Death (And Tony Todd) Are Back For More In The Final Destination Bloodlines Trailer

"Final Destination" isn't the greatest horror franchise in film history (that distinction belongs to George A. Romero's "Dead" movies), but it just might be the most consistently entertaining. It's definitely a property that bucks a lot of the conventional wisdom regarding horror films: The first installment, James Wong's "Final Destination," is easily its weakest, while the fifth chapter is considered by many to be the best of the bunch. (Personally, I think the movies have yet to top David Ellis's "Final Destination 2.")

The "Final Destination" franchise may actually be the apotheosis of the slasher genre insofar as such films' primary visceral appeal is the grisly inventiveness of their kills. It's a gore smörgåsbord of Rube Goldberg fatalities carried out by the invisible hand of Death. The movies' formula dictates that any installment must kick off with an extraordinarily complex chain-reaction accident, the survivors of which must scramble to avoid Death's relentless attempts to clear them off the game board. What filmmaker wouldn't want to play in this blood-soaked sandbox?

The directing duo of Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein are the lucky folks who get to let their imaginations run ghoulishly wild this time out with "Final Destination Bloodlines." It's the first entry in the franchise since 2011's "Final Destination 5," and all we know about these fellas is that they co-directed the sci-fi thriller "Freaks" in 2018 and the live-action "Kim Possible" movie in 2019. Both films received mostly positive reviews, but they're untested when it comes to making a full-on horror feature. However, judging from the "Final Destination: Bloodlines" teaser, in which a poor tattoo artist goes up in flames in the most deliciously devious way, they're cut out for the gig. Is the newly-released trailer just as encouraging?

It looks like Lipovsky and Stein have put a clever spin on the "Final Destination" formula by having the survivor of one horrific catastrophe (in a restaurant at the top of a very tall tower that has a distressingly fragile glass floor) go on to cheat death long enough to have a family. Death has apparently either been extremely patient or busy causing other Rube Goldberg tragedies because the survivor's children now have kids of their own. And Death has chosen the occasion of a backyard cookout to begin wiping out an entire family that was never meant to exist.

Kaitlyn Santa Juana stars as the daughter who, after being plagued with a recurring nightmare that portends bad things for her family, returns home to seek help from her grandmother — the original unintended survivor. As we see in the trailer, she's drawn up notes and diagrams that instruct people how to cheat Death. (It looks quite exhausting, but it's better than the alternative!) Interestingly, we also see Richard Harmon's character get picked off by a speeding truck, which is very different from his gnarly tattoo parlor death in the "Bloodlines" teaser. Is one of these a vision? Are they both visions?

Personally, I'm a little disappointed that the shard of glass in the ice at the cookout doesn't get ingested, but, hey, if it's put to use in a way that leads to someone getting a lawnmower dropped on their face, I'm okay with my expectations being subverted. Overall, this looks like a load of gory fun in the best "Final Destination" tradition. Let's go!

"Final Destination Bloodlines" comes crashing down into theaters on May 16, 2025.