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Final Destination Bloodlines is the latest installment in the franchise, following the story of Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) and her family. Their lives are turned upside down when her recurring nightmares lead to her grandmother Iris' premonition from decades ago that started Death's design. Now, she must save her family from Death's violently elaborate plans.
The classic horror movie, directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, paid homage to the franchise's previous hits, with small Easter eggs, references, and callbacks that were a hit with the long-standing fans of the series.
Here are some easter eggs in Final Destination Bloodlines.
Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong solely to the writer. Spoilers for the movie ahead.
10 Easter eggs and other Final Destination Bloodlines references for fans
1) The Clear Rivers name drop
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Rya Kihlstedt plays Stefani's mother, Darlene, in Final Destination Bloodlines. She makes a surprising reference to the lead from the original movie in the franchise, Ali Larter's Clear Rivers, while throwing out names for hospitals where they might find William Bludworth. One of the names is "Clear Rivers Hospital".
While this isn't directly related to the character, it does reference her unfortunate end, where she dies due to an oxygen gas tank explosion in a hospital while trying to save another victim, Eugene.
2) Stefani emulates Clear with a 'Death' wall
In Final Destination Bloodlines, Stefani receives a Death Log from her grandmother, Iris. For decades, Iris has mapped Death's design, studying the events of the past films in the franchise. Stefani tries to make sense of Iris's notes and puts up pages and newspaper clippings on a wall, connected by a red string.
This is a small easter egg to the way Clear Rivers tried to track Death in Final Destination 2, while staying voluntarily hidden away in a mental institution.
3) The song What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger is referenced
Julia Campbell (Anna Lore) dies a gruesome death in Final Destination Bloodlines when she is dragged into a garbage truck and her head is crushed in the compactor. During the event, the Kelly Clarkson song What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger plays in the garbage truck driver's headphones.
The phrase is referenced in a previous death in Final Destination 3, when Lewis Romero dies a similar death by getting his skull crushed. It is written on the stand with the swords in his sports team's room. Kevin also tells Jason this statement at McKinley Park, making it a recurring theme.
4) Characters share similar paranoia
When Stefani visits Iris, Iris asks her to empty her pockets. This mirrors a scene from Final Destination 2, where Clear does the same when Kimberly visits her in a mental hospital for help with her vision.
Both Iris and Clear share a justified fear that even something small in someone’s pocket could set off a deadly chain reaction. In Final Destination: Bloodlines, Iris had built a supposedly death-proof fortress and wanted to keep it that way.
5) William Bludworth references the previous films
When Stefani and the others find Bludworth (Tony Todd) in Final Destination Bloodlines, he tells them the only two known ways to cheat death: Killing someone else and stealing their lifespan (Final Destination 5), or dying and coming back to life (Final Destination 2).
Both of these are known premises of previous movies in the franchise. This plants the idea in Stefani's head, as the premise takes a dark turn.
6) Stefani inadvertently recreates Kimberly's plan in Final Destination Bloodlines
When Stefani, Charlie, and Darlene drive their RV to Iris’ house to escape Death, the RV crashes, Stefani’s seatbelt gets stuck (a nod to Carter’s death in Final Destination), and Iris’ cabin explodes. As the RV begins to sink, Stefani is trapped inside.
This scene clearly references Kimberly’s escape plan from the third Final Destination movie. Stefani is revived with CPR, and her family believes they’ve successfully repeated the event to save her from Death’s plan.
7) The bait and switch climax
Final Destination Bloodlines brings back the eerie trope of giving characters hope that the worst is over and they have survived. Stefani, who thinks she died and came back to life, thereby beating death's design, is proved gravely wrong when the characters realize her heart never stopped in the first place. Her fateful end finally caught up with her.
Fans can catch this bait-and-switch maneuver in many of the previous editions, like Final Destination 3, where the visionary Wendy survives her original premonition and goes on with her life, only to be killed in a train crash off-screen.
8) Erik's Death has an easter egg to the franchise's movie poster
Erik Campbell (Richard Harmon) misses death several times in Final Destination Bloodlines, once when his tattoo parlor catches fire, and another time when he is almost run over by a truck. But finally, a malfunctioning MRI machine rips out his ear piercings, and impales him with a wheelchair by sucking him in.
The final gruesome image of Erik's death, where the spoke pokes out of a skull tattoo on his stomach, is a blink-and-miss-it easter egg to Final Destination 4's poster, where the number 4 sticks out through the top of a skull.
9) Trains make a comeback in Final Destination Bloodlines
One of the scariest premonitions in Final Destination is in the third installment, where Wendy's seemingly normal life after all the horrors is derailed when she has a second vision of all of them dying in a subway crash. She tries to escape her fate, but Death catches up to her in the end.
In the latest edition, a train derails, becoming the reason for Stefani and Charlie's deaths. Death ultimately wins every time, even if it means repeating similar motifs and themes.
10) Characters must beware of log trucks
Final Destination 2's premonition is orchestrated on a highway with hundreds of vehicles precariously next to each other. When a log truck shakes a large log loose, it kills an innocent driver right behind it, setting into motion a huge pileup.
This motif makes a comeback in Final Destination Bloodlines, where Charlie, Darlene, and Stefani's RV is almost hit by one, only for logs to get them some other way in the ending, after a train derails.
Watch Final Destination Bloodlines in theaters and stream all movies in the franchise on Prime Video or Netflix.
