14 years on from the last in the series you’d be forgiven if you thought that this franchise had run it’s course, if we really needed another instalment. Well, needed, perhaps not, but to my surprise it turns out that there is still a bit of life left in this franchise.
We begin as always, with disaster. Iris and her boyfriend Paul are attending the opening of The Skyview Restaurant Tower, the perfect place for a proposal. But, Iris feels ill at ease and before long things take a turn, with people falling to their deaths and old women catching on fire. Here is where we get a little change in the formula. A young woman, Stefani, wakes up screaming in her dorm room, the mayhem being a vivid recurring nightmare involving the death of her Grandmother, Iris. So, it’s a trip home to visit the family, enquire about crazy Grandma Iris, who’s very much alive, and uncover some family secrets.
After tracking down the estranged Grandma, Stefani is given the low-down on Deaths design and must try and intervene to prevent the rest of the family from being ticked off of Deaths list. What follows is the usual collection of fun and inventive set pieces in which various family members are dispatched with the aid of such things as, a lawnmower, a garbage truck and an MRI machine.
There is of course the obligatory visit to one William Bludworth, played as always by the magnificent Tony Todd. This was his final role, the illness that took him very much present, to the point that I, at first, didn’t recognise him. Here the full involvement of his character in the entire film series is revealed and, as always, he delivers a great speech, which this time around serves as a heartfelt goodbye, not only to the franchise but also to us the audience. Thank you Tony, you will very much be missed.
The directing team of Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein do a good job with the set pieces, the death themed song choices are spot on, and there are some subtle call-backs to the previous movies. When Stefani has her bloodlines death map up on the wall, if you’re quick you might spot a familiar headline or two. The CG blood effects look a little dodgy at times, and are still no substitute for a good practical effect, but they don’t really hurt the overall result of the death scenes.
The cast does a good job with the material, written by Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, and Jon Watts, and this is where I got a surprise. In my piece on the original Final Destination I stated that I never really cared about the characters, and I’m happy to say Bloodlines changed that. I really liked the family and their interactions. Especially the two brothers, Erik and Bobby, played by Richard Harmon and Owen Patrick Joyner. They played off of each other wonderfully and offered some fun comic relief, and I genuinely found myself rooting for them.
The audience in the screening I was in seemed to enjoy this latest addition to the series, responding with some good laughs and a small round of applause as the credits rolled. We’re British remember, wouldn’t want to go to mad.
All in all this is a fun addition to the franchise, with just enough changes to the formula to keep it interesting, and dare I say it, it may well be my favourite so far. There may be enough life left in this old dog for yet another outing.
