Seasoned fans of the franchise will be well-aware of what they’re getting into when watching Final Destination Bloodlines. The formula has stood strong for decades, so providing a short synopsis for this sixth entry is somewhat superfluous. Be that as it may, the uninitiated are very welcome to jump in at this point. Indeed, the movie is perfectly enjoyable even without any prior knowledge. So here goes. Basically, you witness a disastrous event where many people lose their lives but then it cuts to the protagonist snapping out of what appears to have been but a mere premonition. Of course, panic quickly emerges when that very event starts playing out in the exact same manner as it did in the vision but said protagonist engages full-on survival mode quickly taking the necessary measures to prevent the catastrophe thus saving everyone who was supposed to perish – much to Death’s dismay. Unsurprisingly all the survivors do end up getting taken out one by one in delightfully creative ways because you can’t mess with the Grim Reaper’s plan, didn’t you know?
The opening sequence in Bloodlines is absolutely epic. A restaurant with glass dancefloor at the top of a Stratosphere-like structure inherently holds a lot of potential for horrific mayhem. It’s not hard to imagine all the things that could go wrong and the movie delivers on that expectation. What ensues is superbly executed disaster horror galore. I could have easily watched a whole movie of that. It is visually stunning and incredibly exciting and then of course utterly disgusting in the most entertaining of ways. How they managed to tie up that introduction with the rest of the story through the titular notion was actually pretty neat, though. I mean the exposition snippets got the group of meat puppets from one set piece to the next and that’s all you need really, but I quite appreciated the lore adding a bit of depth in an otherwise rather straight-forward concept. There are plenty of silly and cheesy moments obviously. Let’s be honest, it’s all rather ridiculous but that just adds to the fun. And there’s undeniably lots of that to be had. Holy shit balls, they went hard on the tension and the gore. It’s like they’re setting up little pressure cookers everywhere and you wonder will it be this? Will it be that? And then your jaw just drops to the floor when it actually goes down. Bloodlines is exactly what it needs to be. Highly enjoyable, super bloody popcorn fun.
In addition, it is also a solemn send-off for horror icon Tony Todd who reprised his role playing William Bludworth, a character that made his first appearance in the original Final Destination (2000) and several of the subsequent films. He delivers a poignant little speech in Bloodlines saying: “Sooner or later Death is coming for all of us. I intend to enjoy the time I have left and I suggest you do the same.” The prolific American actor was fighting cancer at the time of production and sadly passed away late last year.
