It seems no franchise can be left dormant forever, so after a break of 14 years, the sixth entry to the Final Destination series arrives on our screens. I really enjoyed the first three films but felt the quality drop significantly after that, so I was curious to see if this was a return to form. It is directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein and written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, based on a story developed by them and Jon Watts.
Kaitlyn Santa Juana stars as Stefani Lewis, a college student experiencing a recurring nightmare that foretells her family’s demise and returns home to find her long lost grandmother and Stefani believes she holds the key to preventing it.
The highlights in this series have been the convoluted death set pieces and Bloodlines certainly delivers in that regard, particularly with the opening tower collapse. I found myself laughing a number of times during that, especially when a snotty kid is squashed by a piano.
After that beginning, things slow down but the film remains very enjoyable, mixing gruesome kills with entertaining near misses and a lot of chuckles. There are a few nice call backs, notably when one character is almost run over by a logging truck and the very last scene was surprising.
The performances are all decent and it was poignant to see a very ill looking Tony Todd reprise his role of William Bludworth after appearing in numbers 1, 2 and 5 in the series. It was to be his final film before his death. This is right up there with the first two films and I am sure there will be more sequels to come.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10