Final Destination Bloodlines 4K UHD Review
The Final Destination series is back at long last.
After a 14 year hiatus, the Final Destination horror franchise is back with the sixth entry “Final Destination Bloodlines.” The story begins in 1969 where a couple (Iris and Paul) are attending the opening of a Space Needle esque tower restaurant dubbed Sky View. To no surprise, the opening goes horribly wrong, the tower collapses, and Iris and Paul die. Plot twist- this didn’t actually happen but Stefani (the granddaughter of Iris) in the present day keeps having a nightmare about it. It turns out Iris had warned everyone about the tower before the disaster could ever happen. As a result, everyone cheated death that day, but they all slowly began to die over time after that…including the descendants of everyone. As Stefani begins to unpack these secrets along with other family drama, death begins to prey upon Stefani and her family including Darlene (mother), Howard (uncle), Erik, Bobby, Julia (cousins) and Charlie (brother). Will anyone make it out alive?
Aside from the fourth installment that fans largely collectively disown (“The Final Destination”), the Final Destination franchise has been consistent The newest entry ‘Bloodlines’ has somehow defied the odds by becoming not only the highest grossing entry, but the most critically acclaimed as well. While it’s not one of my personal favorites of the series (more on that in a bit), it is refreshing to see the franchise continue on and take the series into a new direction.
Part of the appeal of the Final Destination films is that they basically turned the slasher genre on its head by making death the killer. Seeing how characters get dispatched in grizzly and creative ways has always been one of the major selling points. Rest assured, the gore hounds out there will not get a watered down sequel here. Between the garbage truck to the MRI machine sequence, directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky go all out to create elaborate and graphic death scenes. The opening 20 minutes at the Sky View is particularly thrilling.
The most buzzed about element of ‘Bloodlines’ has to be the inclusion of the late great Tony Todd’s William Bludworth character and for good reason. Todd had been with the franchise since the beginning in the mysterious role and it was rewarding and emotional to see the actor not only return in what turned out to be his final film role, but to have his character’s backstory revealed. Todd’s scene is far and away the best part of the entire film (especially for longtime fans of the franchise).
Where ‘Bloodlines’ kind of lost me is with the ‘family’ element. It’s understandable why writers Gary Busick and Lori Evans Taylor opted to go a different route with the story by exploring the mythology more, but this particular storyline does ruin the mystique a bit. Moreover, the general story deals with a lot of generational family trauma which has been such an overused trend in horror as of late. It was also a bit puzzling as to why the writers decided to make the older Iris like Laurie Strode in 2018’s “Halloween.” It felt like a carbon copy almost.
Much of the cast is just fodder for death, but Brec Bassinger (the young Iris), the aforementioned Tony Todd, and Richard Harmon as the personable jerkwad Erik steal the show.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 2.39:1 2160p. How does it look? The 4K disc delivers a quality transfer in which the colors really pop .
Audio Track: Dolby Atmos. How does it sound? From the Sky View collapse to the impalements, the Atmos track is nothing if not dynamic.
Extras:
* Digital copy
* “Death Becomes Them: On The Set Of Final Destination Bloodlines” features cast and crew interviews, set footage, discussions about the cast and characters and direction, and the references to past installments.
* “The Many Deaths Of Bloodlines” covers the making of the death sequences.
* “The Legacy Of Bludworth” is all about Tony Todd’s character.
* Commentary by directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky.
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