Hello everybody and welcome to a brand new review! For this one, I will be taking a look at the sixth installment of the most recognizable horror franchises of the 2000s. Ever since it’s simple beginnings in 2000 as a high concept horror movie with an appealing hook, the Final Destination series has since amassed a huge fan base due to their tongue in cheek tones and insanely convoluted ways of taking people out. I myself watched them all for the first time just a couple months back in preparation for this new flick, and I can definitely see the appeal as with the exception of the The Final Destination (which I thought was awful and lazy) I found them to be consistently enjoyable (5 is my personal favorite as I feel it nails the tone and has some of the best kills of the entire franchise). They aren’t for everyone for sure, but I quite enjoyed seeing how they would play out. So now the series returns after a 14 year hiatus with Bloodlines which as per usual has a new set of characters getting in the way of Death’s plan. Was this one worth all the bloodshed? Let’s jump right in and see if this is better than witnessing a premonition!
The film kicks off in 1968 with a prologue that details a young woman named Iris who is going out with her boyfriend, Paul, to the opening ceremony of a high rise restaurant called the Sky View. While at the tower, Iris receives a premonition detailing a horrible catastrophe that occurs, a premonition that is then seen by Iris’s granddaughter, Stefani, in the present day in recurring nightmares. She eventually realizes the links to her grandmother and goes back home to her family in order to find out what is going on. After meeting up with her grandmother and various unfortunate circumstances happening, Stefani finds out that the people who were saved from that high rise were not supposed to die that day and now Death is picking off all of those who survived as well as the families they had since they were never supposed to exist. Now, Stefani and her family must find ways to cheat death and save themselves before it is too late.
Like math, Final Destination has a formula that each movie follows and it all becomes a matter of how well each feature executes it. What I found refreshing about Bloodlines is how it decides to change things up in fun ways. Having the premonition be flashback and then adding in the element of people who were involved getting picked off one by one over the years along with their families are interesting concepts that the series explores for the first time and it is interesting seeing the characters find this out and try to figure out how to avoid their seemingly pre determined fates. I enjoyed watching how things would unfold and directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein are able to do a good job of maintain the darkly comedic, yet self aware tone, that franchise further leaned into as time went on. It works here as the comedy tended to land, with there being some poking fun at the situation at hand. However, I did also appreciate the attempts to put in some genuine heart as there is a solid emotional core in form of the family here. I like how the themes of family, what it means, and the hardships that can come with it are woven into the story and character arcs and it gave things more substance than they otherwise would’ve had.
It also made it sting when characters don’t end up making it, which is usually something the movies tend to do a decent job at and why most of them work. It all manages to handle this, while also being an incredibly mean and nasty movie that is often gleeful in terms of violence. I will admit that the picture runs a little too long for what it is (especially considering the lean runtimes of the other films) as pacing wise it become a bit uneven where I don’t know if the plot was strong enough to support an 1 hour and 50 minute runtime. This is especially apparent as things go along where the writers are trying to find ways to extend things and get to some sort of climax. That aspect also felt a tad underwhelming as it felt like it was taking cues from some of the other films in the franchise. Still, the ending scene is classic Final Destination and ends things on a high note which made things worth it.
Of course, what makes the franchise as iconic as it is, are the various ways Death goes about picking off it’s victims one by one and with this one, I think fans are going be very satisfied in this regard. Editor, Sabrina Pitre, and the directors do a great job in setting up the various Rube Goldberg esque death scenes where our eyes are drawn to one dangerous looking image, but then it turns out that there’s something else to worry about and so on until we reach the bloody climax of this symphony of elaborate contraptions. These parts ended up putting me on the edge of my seat as well had me wondering how things would play out while simultaneously throwing in some amusing images of absolutely dangerous things that in real life would probably be handled with more care. The deaths themselves end up being appropriately gory and while they rely a bit too much on CGI enhancements, they still are able to elicit some disgusted reactions.
There are plenty of solid sequences that were unfortunately given away in the trailer (the tattoo parlour scene, the cook out, etc.), but there are still some neat surprises, including one stand out scene involving an MRI machine that is an all timer for the series. As for the opening Premonition, it definitely is one of the best of the movies, as it feels big and does an excellent job in foreshadowing what will go down in the most unsubtle manners which is classic Final Destination fashion. The period piece setting further gives it a unique flavor with costumes and production design that capture the time period effectively and it just does a wonderful job of kicking things off with a bang. One thing that did kind of bother me in some scenes is that those that are set in dark rooms are lit in a way where it’s hard to see clearly which I thought was a bit distracting, but other than that, this is a polished and well made film that delivers where it most counts.
When it comes to the cast assembled here, I am happy to say that I did enjoy this batch of potential victims presented. Stefani is a solid protagonist whose anxiety over her personal life makes the further compounding threat of death over life all the more an insult over injury. Kaitlyn Santa Juana is able to sell her as a sympathetic character who has issues with maintaining connections with her family in a way that can often be relatable. Her sibling relationship with her younger brother, Charlie, (Teo Briones), is also nicely fleshed out as despite the latter’s bitterness toward them being disconnected for so long, they still do deeply care for each other and Briones is very good at conveying the sense of dread of potentially facing death at such a young age. Rya Kihlstedt also puts in solid work as their estranged mother, Darlene, whose out of touchiness with the family is understandable due to having to face a childhood where she was constantly being protected from things she couldn’t comprehend. On the cousins side, that’s where my favorites come in. Owen Patrick Joyner makes for a lovable and wholesome goody two shoes as Bobby which makes his reactions to the awful stuff going down all the better. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum is Richard Harmon who makes for wonderful cynical A-hole as Erik who provides some of the best laughs as he constantly mocks whatever the hell this crazy situation is even when he starts believing it.
Alex Zahara is also similar to Joyner in that he plays a very optimistic Uncle in the form of Howard, who just wants to move on from the trauma of the past and wants his family to be together again (well he got his wish, but not for the intended reasons…). Not everyone gets that much to do as Anna Lore is fine as Julia but is mostly there most of the time and both Tinpo Lee (as Stefani’s father, Marty) and April Telek (as Aunt Brenda) are both given some scenes of substance, but then are completely sidelined even though given what happens you’d think we get more of them to respond to the events happening. There is also Iris herself both in young (Brec Bassinger) and elder (Gabrielle Rose) form and I really liked her character and the role she plays. Her story in the prologue almost feels like it’s own self contained arc that is compelling to follow and informs her behavior when we meet her much older as a this Doomsday prepper living in isolation. It’s tricky as we both understand where she’s coming from, yet also feel bad for members of the family that this was the kind of matriarch they had. She also does the job in getting across the rules of the series to our newcomer main character. Speaking of delivering the rules, this is also the last onscreen appearance for the popular mortician who has been in most of the films, William Bloodworth, played by the late great Tony Todd, who sadly passed away late last year. This was his last role that he filmed and I’m happy to say that for the brief time he is onscreen, it is a very poignant send off. Knowing that he improvised his last lines to make it into a farewell made it all the more affecting and it really did feel like him giving one last message to the fans. I even liked how we got more background for the character that fleshed him out more. An absolute legend, that will be sorely missed.
In the end, I found Final Destination Bloodlines to be a very fun and welcome return for the franchise. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite of the 6 due to some uneven pacing, a couple of technical nitpicks and some characters just being either underused or not being that important by the end. However, it definitely stands among the better entries thanks to some nice changes to the formula, a darkly successful sense of humor, solid emotion, extravagant kills, and a decent cast of characters. I think die hard fans are going to have a great time as it delivers what one would want from a Final Destination film and has plenty of moments that will be looked back at as some of the finest in the series. Similar to Saw X a couple years back, it is a surprisingly solid comeback that reminds one of the qualities of these movies. Given how successful this movie is, it is only a matter of time before we get another one, and I’m all for it! It’s been quite the ride experiencing these movies for the first time this year as I both have a new franchise I’m onboard with and am now completely paranoid of any little thing I see (especially pennies… if you’ve seen the movie, you will understand).
Rating: B+
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