Final Destination Bloodlines (2025) Reviews: What Critics Said

Editorial note: This is a roundup of published criticism of Final Destination Bloodlines. Celluloid has not screened the film for this piece, and it carries no Celluloid rating. The critics are named and linked under Sources.

Is Final Destination Bloodlines worth watching?

Most critics say yes, especially for fans of the series: the sixth Final Destination film was widely welcomed as an inventive, gruesome and very funny revival. Reviewers singled out an opening set piece that several ranked among the franchise’s best, along with the family angle and the directors’ sense of timing. The reservations concern thin characters and later deaths that do not all match the opener, and one critic thought the series should be laid to rest.

What is Final Destination Bloodlines about?

Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefani Reyes heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle and save her family from the grisly end that awaits them all. Kaitlyn Santa Juana plays Stefani, with Teo Briones, Rya Kihlstedt, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner and Anna Lore in the ensemble, and Tony Todd returning as William Bludworth in what became his final film role. Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein directed from a screenplay by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor. The film was released in 2025 and runs 110 minutes. Release details and where to watch are on the Final Destination Bloodlines film page.

What critics praised

William Bibbiani of TheWrap was the most enthusiastic, suggesting it may be the high point of the entire series. He thought every death scene lands, praised Lipovsky and Stein for filmmaking so suspenseful he invoked Hitchcock, and highlighted one sequence built around a sliver of glass in crushed ice as extraordinarily tense. He also felt the idea of a family curse gives the film a gothic, tragic quality in the manner of Edgar Allan Poe.

Writing for Variety, Todd Gilchrist found the film clever, unpredictable and fun, and thought it keeps the series’ balance between the unsettling and the silly as well as any earlier entry. He praised the directors for skilfully widening the story across several generations, called the deaths fiendishly inventive, and found Santa Juana a sturdy, believable lead. He also saw Todd’s return as a tender tribute to the actor.

In Empire, Jamie Graham thought the opening sequence outdoes those of earlier instalments and admired the shift in focus from a group of friends to a family. He considered the script smart throughout, the direction crisp and the cast likeable, and felt Bludworth is handled satisfyingly, with Todd bringing real pathos to the role.

Jacob Oller of The A.V. Club also ranked the opening among the franchise’s best and bloodiest, and enjoyed the film’s knowing silliness and the directors’ eagerness to stage deaths as crowd-pleasing moments. He thought Richard Harmon steals every scene he is in.

Where critics were divided

Oller’s review was the most mixed of the positive ones. He felt the script touches clumsily on inherited trauma before dropping the idea, that most of the characters exist only to be killed off, and that a knowing nod to the audience’s familiarity with the series adds little. He also thought Todd’s scene, though moving, sits awkwardly with the fatalism of the franchise.

Graham noted that the later deaths never quite reach the heights of the opening, and that the family drama remains slight. Gilchrist, for his part, found the opening bombastic but less relatable than the everyday anxieties earlier films exploited.

The one firmly negative voice was Nick Schager of The Daily Beast. He argued that the premise has always been a neat idea that cannot sustain a feature, found the deaths routine and the misdirection flat, and felt the film lacks a genuinely twisted sense of humour. For him, Todd’s brief appearance was the only real highlight.

Who is it for?

This is for viewers who enjoy elaborate, darkly comic death scenes and do not mind broad characters. It is rated R in the US and 15 in the UK, and the gore is frequent and graphic. Longtime fans will recognise the series’ rules and its most familiar recurring figure; Graham noted that the film works through the cheat-death rules laid down across the first five films. More titles are gathered under horror.

The critical verdict

Most of the critics here regard Final Destination Bloodlines as a lively, witty revival that understands exactly what its audience wants, with a superb opening and a warm send-off for Tony Todd. The main caveats are underwritten characters and a middle stretch that does not always match the start. Schager’s dissent stands out, but the prevailing view is that the franchise has found fresh energy.