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There are many, many freaky ways that one can die, and the Final Destination franchise has spared few of them. Still, one must say, Bloodlines – the sixth film in a horror franchise that also includes several novels and comic books – is alive and kicking. At least at the start.
This is when Bloodlines is uncoiling its tension, the build-up to something horrific in that next sip of glass, the next jump on the trampoline, the next stomped foot in a dance on a glass floor perched up in the air, or most menacingly, the next roll of a coin tossed carelessly away.
At the heart of it is an extended family, a racially mixed bunch of aunts, uncles and cousins, who come together with surprisingly genuine warmth. The thought that Death may be coming for one or the other, reaching out across half-a-century to get them, gnaws at us.
For a while, it also seems to gnaw at them – and then, suddenly, not so much. That is the way of things in this franchise exuberating in campy horror, where the more gruesome a death, the more the chances of an audience. However, directors Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor and Jon Watts (also the co-writers) do put in the effort to get us hooked.
The most impactful character they create is Iris (an impressive Bassinger), who sets off the chain of events sometime in the 1950s, thanks to a sense of dread she can’t shake off. She is on a dream date with her boyfriend, at a shiny new restaurant called Skyview, which has got its name courtesy its location 500 ft off the ground, atop a tower that has been constructed at a rushed pace “ahead of deadline”.
The live music, the open fire, the overweight elevator, the gust of wind, the swaying chandelier, the clinking glasses, all add to Iris’s disquiet.
If you have seen enough Final Destination films or read the novels, you can guess what’s coming. In this case, Death will stalk down the people in that restaurant that starry evening as well as their progenies.
Watch Final Destination Bloodlines movie trailer:
If Bloodlines packs enough surprises to give you chills down the spine, it is because Death is stalking a close-knit family. But that is also the most disturbing aspect of the film. Beyond a point, it’s hard to chuckle at the thought of a woman losing her husband and all her three children in the space of a few days – however preordained their deaths may have been, and even if the film conveniently forgets about her altogether.
Final Destination clearly believes in going out with a bang, or two or three. Its whimpers, though, are the most scary.
Final Destination Bloodlines movie cast: Brec Bassinger, Tony Todd, Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Richard Harmon, Teo Briones
Final Destination Bloodlines movie directors: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts
Final Destination Bloodlines movie rating: 2.5 stars
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