When the first Final Destination movie hit theaters in March 2000, nobody could have known we were witnessing the start of a decades-spanning horror franchise. But after a 14-year gap between the fifth and sixth movies, the franchise is finally back with Final Destination Bloodlines, which features an opening premonition up there with the best of the franchise - and a touching sendoff to franchise icon Tony Todd, who passed away last year.
In 1968, a young woman named Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) dies tragically alongside hundreds of others during the collapse of a high-rise restaurant. Except this is a Final Destination movie, which means Iris didn't die that night; she caught a glimpse of the destruction to come and saved herself from this disaster. Now, generations later, her granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) is having visions of the disaster that never happened, and soon Stefani will unearth the dark secret we already know: that death is a family affair. Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein from a screenplay by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, Final Destination Bloodlines is a welcome reboot for every Millennial's favorite horror franchise.
In this short excerpt from the episode, Matt Donato explains why the familial conceit of the film works so well:
They're not just high schoolers that go to the same school. They're not just people who are randomly here or there and just happen to survive something crazy because of a premonition someone has. This is a family. These are people that really care about each other and want each other to live. So the stakes are higher.
The Final Destination Bloodlines episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, or the podcast platform of your choice.
