Another deadly surprise destination
By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter
Movie Review
Final Destination Bloodlines
Directed by Zach Lipovsky,
Adam B. Stein
MTRCB Rating: R-16
FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES brings back the warm, fuzzy feeling that kids and teenagers in the 2000s got from watching grisly, shocking deaths unfold in the first few Final Destination movies (which we were definitely way too young to be seeing), each one building on the creativity of the last. Physically far-fetched kills? Unexpected narrative twists? Extreme paranoia over going outside? This installment, coming 14 years after the fifth one in 2011, delivers on those fronts.
What sets this addition to the franchise apart is how it makes you care about the characters, despite knowing most of them will die. It follows college student Stefanie (played by Kaitlyn Santa Juana), who is inexplicably suffering from a violent recurring nightmare about a gruesome accident. She goes home to find out the truth behind this and discovers that her family is fated to die gory deaths, one by one.
It doesn’t help that she is a bit estranged from her family, having lived away for a bit, so she also seeks to reestablish her connection with her little brother, Charlie (played by Teo Briones). This very human motivation at the core of the film helps the audience root for these two characters.
Unlike the previous films, this one has a sort of period piece in it — Stefanie’s nightmare, making up the opening 20 minutes of the movie. It shows a gruesome accident on a restaurant dance floor atop a tower, first experienced by her grandmother Iris in a premonition back in 1968. Aside from providing context to why their family is on death’s list, the entire scene is a showstopper, and the film never lets up from there.
As a casual fan of the Final Destination franchise, which has shocked, entertained, and traumatized a generation of millennials, Bloodlines is awesome in that it doesn’t resort to pandering to Gen Z audiences. It trusts that the kids now are just like the kids back then — inherently curious about gore — and it therefore doesn’t subject us to modern slang or social media-related plot points. It truly felt like a Final Destination film from the mid-2000s, down to the farfetched insanity of each death becoming ultra cheesy by the time the back half rolls in.
For the weirdos who find schlock like this kind of comforting, it’s cozy to see that the central event that kicks off the deaths for the family is a backyard barbecue with a bunch of cousins, uncles, and aunts. There’s just no better way to say it than that it just feels very 2000s. Another standout character, the spiky-haired emo tattoo artist cousin Erik (played by Richard Harmon), exemplifies this. It’s a stereotype that we don’t see as much anymore in its full glory these days. Not to mention his close connection with his younger brother Bobby (played by Owen Patrick Joyner), lending even more heart to the story.
There’s even a little in there about trauma being passed down through generations, from the grandmother Iris (played by Brec Bassinger in the premonition/nightmare scenes and by Gabrielle Rose in the present-day) to Stefanie’s estranged mother Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt). Perhaps what feels most “current” or “trendy” about the story is Stefanie’s heroism as a young woman grappling with — and actively fighting against — the literal and metaphorical fatalities that trauma has dealt on her family.
The movie also plays up more than ever that there’s a formula to death’s uncanny attempts to kill off those on his list. The characters make a big deal about trying to stave off death, with grandmother Iris having an ominous notebook recording her obsessive findings on it, but the components of this formula seem random at best. Stefanie is shown to have become a natural at predicting death’s attempts at their lives, but it only feels like a plot device with no thought put into it. Sure, an out-of-control leaf blower can blow leaves into the eyes of some boys playing soccer, leading to one kicking the ball into a cousin who falls into the chute of a passing garbage truck to be crushed to death inside — but other than Stefanie pointing out those elements minutes prior, no successful plan is really formed from that ability to piece things together.
As with all Final Destination films, the deaths often come across as a relieving punchline to a suspenseful scene, many in the audience watching by peeking tentatively between their hands covering their face. But this one does it with glee at times. One character, who supposedly kicks off a deathly chain of events by being annoying and rude, is later killed off gruesomely to the roaring applause and satisfaction of most of the audience. It’s corny as hell, but the people behind the film know that people are easily pleased by violent comeuppance, which says a lot about humanity, I guess.
It’s a testament to the lasting impact of the franchise that the fleeting appearance of a pick-up truck with heavy logs loaded on the back is enough to make one’s breath hitch. Of course, they don’t repeat deaths, so Stefanie changes lanes to avoid driving behind the truck — and fans love this. Most importantly, the brief role of William Bludworth (played by the late Tony Todd, this being his last gig) ties together this new film with the ones he appeared in before. His final send-off in the film warranted great applause.
Overall, Final Destination Bloodlines combines palpable dread with campy insanity and grisly gore. It makes you want to stay away from glass towers, trampolines, lawnmowers, septum piercings, ceiling fans, and MRI machines. While it all gets stale and boring by the final act (simply because the bloodshed was already amped up to the maximum level before that) and the loose ends are tied up very lazily and predictably, the film is a fun end to this iconic collection of generational paranoia. It comes 14 years late, but you almost don’t feel it.
