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Final Destination Bloodlines (2025)
Directed by Zach Lipovsky
influenced by Final Destination (2000)
Plot
Twenty-five years after some kids decided not to board a flight to Paris only to have Death come for them one by one nonetheless and fourteen years after the last installment, Jon Watts, Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor (screenplay by Busick and Taylor) freshen up the franchise with a family tree twist while honoring the franchise's gleefully twisted but unseen protagonist's Rube Goldberg-esque death delivery.
“Final Destination” (2000) delivers Jeffrey Reddick’s original “X-Files” spec script idea in its purest form, but “Final Destination 2” (2003) enjoys the smartest arc of the first five films and has already gone down in history for its indelible highway disaster.
The Monkey (2025)
Directed by Osgood Perkins
influenced by Final Destination (2000)
Visuals Themes Plot
The deaths rival Final Destination in creative gore, the blood spatter is plentiful…
Influences from King’s other work, 2020s “elevated horror,” and even a little Final Destination allow The Monkey to spread its black comedy wings…
Think “Final Destination,” minus the monkey, and you’ll get the idea.
This opening sequence perfectly sets up the tone of the movie: this is FINAL DESTINATION dialed up to WTAF with a hefty dose of midnight-black humour and some gorgeous visual poetry to pore over for good measure.
Speaking as a sicko who loves convoluted death scenes, getting this the same year as a new Final Destination film is heavenly.
Think Final Destination meets Re-Animator, with a splash of Drag Me to Hell thrown in for good measure.
What's Hot: Despite the juvenile concept, the film isn't predictable and may remind you of "Final Destination."
A pedestrian children's-game variation on 2000's " Final Destination " and 2002's " The Ring ," "Blumhouse's Truth or Dare" exhibits little of the inspiration one has come to expect from the company.
Obviously inspired by the “Final Destination” franchise (as well as “The Ring” pictures, and, further back, Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”), it’s produced by the Blumhouse factory, which is actually trying to create a brand by promoting it as “Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare.”
It’s also refreshing to see a film in which the bulk of the characters get on board with believing a concept as mad as “that truth or dare game is trying to kill us” so quickly, and in Final Destination style, those who don’t play by the rules are promptly dispatched.
Borrowing from the "Final Destination" playbook, the kids soon figure out that the game that uncovered an uncomfortable truth or two (as well as Markie's boyfriend Lucas (Tyler Posey) in a streaking dare) will continue with more sinister consequences in the same order in which they originally played.
Effectively, the premise works like some Frankensteinian combination of The Ring and Final Destination, driven by Mr. Boogie from Sinister (or if you’re being generous, one of the Deadites from Evil Dead II), where people die in a rapid succession, unveil hidden truths that are forgotten after a scene, and work towards a solution that unleashes their problem onto a whole lot more undeserving people.
A functional riff on the same “timer” mechanics that defined some sci-fi flicks earlier in the decade (In Time, Tim3r) and a way-less-fun retread of the Final Destination series, Dec’s film tells the story of a truly “killer app,” which, when installed in each of the main characters’ off-brand iDroid X Galaxies, supposedly shows the date and time in which they’re going to die.
That's the jumping-off point for "Countdown," a mediocre horror flick that's somewhat of a kissing cousin to the "Final Destination" and "Happy Death Day" flicks in that the main character knows when her death is going to occur and then learns that if you try to change that, well, the Grim Reaper -- in the form of, natch, an ancient demon -- ends up none too happy about your changing of his plans.
If we learned nothing else from the “Final Destination” franchise, it’s that “death’s grand design” will not be thwarted.
The premise recalls Final Destination, except that the fun in that series was in how, exactly, death was going to fill its quota; here, instead of some unexpected, hilariously elaborate Rube Goldberg device of destruction, we get… a generic CGI ghoul, using its poltergeist powers to toss the marked around like rag dolls.
The premise presented here in Countdown is not exactly terrible; it brings to mind the Final Destination franchise and the clock-ticking deadline present in The Ring.
What Dec aims for is “Final Destination for the #MeToo” generation.
The deaths range from simple stabbings to elaborate Final Destination-style kills.
It’s more of a compensation for the deaths, outside of one in particular that actually prompts the duo to namedrop Final Destination, playing out in largely unoriginal fashion.
Director Tyler MacIntyre, who cowrote the script, provides the expected genre shoutouts (there's a Final Destination allusion, and Dario Argento gets namechecked), but he doesn't overdo it, opting instead to give the two happy psychopaths at the center of things room to create their own slasher classic.
Surely you got the heroines’ last names, and they have Final Destination and Hannibal as their reference points where Randy and Ghostface had Halloween and Friday the 13th.
People die, for sure, but Final Destination-style.
Screenwriters MacIntyre and Chris Lee Hill infuse the proceedings with wink-wink references to horror-film master Dario Argento and the Final Destination series, among other things, with the principal humor deriving from the amusingly bungled, graphically depicted killings (the battle to the death between the two girls and Big Al in a gym being a gory, slapstick highlight).
Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)
Directed by Gareth Edwards
influenced by Final Destination (2000)
Plot
…in an amusing Final Destination-ish prologue…
…the cold open, which includes a Final Destination-like mishap…
…perhaps a fitting end for a business that, in an amusing Final Destination-ish prologue, cannot protect its people even from errant candy wrappers.
It all starts promisingly enough, with a genuinely creepy opening, only marred slightly by the Final Destination-esque contrivance that leads to the genetically mutated dinosaurs escaping.
While this isn’t a horror movie in the traditional sense, there are enough gasp-inducing details, like close-ups of rusty screws loosening as Becky and Hunter climb the ladder rungs to the top, to remind one of watching a “Final Destination” movie where lingering danger is a ruthless predator.
In the lead up to Hunter and Becky’s long climb, director Scott Mann ratchets up the tension by channeling Final Destination in every loose screw and rickety ladder rung.
Mann’s depictions of events during the ladder-climb sequence echoes Final Destination in both foreshadowing and ominousness.
Escape Room (2019)
Directed by Adam Robitel
influenced by Final Destination (2000), Final Destination 3 (2006)
Themes Plot
The thing it reminded me most of, however, was the Final Destination series.
The film, handily directed by Adam Robitel (“Insidious: The Last Key”), contains its share of cliff-hanging, race-the-clock action bits that test the players’ wits, guts, integrity and loyalty as the story evokes elements of the “Saw” and “Final Destination” franchises as well as a high-tech version of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” (minus four, that is) and the old board game-turned-comedy film, “Clue.”
On the other hand, similar movies like “Final Destination” and the odious “Saw” did spawn several sequels, so there really may be no escape.•••…
Safe to assume that not everyone will make it out alive, with characters being slayed quicker than a “Final Destination” sequel - but their deaths - at least - will serve the young teens old enough to buy a ticket.
First off, Final Destination 2 pretty effectively took the piss out of this kind of horror movie scene more than fifteen years ago.
Clearly, the makers of “Escape Room,” including producer Neal H. Moritz of the “Fast and Furious” series, director Adam Robitel of the found-footage thriller “The Taking of Deborah Logan” and co-writer Bragi F. Schut of the Nicolas Cage film “Season of the Witch,” were looking to start a low-to-mid budget franchise a la the not-so-dearly-departed “Final Destination” films.
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Directed by Dan Gilroy
influenced by Final Destination (2000)
Visuals Plot Themes
It is a bright, vividly colored slice of gore, a pop art riff on “ Final Destination ” with bright red flames, blood, and paint.
Velvet Buzzsaw es un hilarante e impredecible relato que combina elementos de la película nominada al premio Oscar The Square con la franquicia de terror Final Destination .
With the horror elements, what you see is pretty much what you get; most of the Final Destination-esque death scenes aren’t particularly imaginative or shot with much flair – surprising given DP Robert Elswit’s involvement – and mostly feel like they belong in, well, a Final Destination film.
The tension between art and commerce is as old as the Renaissance, so the anthropomorphized, bloodthirsty paintings and installations have only slightly more subtext than the Final Destination series.
At the same time, the film never leans into the goofiness of its situations as much as it could and ends up feeling a bit like a pretentious Final Destination for it.
‘Final Destination’ meets the art world, with a batty performance from Gyllenhaal at the helm in ‘Velvet Buzzsaw,’ which heads to Netflix this Friday.
In "Ouija," debuting director Stiles White and longtime co-writer Juliet Snowden (2012's " The Possession ") aren't concerned with using the witchboard as anything other than a plot device for a lame knockoff of 2000's " Final Destination ," 1998's Japanese-made "Ringu" and 2002's superb U.S. remake " The Ring ."
Ouija is a low grade, low impact, Final Destination-style horror rip-off that’s notable only for two things.
Co-writer/first-time director Stiles White crafts a padded dud that plays kinda like a PG-13-rated blend of “Final Destination,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and 95 percent of this century’s movies about ghosts.
They succeed, but their efforts unleash a nastier supernatural force that seems determined to take them out one by one, Final Destination-style.
There's a pretty good chance for Ouija to offer up some Final Destination-style dark comedy, the path a film like this absolutely should have taken, but instead what we get is a deadly serious and frightfully dull bore.
Wish Upon (2017)
Directed by John R. Leonetti
influenced by Final Destination (2000)
Plot Visuals Themes
Working from a lackluster script by Barbara Marshall (“Viral”), director John R. Leonetti targets a younger audience than with his R-rated “ Annabelle ,” in what amounts to an unsatisfying combination of “Final Destination” and “The Box.”
Leonetti's new movie resembles "The Monkey's Paw" and the "Final Destination" films much more than "Annabelle."
Director John R. Leonetti turns that sequence into a little symphony of hyped-up suspense that owes something to the “Final Destination” pictures.
There’s a dash of the Final Destination films here too and Leonetti clearly revels in sculpting operatic set pieces wherein the box causes fate to tear innocent people apart as its required “blood sacrifice.”
But I have to admit, when you give me a story with engaging characters, real stakes, some Final Destination-esque kill setups, and a willingness by director John R. Leonetti to push his PG-13 rating to the very limits, I’m pretty much game for anything.
If so, it is because I wished for that, and now one of you reading this will die terribly in a cheesy Final Destination -esque way.
Once the film has burned through that initial flush of concept, Flatliners is just another Final Destination or Urban Legend or I Know What You Did Last Residency.
What follows is a bland, flatly executed and joyless slog that manages to take elements of the original Flatliners , Final Destination and every single ghost movie since the mid 2000s and squander them in an inert tale that fails to leave any real impression.
It never feels distinctive and often has the air of just another entry in the Final Destination series.
Ready or Not: Here I Come (2026)
Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
influenced by Final Destination (2000)
Plot
While some of the kills are inventive, this kind of creativity has been done before- and often better- in franchises like Final Destination or other horror films that fully commit to their set pieces.
We’re not asking for Looney Tunes-esque wackiness here, but some kind of clever setup and payoff with these unique environments (à la Final Destination) would give the movie some much-needed levity and energy.
…we’ve gotten our current scary series, SCREAM, along with the FINAL DESTINATION.
As intentionally serio-comical as Carpenter's "They Live" (Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. aliens that walk among us) or his "Escape from..." pictures (leather-clad bad-ass Kurt Russell chewing scenery in post-apocalyptic New York and L.A.), "The One" is a parallel universe yarn in which an evil Jet Li goes dimension-hopping to kill his doppelgangers counterparts.
The one twist that gorehound director Adam Wingard (“The Guest”) adds to the mix is the assassinations are executed in the style of a “Final Destination” film.
It’s Death Note by way of Final Destination, a film more focused on cyberpunk-esque visuals and crunchy synth than on any kind of substance.
To be sure, it feigns its interest in both, but Wingard’s film ultimately answers them with a resounding “well, fuck yeah, as long as you can write some Final Destination traps into the mix.”
Instead, Adam Wingard’s adaptation of Death Note takes a different direction altogether, removing the gritty edges from the story in order to make a deliriously gory teensploitation movie that shares an equal amount of connective tissue with the Final Destination franchise as it does Tsugumi Ohba’s original manga.
And the movie too quickly abandons its “Final Destination”-style, Rube Goldberg-ian series of unfortunate deaths.
Light decides to see if a school bully will truly be decapitated if he writes that on a blank page, and Wingard gleefully stages the ensuing carnage like he’s planning to reboot the “ Final Destination ” franchise next.
P.S.: In a nice, small touch that shows at least one of the writers has done some homework, characters are named for classic horror producer Val Lewton ("Cat People," "The Leopard Man") and director Tod Browning ("Freaks").
Otherwise, the film feels like a flaccid combination of Boogeyman (is there something really supernatural afoot?) and Final Destination (when and how creatively will the next one die?)
Big question: "One Missed Call" is a remake of a Japanese adaptation of a novel, but isn't this still just "Final Destination" meets "The Ring"?
The concept of young people dealing with their impending mortality is a poor reassembling of Final Destination's ingenious premise.
Say “Hello!” to the latest attempt by Hollywood to craft a new horror icon in the vein of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, or even the concept of “Death” from the underrated Final Destination series, which is arguably the franchise The Bye Bye Man most closely resembles.
It goes for the logic of momentary jolts, and for a tone of macabre youth-schlock sensation, like “The Conjuring” crossed with a “Final Destination” sequel.
The scary stuff -- borrowed heavily from Candyman , The Ring , Final Destination , and others -- is just as pathetic, despite Doug Jones portraying the title monster.
Stacy Title's latest directorial effort is a throwback to early 00s American teen horror such as Jeepers Creepers and Final Destination .
One exception is Ali Larter, who starred in the first two movies, then became one of the key characters in NBC's hit sitcom "Heroes" and star of the hit thriller Obsessed and appeared in the "Resident Evil" movies, but the only other actor who has gone on to do anything of significance since being in the "Final Destination" franchise is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, star of the third movie, who starred in last year's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.
Steven Quale, having previously co-directed 2005's IMAX documentary "Aliens of the Deep" with James Cameron, takes over the reigns here from James Wong (who helmed 2000's still-tops " Final Destination " and 2006's " Final Destination 3 ") and David R. Ellis (2003's " Final Destination 2 " and 2009's stupidly-titled " The Final Destination "), and it turns out he's the electric paddles this series needed to jump-start its flagging pulse.
That simple and yet boggling idea served as inspiration for one of the few original horror franchises of the aughts, the Final Destination films.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Directed by Daniel Scheinert
influenced by The One (2001)
Visuals
The story has overarching similarities to Jet Li’s The One — directed by Cory Yuen, who gave Yeoh her first lead role in Yes, Madam!
The extensive martial arts action calls to mind the Jet Li multiverse vehicle, The One , which already felt like a generic imitator of The Matrix .