Final Destination: Bloodlines
Content Advisory: Excessive or gratuitous violence
After a premonition from the past, a college student learns that her family is targeted by Death in Final Destination: Bloodlines. For the past two months, Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) has been haunted by visions from 1969 showing a woman named Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) being killed during the collapse of the Skyview Restaurant Tower. Stefani pieces together that the woman in her visions is her grandmother (Gabrielle Rose), and she returns home to try and get answers from her father, Marty (Tinpo Lee) and Uncle Howard (Alex Zahara).
Stefani finally tracks down her grandmother with the help of her Aunt Brenda (April Telek) and learns that all the survivors of the Skyview Restaurant disaster have been targeted by death for decades. Death finally catches up with Stefani’s family and begins targeting Iris’ offspring, who never should have lived in the first place, including Uncle Howard, Stefani’s estranged mother Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt), brother Charlie (Teo Briones), and cousins Erik (Richard Harmon), Julia (Anna Lore), and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner). With the help of her grandmother’s notebook, Stefani tries to find a way to save her family from Death’s grasp.
Final Destination: Bloodlines Synopsis
Final Destination: Bloodlines is the sixth entry in the long-running horror franchise, directed by the filmmaking duo of Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks). Arriving fourteen years after 2011’s Final Destination 5, the plot of this chapter is simultaneously a stand-alone story, while also featuring an opening incident from 1969 that arguably set the entire franchise in motion. The only true connecting element to previous films of the franchise is the final appearance by a very sick-looking Tony Todd as the exposition-spouting coroner William John Bludworth, filmed a few months before Todd‘s death last year.
The main plot of Final Destination: Bloodlines focuses on the family of Stefani Reyes, played by Kaitlyn Santa Juana, most of whom should not even exist. It isn’t long before Death kicks off a series of Rube Goldberg-like events that begin killing off members of the family in extremely gory fashion. Stefani desperately tries to find a way to outsmart death and escape the cycle.
My Thoughts on Final Destination: Bloodlines
It’s kind of funny that Final Destination: Bloodlines is the second new film in the franchise to come out after supposedly franchise-ending fourth entry, aptly titled The Final Destination. As each film features an all-new cast and scenario, the Final Destination franchise is one of the easier franchises to revive, without worrying too much about continuity. Indeed, I was able to watch Final Destination: Bloodlines without much issue, despite previously only having watched Final Destination 3.
The only legacy character from 1999’s original Final Destination, who makes his final return in Final Destination: Bloodlines, is Tony Todd as the all-knowing coroner William J. Bludworth, who appeared in four of the six films. Tony Todd was suffering from terminal stomach cancer when filming in scene in the film, and some of his lines were improvised to allow this appearance to be a goodbye to fans. If anything, getting to say goodbye to this horror icon, also best known for the Candyman franchise, helps to justify the existence of Final Destination: Bloodlines.
As the majority of the cast in only there to be killed off in gruesome ways, it’s hard to relate to most of the characters in Final Destination: Bloodlines. Relative newcomer Kaitlyn Santa Juana is fine as the protagonist Stefani Reyes, even though the character’s immense paranoia for much of the film is somewhat cliché. Arguably, the most memorable character in Final Destination: Bloodlines is Canadian horror veteran Richard Harmon (Grave Encounters 2, Puppet Killer, The Return) as Stefani’s tattooed and pierced cousin Erik, who is also part of the most cringe-inducingly memorable set piece in the film, set to “Without You” by Air Supply.
The main selling point of the Final Destination films has always been the elaborate Rube Goldberg scenarios that result in the many graphic and gory deaths in the film. There is admittedly a sick joy in seeing when and how a character will die. However, I also have to note that most of the gore in Final Destination: Bloodlines is done digitally, which adds an uncanny valley feel that doesn’t make the gore as shocking as it could’ve been.
In this era of legacy sequels to horror franchises, it is not at all surprising that Final Destination received a revival. While Final Destination: Bloodlines is not the most necessary of sequels, it still delivers the gory set pieces that have defined this 26-year-old franchise. Also, Final Destination: Bloodlines also offers the chance to say goodbye to Tony Todd, which is more than enough reason to exist.
Trailer for Final Destination: Bloodlines
