Final Destination: Bloodlines – A gleefully gory good time

In every Final Destination instalment, someone experiences a premonition of a fatal accident, at which point they act on their vision and save a group of people, including themselves. Except, that’s against Death’s plan, and the universe sets out to course correct, taking those lives via a new set of incidents.

Featuring a cast of unknowns (Resident Evil actress Ali Larter is probably the most famous face associated with the series), Final Destination has no identifiable boogeyman; no masked, knife-wielding murderer. Its signature kills are styled after a Rube Goldberg Machine, where a water glass placed too close to the edge of a table, or even something as innocuous as a lone penny, can trigger a chain of cause-and-effect actions that culminate in death.

It’s unusually creative for the horror genre. It’s also undeniably silly.

And just released Final Destination: Bloodlines, the sixth film in the series, embraces that to its benefit. It’s been a hot minute since most people last watched a Final Destination film (this writer included), but it doesn’t feel like a stretch to say that Bloodlines, which can be watched with no previous universe knowledge, is immediately one of the best entries, if not thee best film, in the franchise. This is achieved through an excellent balance of tension, gore, and humour, while still also finding space for a sliver of relatable heart.

That relatability stems from the fact that Final Destination: Bloodlines shifts the focus from a group of teen friends to an ordinary suburban family. It all starts when university student Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) finds herself on the brink of losing her scholarship due to debilitating nightmares where she sees her grandparents die in a horrific disaster during the 1960s. To work out the cause of her dream, Stefani must track down her estranged grandmother Iris (Gabrielle Rose), who insists that Death is coming for their family after she thwarted its intentions decades previously. Armed with Iris’s research, it’s up to Stefani to sate the Reaper in a way that also breaks the vengeance cycle and saves her loved ones, which include standout Richard Harmon as Stef’s rebellious oldest cousin.

The Final Destination films have never had much thematic depth, but by shifting from friends to a family unit, the film does have a bit more meat to work with. More specifically, it makes a point about parental anxieties over their children; how fear can lead to toxic obsession and over-protection.

Final Destination © 2024 Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No one is watching a Final Destination movie for thought-provoking commentary on human existence, though. They’re there for over-the-top deaths while they munch on their popcorn and sip their watered-down Coke.

Bloodlines goes out of its way to deliver on that front, with co-directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein (who previously made Freaks and the Kim Possible movie) and the film’s team of writers demonstrating a playful attitude to the carnage. Playing off character and viewer paranoia – the infamous log truck from Final Destination 2 even gets a revisit – they bait the audience, dodge the expected payoff time and time again, before finally springing a grisly demise when and where you least expect it.

Read more: Havoc on Netflix: Gritty action can’t save this overloaded crime thriller

A warning is that Final Destination: Bloodlines is age rated 18 for good reason, as the camera refuses to veer away from the various impalings, dismemberments, immolations, squashings and so on. And yet it’s still kind of fun.

Bloodlines isn’t alone in recent times in depicting graphic accidental deaths – last year saw the release of The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix, and goofy The Monkey hit the big screen this February – yet it’s Bloodlines that really hits the sweet, and simultaneously shocking spot. It’s ideal as a cinema outing so you can watch it alongside like-minded people gasping and giggling in illicit delight. Enjoy every minute left to you. DM

© 2024 Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Final Destination: Bloodlines is in cinemas, including IMAX, from 16 May.

This article was first published on PFangirl.