written by Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
The Grim Reaper should garner a new generation of fans with the sixth entry in the venerable horror film series that died, I mean was born, a quarter-century ago. Arriving 14 years after the last installment — an eternity by franchise standards — Final Destination Bloodlines gives its audiences exactly what they expect. Namely, a series of ingeniously designed, diabolical Rube Goldberg-style fatalities that are mostly so within the realm of possibility that you’ll find yourself crossing the street very carefully after you leave the theater.
The fact that death itself is the protagonist, rather than some mask-wearing homicidal maniac, is what gives these films their morbid allure. Most of us are unlikely to cross the path of a serial killer. But it’s all too easy to imagine slipping in the shower or getting hit by a bus. The Final Destination movies merely magnify these commonplace anxieties and ramps them up to the nth degree, leaving you a nervous wreck in the process.
Two directors, Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky, expertly handle this installment, which features a superbly choreographed opening sequence that may be the best in the series. It takes place in 1969, when a young couple, Iris (Brec Bassinger) and Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones), arrive for dinner at a restaurant located atop an immensely tall tower. Needless to say, things begin to go horribly wrong in a series of disastrous events that result in hordes of patrons losing their lives in the most gruesome of ways. Suffice it to say you’ll never hear “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” the same way again. (It’s one of several amusingly relevant needle drops, such as “Ring of Fire” and “Spirit in the Sky,” in the film.)
Series aficionados will quickly guess that the whole thing was actually a premonition experienced by Iris that saved dozens of lives. Years later, her granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) suffers from recurring nightmares of the same events, although she has no idea of the personal connection.
A little digging into her family history results in her visiting her now elderly grandmother (Gabrielle Rose), who reclusively lives in a heavily fortified cabin deep in the woods. Iris explains that by saving the lives of everyone at the tower, she cheated death, who has since devoted itself to rectifying the error by systematically killing not only the survivors but also their descendants (who otherwise wouldn’t have been born). This includes Stefani and her family members, whom she attempts to warn and protect. It’s no spoiler to reveal that her efforts pretty much are for naught.
It’s not whether but how the victims will die that gives these films their juice, and Final Destination Bloodlines doesn’t disappoint. It does get bogged down in a tedious plotline revolving around dysfunctional family dynamics that makes you impatient for the deaths to start coming. But once they do, the grisly fun resumes. The gory set pieces, involving such things as a lawnmower, a garbage truck, and, most spectacularly, an MRI machine, are so cleverly orchestrated that the audience at the preview screening applauded each one as if they were song-and-dance numbers. The combination of CGI and practical effects works seamlessly, and the sequences are sadistically edited for maximum tension, which is thankfully relieved by frequent doses of mordant humor.
Santa Juana makes for an appealingly plucky heroine, and Richard Harmon has some very funny moments as one of Stefani’s snarky cousins. But the acting highlight comes from the late Tony Todd, a series mainstay who makes his final screen appearance in his signature role as the mysterious William Bludworth. The actor, to whom the film is dedicated, returns for one brief scene, looking very frail and obviously ill. But he’s none the less commanding, providing a poignant reminder that in real life, as in these movies, death comes for everybody.
Director of photography: Christian Sebaldt, ASC
Costumes: Michelle Hunter
