For 25 years, the “Final Destination” franchise has found ways to make you second-guess many parts of our lives we take for granted. Perhaps you second-guess how tight the bolts are on a rollercoaster or if that tanning bed is secure. Not that we need any more reason to be scared of flying, but specific moments in the first and fifth films have made viewers all a little more aware of the safety demonstrations. And the logging trucks – oh, the logging trucks. It’s funny to think that a simple crack in the window could set off a chain of events where somebody ends up crushed by a table. It’s these absurd scenarios that are entertaining and yet scary to think death itself has so many tools in its kit to end you.
It’s hard to believe it took 14 years in a very sequel-driven market to get a sixth film, but “Final Destination Bloodlines” proves you can lean into your formula and still work if passion and inventiveness meet. Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein keep much of the lore in place and evolve it slightly to keep the audience on their toes. The deaths are somehow more extravagant and gorier, but also tightly formulated. The story formulated by Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, and Jon Watts is mainly confined to one family. Yet, it’s aware of what the audience has come to see and delivers to those expectations with an installment that shows why this franchise continues to be enduring. The film serves as an entry point for new fans while holding some winks and nods for those who have been watching since 2000.
Brec Bassinger as “Iris” in New Line Cinema’s “Final Destination Bloodlines,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
Stef Lewis (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) can’t sleep, affecting her college studies to the point where she’s at risk of flunking out. The source of this recurring nightmare is a primary sequence that happens at the beginning of “Bloodlines,” set in the 1960s. A couple named Iris (Brec Bassinger) and Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones) head to the opening night of the Skyview Restaurant Tower – if a gathering of people set many stories up in the air doesn’t set off alarm bells in a “Final Destination” film for you, I don’t know what will. Iris has a hunch that being at the gala will result in disaster. It’s only compounded by several ominous signs, such as an elevator filled over capacity and a glass dance floor with only buildings and streets at the bottom. As it happens, death loves a plan, and it all starts with a mischievous kid and a penny. What occurs after is one of the most elaborate and self-referential calamitous sequences these films have had to offer.
Owen Patrick Joyner as “Bobby” in New Line Cinema’s “Final Destination Bloodlines,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release
It takes a good portion of the first act for the audience to feel like this is a period piece. However, Lipovsky and Stein flip a switch and jolt you into the perspective of Stef. There’s a tie between Stef and Iris as they are granddaughter and grandmother. What does this mean for Stef’s family, and is there a way to stop death from claiming them all? The best parts of “Bloodlines” are when the film leans into the sometimes contradictory methodology of the rules and how they operate in this world. There’s a particular sequence when characters walk through a neighborhood street and point out how they could die. Then, the film laughs at that and constantly cleverly subverts expectations. This is a story where death provides premonitions on how it will get you, yet becomes angry at you if a wrench is thrown in its order. As ridiculous as thinking death can be petty, seeing the cat-and-mouse game played out is still exhilarating.
Final Destination: Bloodlines/ Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
In addition to what you’d usually expect from a “Final Destination” film, it tries to ground itself in a family drama story that exists to get you from point A to point B. Santa Juana’s character is the point person who tries to guide her family through the ever-rising body count. There’s a bond with her little brother Charlie (Teo Briones) and her cousins Erik, Julia, and Bobby (played by Richard Harmon, Anna Lore, and Owen Patrick Joyner). She and Charlie are estranged from their mother (Rya Kihlstedt) because of how the overprotective beliefs of her mother, Iris, affected her. Maybe there’s a hint of how generational trauma can affect us, but it’s mostly surface-level. Most of these characters, the cousins in particular, have their moments, but are mostly there to show the audience the impending doom about to occur. The most emotionally affecting scene is with the late, great Tony Todd – done in a way that acknowledges his legacy as a well-done sign-off.
“Final Destination Bloodlines” entertains while incentivizing the audience to want more of these installments. How are they going to top themselves with a seventh film? If this entry indicates anything, someone will find a way.
