Final Destination Bloodlines: A Bloody Good Time

The series that traumatised a generation of moviegoers is back with a new instalment. ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ promises more blood, more gore, and more of what made us all switch lanes on the highway.

After a heart-pounding opening set piece, carefully constructed to highlight directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s love for the franchise, we meet Stephani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student whose world is falling apart due to vivid nightmares that plague her every time she closes her eyes. Believing these dreams are of past tragedies somehow involving her estranged grandmother Iris, Stephani returns home to investigate the connection. Once there, we learn of the family’s involvement in the tragedy Stephani has been envisioning and just how long it has been going on.

Iris (Gabrielle Rose) cheated death in her younger years, and it has been coming for her ever since. She has lived out her days isolated in a remote cabin, fearful of death yet forming a playful but antagonistic relationship with the spectre. Iris explains how her premonition set about a series of events forcing death to weave its way through family trees, satisfying its need to finalise the events that should have taken place years ago. Tying the entire movie together is the return of the late great Tony Todd for one last time as his fan-favourite character William Bludworth. In a brief but profoundly poignant scene, Todd delivers a standout moment connecting the entire series and acting as a fitting goodbye to the audience.

True to the franchise’s style, ‘Bloodlines’ delivers on what we love about Final Destination. From the opening scenes, we are met with inventive, gruesome ways that death hunts down everyone. It never dips its toes into the macabre but jumps straight in and revels in it. Kills are delivered with such over-the-top violence and gore that you cannot help but wince one moment and laugh sadistically the next, even when it’s a little off-key.

Thankfully, the entire cast doesn’t take things too seriously or overplay their roles. Stephani and her brother Charlie (Teo Briones) do well as the lynchpins at the centre of the story while allowing their cousin Erik (Richard Harmon) to steal every scene with ease, oozing charisma as either the jerk cousin or loving older brother of Bobby (Owen Joyner). They craft a sibling relationship of love-hate that is all too familiar to those of us with brothers. The rest of the small cast plays completely into the fear that death is coming for them.

‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ tries to position itself as the centrepiece of the franchise but fails to add enough depth to fully grasp what it’s trying to do. It tempts us to assume each member in Iris’ research on death harkens back to the fateful day of her premonition, yet misses the opportunity to fully engage the nostalgia to tie all six movies closer together. The more I sit with my thoughts, ‘Bloodlines’ is firming as the best in the series since 2003’s ‘Final Destination 2’.

Final Destination has always been an easy and somewhat uncomfortable-to-watch popcorn movie, and ‘Bloodlines’ comes at a time when we could use some more. It isn’t without its faults, but fans will look straight past them, knowing what to expect walking in. Those seeing the franchise for the first time might get a shock but should quickly fall in love with the simplicity of the premise and style of each and every wonderful dispatch.

‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ is in cinemas everywhere from May 15th. It is shot for IMAX, so find the biggest, loudest screen you can and enjoy it for the good time it sets out to be.”