About 
Final Destination Bloodlines is a ton of fun, with memorable kills that horror fans will gush about for years to come.
Posted in: Movies, Review, Warner Bros | Tagged: final destination, Final Destination: Bloodlines
Final Destination Bloodlines Is A Bloody Great Time {Review}
Final Destination Bloodlines is a ton of fun, with memorable kills that horror fans will gush about for years to come.
Article Summary
- Final Destination Bloodlines revitalizes the franchise with modern style and inventive, unforgettable kills.
- The film's focus on one family's deadly curse brings an intimate, suspenseful twist to the familiar formula.
- Award-worthy production design shines, especially in the gripping opening set piece and haunting flashbacks.
- New fans and longtime viewers are welcomed, with Tony Todd's emotional return as Bludworth a true standout.
Final Destination Bloodlines is a welcome return to one of the modern horror franchises. In fact, it may just be the best entry. This latest installment does something that many of these horror remakes, reimaginings, and requels forget: you do not have to chain yourself to the old material; find a way to apply the established principles and themes to a more modern setting and update them for a new generation. This is the exact way they should have brought this franchise back from the dead, and not a moment too soon. Final Destination was ahead of its time to begin with, and now it will take its proper place as one of the leading franchises in horror for the next few years. And boy, some of these kills are going to be remembered for quite some time.
Final Destination: Bloodlines Is A Great Kick-Off To Horror Summer
The opening scene sets up the film and deserves serious consideration for production design and costuming awards. Set in the past, they really went into some serious detail on the look and setting to make it feel like we stepped back in time and are up in the sky in that restaurant with everyone. It also turns out to be a dream, or so we think, as a college student named Stephani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) keeps having a recurring nightmare about her family's estranged grandmother plummeting to her death, along with hundreds of others, in a skyscraper restaurant collapse years earlier.
Turns out, that was not a dream, but a premonition that the grandmother had that caused her to cheat death. Now, death has decided that one by one, her family has to die to make up for decades of their bloodline cheating death itself. As we know, death does not enjoy being made a fool of in this franchise. This Final Destination focused on one family and was a fantastic choice. It shrinks the world and gives us a fast-paced, intimate story, and never gets a chance to lose its focus. Directing partners Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein really stretched the budget here, but cut loose when necessary, never losing sight of the central focus on how this curse can destroy a family both quickly and with utter devastation. Some of the real standout moments are not kills, but intimate moments between various family members, even if the family history can sometimes feel too dense.
Let's not get it twisted, though. The kills in this film are all-timers, not just for Final Destination, but in horror in general. There is some really inventive stuff here, for a franchise that prides itself on coming up with new ways to off characters. Put it this way: you will think twice before going anywhere near an MRI machine ever again. There are a couple of scenes where the effects could have benefited from another polish, but nothing is so egregious that it would cause people to roll their eyes. There is not a lot of tension or suspense in the set-ups either; this is a lean, mean film that is way more interested in entertaining and having fun than really building up to the doom.
Most importantly, this feels like a new beginning to the Final Destination franchise, or a new entry point. You don't have to have seen any of the other films to grasp what is happening here, but there are some winks and nods for those who have. None more than the late Tony Todd making one last appearance as Bludworth. The horror icon delivers the best single non-death scene in the film, although his frail appearance at that stage of his life is a real bummer to see, and leaves you more than a little heartbroken. His speech is a tearjerker for sure, and if this truly is the last time we see him onscreen, he bows out with grace.
Although far from perfect, this is a ton of fun and should please both fans of the franchise and a new generation of fans. Final Destination Bloodlines is the kind of fun, gruesome horror film audiences want to go to in the summer, and a perfect kick-off to what could be a special one for the genre.
Final Destination Bloodlines
7.5/10
Although far from perfect, this is a ton of fun and should please both fans of the franchise and a new generation of fans. Final Destination Bloodlines is the kind of fun, gruesome horror film audiences want to go to in the summer, and a perfect kick-off to what could be a special one for the genre.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
