Minor spoilers for the opening scene of the film in paragraph two.

With the leaves turning orange and pumpkins starting to adorn the front porches of homes, diving into horror films is always mandatory this time of year, especially to catch up on films I missed earlier in the year. So I finally caught up with Final Destination: Bloodlines, the latest in the franchise about Death’s elaborate ways to kill people. But six movies in, does this franchise still have any reason to exist or is this one worth watching this year? Let’s find out.

Final Destination: Bloodlines comes to as an attempt to tie the whole franchise together while also delivering a new story with a new cast of characters. The film opens up in the 1960s with an extended sequence on a Space Needle-esque tower as Death comes knocking for some victims. Only one person in attendance, Iris, ends up having a premonition and saves dozens of people from impending death. Those survivors would then go on to have families of their own, families that Death believes shouldn’t have been born to begin with. Since Death is a busy individual, it’s taken him some time to catch up to the events of the 60s, and he’s been systematically killing off the survivors and their families ever since. Now, we come to Stefani and her family, who are direct descendants of Iris and, well, bad things start happening to the family.

Now, for a sixth entry of a horror franchise, I wasn’t expecting too much. But you know what? Bloodlines is actually really good. It has some decent twists, a plotline you care about, a throughline to the other films that doesn’t feel forced or retconny, and devilishly creative kills. Seriously, Death could just give people heart attacks, but instead, he opts for Rube Goldberg-style kills, where one seemingly innocuous object will cause a chain reaction and lead to a ridiculously over-the-top death. Does it make any sense? No, but it’s really fun to try and figure out the sequence of events in advance. There’s even some good fakeouts in this one, as the filmmakers know we know how these play out by now.

As there’s a familial bond tying the plot together, it also drives the characters and delivers some decent characterization throughout. Not saying it’s Shakespeare, but it goes beyond surface level and explores themes of parenthood and the burden of knowledge. It’s also the last film that Tony Todd appeared in, and as such, the film is dedicated to him, offering an eerie and heartwarming sendoff to the icon.

So I’d definitely recommend Bloodlines. For me, it’s the second best in the franchise, after the original, thanks to better twists, turns, characterization, and over-the-top sequences. It won’t win over any new fans, but if you’re on board for this franchise and haven’t seen it yet, thinking maybe a sixth entry couldn’t cut it, give it a shot.