Destination finale: Bloodlines

Final Destination: Bloodlines isn't going to pull a rabbit out of its undead hat, reinvent the horror wheel, or stake its claim as a genre-defining masterstroke-but that's not the point.

What it does do is breathe new life into a franchise that felt like it had run out of steam. Bloodlines is a solid sixth installment, packing the same patented "inevitable death" mechanics we know and (occasionally) love, but with enough fresh twists to keep die-hard fans from checking out.

If you never warmed to the idea of "death's design" calling the shots, this won't convert you. For everyone else, the film delivers brilliantly choreographed set pieces of grisly demise-think elaborate Rube Goldberg traps drenched in splatter FX-that hit the sweet spot between macabre creativity and good old-fashioned gore.

The biggest upgrade this time around is emotional buy-in: the victims aren't a bunch of arbitrary strangers thrown together by fate. Instead, Bloodlines builds sincere rapport with its core ensemble, giving each death a bit more narrative weight (and, yes, a smidge of pathos) before the inevitable payoff.

Unfortunately, the dialogue remains as thin as ever-flat exposition one moment, telenovela melodrama the next-reminding you that subtlety wasn't high on the call sheet.

On the plus side, the movie leavens the carnage with genuinely funny, ironically staged moments-many courtesy of Erik, whose over-the-top flair steals scenes from our so-called protagonist-and the delightfully absurd chain reactions (who knew the garbage truck could be such a menace?).

Even though the film trudges into its predictable finale with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball, Bloodlines is pure adrenaline: brutal, energetic, and darkly comedic. In other words, exactly what you paid for when you bought that Final Destination ticket.

Final Destination: Bloodlines is a great time. It does the smart thing and goes for a more comedic approach than earlier entries in the series.

Bloodlines contains possibly the best opening of the franchise and the first 20 minutes are a treat. The effects, while not amazing, do the job and are particularly gory even for this series.

The movie works well bringing a new twist on the Final Destination formula and the family are all likable enough in their own ways.

It would be remiss of me not to mention a standout in Richard Harmon. I spend a good portion of his time on screen trying to calculate if Tom Green could have fathered him as he is his dead ringer in this (amazingly both canadian as well). It was obvious they were going for a Tom Green type of character.

Tony Todd shows up for the last time as the mortician and it's a great emotional and poetic send off for him as well as giving his character an interesting backstory.

The movie has some nice little easter eggs for fans of the series with some call backs to previous entries as well as harking back to some of the premonitions.

The Final Destination franchise has always been interesting to me but never quite delivered a quality movie. This is perhaps the closest it has came to that by just being a good time and not getting bogged down in the lore.

Not bad at all. It makes the most logically-connected sense out of all the FD series. But... Realism? Way less now. Personally, it's still between "mid" to the "quite good" level. The FD series have always stood out in the category of horror. This movie still has some questionable scenes that leaves me with slight curiosity on how some of the occurences could be avoided, but it didn't disappoint me. The casting is wonderful and so is the acting. Plus, this one's highly supernatural and not as gory as the others in terms of screen time. A lot relies on the sound/music, and angles. I watched it in Premiere so I got the benefit of the sound system's work. The special effects and lighting quality made every scene look realistic in portrayal. What impressed me is that this is one of those moderate-comeback horror thrillers that's categorized as supernatural but isn't involving a visible entity or character. These kinds of movies stand out to me. And I'm overall impressed by the tense moments FD is able to exhibit. Also, this is my first review on IMDb!

Loved the movie.. and from what I noticed in the movie theatre and from my friends. Everyone enjoyed it! I personally enjoyed the overall story.. The opening scene in the tower is amazing really. Showed the story back in the old days and after many years in our time how death (a person) follows everyone.

I liked it.. Especially how the story carries on.. as a family curse plot. Some people find Final Destination movies repetitive.. true. I guess hardcore fans might expect/anticipate every single shot because it follows the same path as the old movies. But this one is very enjoyable.

Really keeps you at the edge of your seat. Most accidents were amusing to be honest. Especially the one in the MRI machine. Very creative.

There's a scene around the middle of the film Final Destination: Bloodlines where William John Bludworth, the character played by Tony Todd throughout the series says "I intend to enjoy the time I have left, and I suggest you do the same. Life is precious. Enjoy every single second. You never know when... Good luck."

It such a wistful moment because this was Tony Todd's last film and was extra impactful because it almost looked as if Tony broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to the audience. It was an extremely poignant moment, especially since Todd appeared to be in such ill health.

We all know the general premise by now - cheating death just delays the inevitable.

When a woman named Iris saves hundreds of people from death in a space needle like structure that's about to collapse what happens is that they eventually die but it takes decades instead of days and Grandma Iris's family is now on the chopping block. Her granddaughter Stephanie has been having these insane nightmares about her grandmother's death in the tower and when she goes to see her, Iris tells her that you can cheat death, but you can't escape it.

And well, you can't.

This sixth installment in the final destination series ranks up there with the logging incident in the second installment. The opening scene of carnage is nothing short of amazing and superbly well-crafted and choreographed and funny and, thankfully, the perpetrator who caused all the damage was immediately rectified. 71-year-old stuntwoman Yvette Ferguson came out of retirement for a fire stunt in the premonition scene, which some believe to be a world record for the oldest person set on fire on camera.

Let's face it, at its core, the final destination movies are Rube Goldbergesque slasher films, but this one really had the best sense of humor of all the films in the series. Whereas the first few movies had scenes in which you would laugh out of relief this movie has scenes that genuinely make you laugh out loud, not from relief, but because the sense of humor evinced by the writers and directors is just so spot on.

Does it break new ground? Other than the laughs it provides, probably not, but it is still a highly entertaining film.

I am going to give this an extra half star "In Memory of Tony Todd."

WATCH IT

4/5.