Well, nearly fifteen years later, my friends: we are so back.
The Final Destination franchise is one that is very close to my horror-loving heart – the fifth instalment was the first real horror film I saw in the cinema in 2011, I spent whole weekends locked up with the DVDs extra features as a teenager, I have a treatment written for my own entry into the series (and yes, it’s available to anyone looking to get moving on the next movie, just to be clear). I love these films, their ridiculousness, the balance of comedy and horror, the slapstick gross-out of it all. Are they high cinema? Probably not, but I will never turn down a chance for a new entry into the series.
Which is where directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein come in. Final Destinations: Bloodlines makes death a family matter, as Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) begins having visions related to an accident her grandmother averted decades before – but it doesn’t take long for things to take a leap from the subconscious to the very, very real, as death starts snatching up the surviving members of her family.
I think what’s interesting about these legacy horror sequels – which is to say, movies like Saw X and Scream that come after a long break from the regular franchise – is that the creators have time to reflect on what exactly the fandom loves about these series. With more than a decade between the release of the last movie and this one, Lipovsky, Stein, and the rest of the production team seemed able to identify the stuff that endured, the stuff that kept people coming back for more, and it’s totally, gleefully on display here.
Because, let’s be real, what the Final Destination franchise lives and, well, dies on is the setpieces. Perhaps more than any other franchise, you come to these films not for the characters, not for the stories, but for the sheer love of the Rube-Goldberg murder game. And Bloodlines? Yeah, Bloodlines is more than a worthy addition to the series in those terms. The kills (and fake-outs – the decision to use one of the fake-outs as the first trailer was genuinely inspired) are exactly what you’d expect them to be – grisly, gruesome, occasionally grandiose punchlines up there with the best of them. Bloodlines plays on our expectations and our understanding of the rules to deliver some genuine surprises (not to mention a few fun throwback references in the process).
But what of, you know, that stuff between the kills? The rest of the movies is honestly not bad at all – as the name suggest, it’s all about family, and it does a good job building the relationships between the siblings at the movie’s heart. Richard Harmon (styled as a man who could have ruined my life in 2008) steals the show as Erik – and yes, the movie has as much fun with his piercings as you’d hope – but I liked Juana’s back-and-forth with her brother (Teo Briones), a lived-in and comfortable dynamic convincing enough to build the film on.
Of course, this is also the last movie that Tony Todd will be making a direct appearance in, after his passing last year. I truly love Todd’s work in the horror genre, from Candyman to Hatchet, and it was in Final Destination as William Bludworth that I first came to discover him – it’s really bittersweet, seeing him back for this iconic role, but it feels right that he’s a part of things here. The choice to wrap him into the main plot, as one of the survivors of the original accident, feels right, a way to weave him into these stories in a more direct way as part of his send-off.
Final Destination: Bloodlines is exactly what I wanted it to be: ridiculous, gory fun basking in the comedy-horror that only this series can do. I’m praying this one’s a hit, because I am so ready for this franchise to make a multiple-movie comeback (whether I write it or not).
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By Lou MacGregor
(header image via Bloody Disgusting)
No But Listen 