Final Destination Bloodlines embraces its Canadian roots

If slasher films are often built around elaborate kills and set-pieces, no franchise has embraced creativity with the same enthusiasm as Final Destination. The victims in these films aren’t running away from a masked or scarred killer that seems to be beyond human, but from death itself. The franchise’s first entry in 14 years, Final Destination Bloodlines, expands on the premise that you can’t escape death by extending it intergenerationally. More than just a return to the big screen, the latest film reimagines the franchise’s DNA.

Directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky were longtime fans of Final Destination. The filmmaker duo had made a mark on the Canadian film industry with successful small-budget horror films like Freaks, which used meager resources to craft a paranoid and incisive film about parental trauma, trust and liberty. Speaking to Cult MTL via Zoom, the pair insisted that they brought that spirit to Final Destination —explaining that the film has had an integral relationship to British Columbia, where all the films in the franchise have been shot. “Everyone in B.C. has some relationship to Final Destination,” says Stein. 

Final Destination Bloodlines opens with a sequence set in the past, where a town gathers at the grand opening of a tower restaurant that filmmakers said was inspired by buildings like the CN Tower. Predictably, chaos reigns as a domino effect of little things going wrong leads to disaster, until two key characters escape death. As we jump to the present day, we will follow one of their granddaughters. The other survivor is a kind of gift from the filmmakers, offering one of the most beloved characters of Final Destination‘s origins. 

This film marks the last screen appearance of actor Tony Todd, who died last November. He was already sick during the production of the film, and the filmmakers worried that they wouldn’t be able to shoot his scene. “We knew he was sick. We were worried at first he wouldn’t want or be able to be in the film, but he was so excited to be on set,” says Lipovsky. Without delving into spoilers, much of his scene features the film’s relatively young cast — they were apparently in awe of the legend, who has appeared not only in other Final Destination movies, but played the titular villain in the classic horror franchise Candyman. 

In a key moment, Stein and Lipovsky even went off-script. Knowing this might be Todd’s last film, they asked him to abandon the script and speak from the heart. In one of the most earnest and heart-wrenching scenes in any slasher film, Todd seems to address the audience as much as the characters he’s sharing the room with. “He just spoke about how precious life is and how to take full advantage. It really comes through on screen when he says that. That’s the kind of person he is,” says Lipovsky. “A lot of people are going to be surprised by what they feel in that moment.”

The sequence perfectly encapsulates what the filmmakers get right about the franchise: keeping it real and intimate amidst the absurdism of its premise. The movie features a lot of gore and a lot of comedy, but it always circles back to the fundamental nature of fear: that death will come for all of us. Final Destination Bloodlines, would end up being Todd’s final film, and there couldn’t have been a more fitting or moving send-off for the actor. The scene feels “authentic” because it is. 

Sticking to their roots, Stein and Lipovsky used practical effects whenever possible. For die-hard fans of the franchise, they won’t be disappointed by the extremes to which the film takes us. Though this is their first time fitting into the big shoes of their Final Destination predecessors, the filmmakers eem perfectly at home in the extravagance, imagination and flesh-tearing set-pieces. Though the directors insinuate that they’re working with an extremely small-budget, it’s far from obvious up on screen, likely in part to the meticulous planning on their behalf. 

Among other things, Final Destination Bloodlines is a testament to Canada’s role in many of your most beloved blockbusters. B.C. is more than just a set — the cast and crew who make the film are from here as well. Abounding with creativity and imagination, Final Destination Bloodlines very much feels like an important return to form and a full-circle moment for a franchise that seemed to be on its own death bed. Thanks to Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky, Final Destination and its characters will live to die again, and for that we are thankful. ■

Final Destination Bloodlines opens in Montreal theatres on Friday, May 16. 

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