Final Destination: Bloodlines is a solid entry in the durable horror franchise. As far as sixth entries in horror franchises go, it’s pretty darn good. As far as sixth entries that were made fourteen years after the fifth one, it’s a minor miracle that it’s any good at all.
A college student named Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) is plagued by bad dreams involving her grandmother, who narrowly avoided death as a young woman. After Nana croaks, her curse is passed down to the family and it doesn’t take long for her descendants to start buying the farm in disgusting ways. It’s then up to Stefani to find a way to reverse the curse.
If there is a problem with this one, it’s that it’s way too long and has too much plot. (Okay, that’s two problems.) The scenes of the dysfunctional family trying to protect one another just doesn’t have the same effect as the other movies which relied on friends and/or total strangers coming together to defeat “Death”. If it’s one thing that we really don’t need in a Final Destination movie, it’s a plot. And if it’s anything that we don’t need in one of these things is a running time that flirts with two hours. Other than that, I liked it just fine.
The important thing is that the kills are there. We get at least three or four quality death scenes here, which is about the best you can hope for. There’s a fun bit involving a lawn mower and another in which someone inadvertently winds up in a garbage truck. The highlight is a hilarious sequence where someone meets a gruesome end inside an MRI machine. The opening accident scene, set in the ‘50s atop a Space Needle-style restaurant, is a lot of fun too. There’s even a callback to one of the series’ most iconic deaths, which I’m sure fans will enjoy.
It was also good to see Tony Todd in one of his last film appearances. He’s been a mainstay in the series, and the film was able to give him a nice little send-off. Too bad the rest of the cast (aside from Richard Harmon as the foulmouthed tattoo artist) is bland and unmemorable.
I thought the whole cast was pretty solid, ending was a bit too predictable and cliched for me though.
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