're a filmmaker, it's just really fun."
Still, the pair knew when to blend practical effects with digital enhancements to always prioritise believability. "We love making films where you believe everything that you're seeing on screen," Lipovsky said.
"Our goal is always to bring the audience into the experience as much as possible. One of the ways that we like to achieve that is getting as far as we can practically and then going even further with visual effects. When the audience really can't tell what is real and what isn't, they think that it's as horrible as possible." In many ways, Final Destination: Bloodlines isn't just a new chapter, it's a resurrection. The original film premiered 25 years ago and the last instalment hit theatres 14 years back. Yet the franchise hasn't faded -- it's evolved.
"The crazy thing about Final Destination is the first movie came out 25 years ago," Stein noted. "But at the same time, current teenagers have discovered it. Kids who weren't alive when the last movie came out are fans."
"There are also videos of things that have happened in real life being posted, saying, 'Look what happened, this is my real life Final Destination moment'," Lipovsky added.
"It's lived on in the public dialogue," Stein said. "People who weren't even alive when the first movie came out know the franchise from all this online content. We were really excited to make this movie for them, too."
"There are a lot of people we're excited to traumatise," Lipovsky smiled.
Final Destination: Bloodlines is now showing in cinemas nationwide.
