Stefani is having terrifying dreams of an accident from sixty years in the past. Searching for why puts her in Death’s sights in Final Destination: Bloodlines, the first entry in the franchise in 14 years.
The Final Destination franchise has been a favorite of horror fans since the first film hit theatres in 2000, hitting its acme in the high-octane Final Destination 2 and a nadir in the fourth entry. It’s been fourteen years since the underappreciated fifth film, and Death returns with a terrific vengeance in the satisfying Final Destination: Bloodlines.
The Final Destination films work thanks to twisting the slasher. Death himself is out to kill the doomed cast with a wild abandon of Rube Goldberg set-ups, leading to crowd-pleasing bloody demises. Across the films, Final Destination has instilled fears of mundane objects or situations for any viewer. I can’t be the only one to see dropped objects, slight moments, or an encounter, and think “ah man, am I going to get Final Destination-ed thanks to that guy’s untied shoe? “
The less said about log trucks, the better. That opening of the sequel still holds as one of the best horror sequences. Final Destination: Bloodlines gleefully adds a few more fears, even if it doesn’t reach the heights of creativity and fun of that entry.
The films follow the same pattern ( it’s a slasher after all; how many Crystal Lake visitors can Jason cut through in the same plot?): the lead receives a premonition of a massive accident. They freak out, averting the accident or saving some people. Those survivors begin to die in interesting ways; the others soon realize Death is seeking them out. They try to avoid it, fail, and a few get away… maybe. It’s the definition of using tropes in unexpected ways, working with the audience on the gag, and delivering.
In a twist to the previous films, the premonition is not of the lead character, but set sixty years in the past. Iris and her boyfriend are visiting the opening of Not the Space Needle. This opening is a highlight of the series: slam bang, tense, and delivers on the goods as everything you can expect happens with gleeful destruction of persons and property.
It’s weird to have the largest, most exciting sequence open a film, rather than be the climax. Usually the opposite in film, but it works in the series, setting up what follows, the tone, and getting the audience hyped with a multitude of deaths. If there is a downside, the finales tend to be quick and smaller than the preludes, true in this installment as well.
As expected, the remainder of the film delivers the blood. I’m not going to spoil a single death; the surprise of how the elaborate murder set pieces are the draw. The fun is in the kill. The set-ups and payoffs are expertly done. Co-directors Zach Lipovsky & Adam B. Stein use the audience’s expectations to great effect, leading in and around in tongue-in-cheek glee. There is a fantastic white-knuckle tension to wait for the trap to be sprung. Death is a tricky bugger and his machinations are a joy to flow through, especially if the audience is in on the joke.
Unfortunately, there is an overabundance of poor CG. Many of the effects didn’t look done, with computer-generated shine of mismatched lighting and freshness drawing me out. Even with those and iffy composites of actors on generated backgrounds, enough works to push past.
The writers, Guy Busick (who reinvigorated the Scream series) & Lori Evan Taylor, freshly approach the franchise. The setting of the past is a novel way to set up a twist. Iris is the grandmother of Stefani, her disaster bleeding to Stefani. Why it’s taken this long for the follow-up to the opening disaster for Death to reap his returns, I won’t say; but it’s a clever way to connect the series. From the setup, I thought there’d be more, honestly. I thank the restraint from avoiding too much “hey, I remember that” when playing with previous methods of dismemberment and death.
Recently passed horror icon Tony Todd is the exception, the connective tissue of the franchise. He’s been warning the victims of the doom with his specific tone and gleeful malice since the start. It’s good to see him one last time. I appreciated the slight turn from the other speeches from mortician Bludworth. A fitting goodbye to a great man.
The family connection is a solid attempt at drawing more pathos than a gaggle of strangers. The ins and outs of a family dynamic could have created a strong base, but it doesn’t work. Middling drama slows down the action for far too long to try to set up the characters, both underwritten and underperformed. Kaitlyn Santa Juana is lost as Stefani, with family Rya Kihstedt, Anna Lore, Teo Biones, and Owen Patrick Joyner struggling through. Only Richard Harmon as surly Erik brings an energy that matches the movie.
Odd to think this series started as an X-Files script. Think on it and it tracks. I’m glad it mutated into a separate brand of over-the-top bloody enjoyment. The franchise, the newest entry included, is boisterous balloons of blood ready to pop over the audience. While some of the dramatic through line and the acting to go with it don’t quite work, the clever, creative death sequences (even if CG-heavy) at the core of the franchise make for a great time for fans of Final Destination’s chaotic carnage.