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A log flying off the back of a truck and exploding through your windshield. Being fried alive in a tanning bed. Getting your hand stuck down the garbage disposal. Anyone who's seen a Final Destination movie tends to be able to name at least one fatal scenario from the franchise that continued to haunt them long after the credits rolled.
These unforgettable death traps are a big reason the horror series, which debuted in 2000 with an inaugural installment that quickly earned a cult following, have such staying power. They're also a beloved feature of the first five films that Final Destination: Bloodlines directing duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein (Freaks) wanted to ensure they kept alive, so to speak.
"One of the very first things we talked about when we started working on the movie was, what can we ruin for people?" Stein says with a laugh. "So a big part of the creative process was identifying those common, everyday experiences that will stick with people for the rest of their lives. It can be something as simple as a cup full of ice or something as specific as the song 'Shout,' which is going to make you think about this movie anytime you hear it at a wedding from now on."
Although initially critically panned, the Final Destination franchise has brought in north of $666 million worldwide through five movies. Now, Bloodlines, the saga's long-awaited sixth entry, is being praised as "elegantly sadistic entertainment" and is slated to gross at least $35-$40 million in its opening weekend. It arrives in theaters a little less than two months after the 25th anniversary of the first film that turned Death into an unseen, unheard, yet still personified villain fond of diabolically complex Rube Goldberg-style kills.
"There's no killer in a mask running around with a knife," Stein says. "But Death does have a personality. Death is very clever and plays a long game. That's why people love these movies. The kills are so much fun to watch that you end up rooting for Death in a way."
Having grown up in Vancouver, where most of the previous entries were filmed, Lipovsky says he's long had a soft spot for Final Destination. "A lot of my friends have died in Final Destination movies or worked on Final Destination movies," he says. "A lot of landmarks are set pieces. It's sort of a staple in the city."
So when a shot at landing the directing gig for Bloodlines arose, he and Stein decided to go for broke. The pair ultimately convinced the powers that be they were right for the job by faking Stein's death at the end of a Zoom pitch meeting. Thanks to a combination of prerecorded footage and visual effects, New Line execs and producers were given front-row seats to their potential hire suddenly being decapitated by a falling ceiling fan. Thus, the deal was sealed.
As with every Final Destination that came before, Bloodlines opens with a character having a vision of a gruesome and terrifying mass casualty event in which they, and any friends and loved ones with them, are killed. This premonition allows them to escape Death, but only until it eventually catches back up to them and begins orchestrating their demises in the same order in which they were originally fated to die. However, this time around, there's a twist. When the person experiencing the vision abruptly comes to, we see that it's not the woman at the center of the carnage, Iris (Brec Bassinger in her younger years and Gabrielle Rose later in life), but rather a college student, Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), who is revealed to be her granddaughter.
"The biggest challenge with Bloodlines was that the formula already works really well: a bunch of people escape Death, are marked by Death, and Death comes for them. That's why you're going to the theater. And Final Destination 5 ended in such a great way that it felt like the perfect conclusion," Lipovsky says of reinvigorating the franchise after a 14-year hiatus. "So we wanted to find all sorts of ways be true to the canon, but twist it to play with people's expectations. We wanted to keep it feeling fresh."
Turns out, because Iris was able to prevent the opening night collapse of the Skyview Tower restaurant and save everyone inside after she originally had the vision back in 1968, it took Death long enough to make its way through its intended victims that many of them ended up having children. This created bloodlines that, in Death's mind, never should have existed and led to Death going after its victims' descendants as well. Since Iris was the second to last person to die in the premonition, all of this happening gave her time to get wise to Death's tricks and she ultimately hid herself away in a remote, fortified cabin for decades to avoid any fatal surprises. But, once Iris finally gives herself over to Death, the burden of trying to protect the family—and figuring out Death's rules of cosmic justice—falls to Stefani.
This unconventional setup also allows Bloodlines to give franchise mainstay and cryptic funeral home owner William Bludworth (late horror legend and Candyman star Tony Todd in his final role) a long-awaited backstory. "He's always been this mysterious character that has a lot of information for sort of no reason and is just this weird, creepy guy," Lipovsky says. "So we wanted to help explain where he came from and why he is the way he is. And then, most importantly, we wanted to not only give the character a goodbye, but also give Tony the opportunity to say goodbye to the audience."
While we won't reveal exactly what befalls Stefani and the rest of her family, Death's increasingly inventive, and often darkly comedic, methods of getting its job done pretty much beg to be seen in a theater with a crowd of fellow horror fans—if you're into that sort of thing.
"There's a death of a 12-year-old boy early in the film, and the way audiences have been reacting when that happens is cheering with joy that the child has been crushed," Lipovsky says. "That's an experience you will not get at home."
