Generational trauma just took on a whole new meaning.
By: Amanda Musto
It’s been 14 years since Final Destination 5 was released, 25 years since the franchise started, and now death has returned, this time with a vengeance for one specific family lineage.
Final Destination Bloodlines has flipped the script of the franchise, focusing on one family being taken out by death instead of a group of friends, while also jumping between a timeline of present day and 1968. While the timeline that takes place in the 60s gives the backstory of the film about why this family is on death’s list, it also points back to the other five films, making it a partial prequel. It may seem as if the Campbell line is the only group affected but they just happen to be the only ones left and death got sick of waiting.
Just as the films that have come before, it starts with a premonition of a horrifically tragic event that is supposed to kill a large group of people, only this time it’s a duplicate premonition, almost 60 years after the original. And while in the prior films’ death was only cheated out of a handful of lives, hundreds of lives were spared that night, which then led to multiple generations of people that should’ve never existed — so yeah, death is pissed.
Bloodlines stayed true to the franchise and made sure the viewer would be on the edge of their seat filled with suspense while they waited to see who the next victim would be. I felt this film was even more suspenseful than the others, finding that I spent most of the film with my hands on top of my head and my jaw clenched, braced to say goodbye to another character.
The deaths were executed (pun intended) in a perfect Final Destination fashion — extreme, gory, and one in a million. I wish this film was made in 3D though because of how some of the deaths happened. A pole through the abdomen is cool enough, but a pole through the abdomen in 3D so that it’s almost through my face would’ve been even cooler. The deaths in earlier films had some predictability to them, but in this one I didn’t find them to be easy to guess. Except for one of them, which will keep me indoors on garbage day from now on.
My favorite part of this film, as well as all the films of the franchise, is how much they make you pay attention to all the small things, even if they seem trivial. Most people wouldn’t think a single crystal falling off a chandelier could lead to the death of hundreds of people, but death is a detailed being who loves a domino effect. Maybe in life there aren’t coincidences, just the whisper of death reminding you it’s lurking close by.
Emotions were higher in this film as a viewer, connections to the characters being felt in different ways than the other films because it wasn’t a group of friends that die, but family members. You saw the characters grieve differently, and it pulled the heart strings a little more. To add fuel to the emotional fire, Tony Todd’s (Candyman) final lines of the film were a posthumous goodbye to his fans. It was a great way to end his character and because the lines were unscripted, they were even more heartfelt.
Out of all the Final Destination movies, this one topped the box office opening weekend as it raked in $51 million domestically, and it’s easy to see why. The production team pulled off a great addition to the franchise and thankfully did not mess it up, which is a big possibility when a sixth movie is added, especially 14 years later.
Even though I have to put it second behind Final Destination 3, which is the best one in the franchise in my opinion, I give it a 5/5.
