The Final Destination franchise is one of the most well-known horror series out there—and for good reason. The brutality, and sometimes… sometimes the realism of the deaths, is a spectacle. Especially when the series taps into everyday fears—like driving behind a logging truck on the highway. That’s a scene burned into everyone’s brain since Final Destination 2, and let’s be honest—I’ve never driven the same since.
The series is packed with moments that prey on real fear, playing with death in new and twisted ways. But it’s been 14 years since the last entry, and a lot can change in that time. New fears have crept in, new anxieties to explore, and new ways to pull the rug out from under us—especially with those huge, horrific set pieces that kick off each film’s chain reaction of doom.
That’s where Final Destination Bloodlines comes in. CGMagazine sat down with directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein to talk about resurrecting the franchise, how they kept things fresh, and how they changed the game for one long-forgotten non-survivor in the series.
So, everyone’s heard about the now-infamous pitch meeting you had over Zoom where you faked a death. Is there any chance you’ll be sharing that video?
Adam Stein: You know, what made it so much fun is that it was live. It’s not a video thing. That was the magic trick of it because it was live on Zoom. Directors have to audition, kinda like actors do to get jobs. So we’re used to pitching on Zoom. So at the end of the live Zoom, we chop my head off.
“We love our approach to visual effects—do it as practically as possible, and then use visual effects to erase the magic trick.” – Adam Stein
And so that bit. It was prerecorded with VFX. Okay. But it was all part of this live experience that we seamlessly created, you know, using the Zoom virtual background feature that we could put a video in and make it seem like we are still live. And I bet New Line has been kicking themselves that they didn’t record it, but it was a one-time thing.
We love our approach to visual effects. Basically, do it as practically as possible and then use visual effects to erase the magic trick. So the stuff in the movie was done practically with makeup effects bodies or with actual people on fire, or like in the case of the MRI machine, there’s like a double-decker MRI platform that two people are on to make them scorpion backwards, and then, you know, if there’s wires involved and stuff like that we use visual effects to erase the wires.
Final Destination is a beloved franchise. After fourteen years, how did you go about taking it and putting your own stamp on it?
Zach Lipovsky: I think we did a few things. When we heard they were making a new Final Destination movie, we were probably like other people, a bit skeptical because the ending of Final Destination 5 is so perfect, sort of like a great way to end a franchise.
Plus, horror has evolved a lot since the last Final Destination. It’s been 14 years, and horror has become, in a lot of ways, a lot more character-driven and has deeper themes to it. It isn’t just the same sort of crazy kill sequence, and you just skip all the dialogue until the next crazy kill sequence.
“When we heard they were making a new Final Destination movie, we were probably like other people—a bit skeptical.” – Zach Lipovsky
But as we got involved in the film, John Watts was a big part of creating this initial concept, making it about a family, making it a little bit more character-driven. It’s based around this idea of a family coming together over the course of death coming for them. This allowed the film to be more character-driven and really have you engage and care about these characters on a deeper level.
So they weren’t just sort of a bunch of stereotypes getting knocked off one by one, but then also the opportunity to, and this is what we were really excited about, was to subvert the expectations with the formula of Final Destination. Start doing things still fitting within the rules of the canon, but doing things that the super fans would go, “wait, what?”
You could tell almost immediately how the premonition idea works this time. Speaking of canon, I do have to ask a question about the continuity of the film. I believe it was in Final Destination 3 that we heard, in a deleted scene, that Kimberly Corman had actually died.
Adam Stein: I think it was actually in a DVD-like bonus feature where you could play different scenes. So we made that non-canonical, you know, in this universe. Kimberly Corman survived. The police officer from Final Destination 2 was also one of the only people to survive. They broke the chain by dying and coming back to life.
“Death is always so delightful because he plays a really long game.” – Zach Lipovsky
Zach Lipovsky: Just because you don’t become immortal when you break the chain. You just start down this new path or chain.
Death is always so delightful because he plays a really long game. Death is very clever and likes seeing people squirm. I think that’s why people love these movies so much, because you root for the characters and you want them to get through.
Do you guys have a favourite kill in Final Destination Bloodlines?
Adam Stein: Oh wow. Oh man. You know, the sky view was so much fun. In the opening sequence, there are so many kills. I mean, when you see this movie with an audience, it’s so much fun, when that 12-year-old boy gets crushed, we’ve had audience members jump up and fist-punch the air. They’re so happy. To know that you’ve hooked the audience so much that they’re cheering for the death of a 12-year-old. I mean, that’s just so much fun.
Zach Lipovsky: Yeah. That’s my favourite for sure.
Final Destination: Bloodlines hits theatres May 16th, 2025. Check out our review to hear our thoughts on the movie.
