Debuting on the eve of the millennium in the year 2000, the “Final Destination” franchise gave a generation of millennials some very specific phobias, including lumber trucks, airplane tray tables (a friend still checks hers before every flight to this day), lawn mowers, shower curtains, roller coasters, etc. By weaponizing these otherwise mundane objects into murderous Rube Goldberg machines set into motion by carelessness or random chance, “Final Destination” set itself apart during the late '90s teen horror trend by what it lacked: a knife-wielding killer.

Death emerged from the world around these characters, seemingly wielded by a menacing unseen force. The only explanation for these outrageously violent deaths was the theory that they had escaped their fate thanks to a harrowing premonition. In the world of “Final Destination,” death wants what it wants, and it is a vengeful god.

The original five-film franchise spanned 2000 to 2011, years that included the Y2K panic, 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and two Bush administrations. In a world that may have felt out of control and increasingly violent, “Final Destination” amplified that feeling, perhaps offering a strange kind of emotional catharsis in its magnification of the horrific randomness of life and death. It stands to reason that the franchise might resonate anew, five years after a deadly global pandemic, the climate crisis accelerating, images of war and suffering pumped into smartphones regularly. Then again, “lega-sequels” are hot right now, and movie studios love a dependable piece of nostalgic IP.

Still, like the characters in the “Final Destination” franchise, it’s impossible to not try and make meaning out of what seems overwhelming. Indeed, “Final Destination: Bloodlines” does respond to our collective anxiety about death, dying and how to control it (spoiler alert: you can’t).

Devon Sawa played the psychically gifted Alex whose bad dream set off this violent string of events; in “Bloodlines,” which is directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor (who developed the story with Jon Watts), the dreamer in question is Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana). Her night terrors are causing her to flunk out of college, and her roommate demands she go home and get some answers so that she can get some sleep.

Stef dreams of the same thing every night: a mind-meltingly horrific collapse of the Skyview Hotel in 1968, centering on a young woman, Iris (Brec Bassinger), who doesn’t listen to her intuition about going up that very, very high elevator. Iris is Stefani’s grandmother, who has turned into a paranoid loner living in a rural fortified compound only the Unabomber could love. When Stef pays her a visit, her grandmother sees she’s received her psychic gift, and passes on her years of (terrifying) research. It’s enough to drive a girl mad.

"Bloodlines" reinvigorates “Final Destination” in a way that makes its predecessors proud, utilizing a family tree death order structure that links the Skyview Hotel event to the freak accidents that now plague Stefani and her extended family. The connective tissue to the previous films takes the form of the late, great Tony Todd, who reprises his role as a wise coroner who offers guidance and advice to our characters, frantic to halt their impending doom.

The "Bloodlines" characters are well-drawn within the ensemble, but make no mistake, the stars of the film are the over-the-top death sequences, which Lipovsky and Stein have elevated and escalated, including a backyard barbecue littered with hazards, and a masterfully executed tattoo-shop scene that links a ceiling fan, skull bobblehead and septum piercing. The opening Skyview nightmare is also especially great for its retro '60s-style, manic energy and sheer audacity of scale. These new scenarios call back to some of the memorable deaths in the earlier films but are even more elaborate and twisted. This is the kind of film that will give you a phobia of insert shots (“what could that beer bottle possibly do?” you’ll be fretting).

Each sequence is cleverly planned and staged, but timing is everything, and the rhythm and cadence of the edit is perfectly executed by Sabrina Pitre. There’s an odd smoothness to the look and feel of the cinematography by Christian Sebaldt, but the uncanny valley is welcome when it comes to watching such bodily destruction unfold. The artifice is a comfort.

Larger existential questions, philosophical quandaries and mental health themes are present if you want to look for them, but “Final Destination: Bloodlines” also revels in the gleefully gory and low-brow bloody thrills that are the hallmark of the franchise. It’s as deep as you want it to be, and the shockingly wild death traps are enough to keep you gasping while pondering how to try and make meaning out of a world that’s out to get you.

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'FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong violent/grisly accidents, and language)

Running time: 1:50

How to watch: In theaters May 16

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