Horror reboots are all the rage these days. Scream, Scary Movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Saw — you name it, there’s a decent chance someone’s out there with red string and pins figuring out a fiendish way to bring it back. With that being said, the latest addition to the growing reboot canon is New Line Cinema’s Final Destination: Bloodlines, the first new entry in what remains the only major franchise that can proudly boast Death itself as its antagonist since Final Destination 5 some 14 years ago. And if the gnarly first trailer for Freaks directors Adam B. Stein & Zach Lipovsky’s upcoming movie is anything to go by, then we may be in for the Grim Reaper’s gnarliest killing spree yet. If you have any piercings, proceed with caution:
Over the years, the Final Destination franchise has given us a slew of memorable fatalities. Death by sunbed (Final Destination 3), by barbecue (Final Destination 2), by pool drain even (The Final Destination). And in our first look at Bloodlines, penned by Guy Busick (Scream VI) and Lori Evans Taylor, we get… death by nose piercing! Yes, a poor unsuspecting tattooist, simply trying to give himself some therapeutic ink, finds himself on the receiving end of a lethal chain-ceiling-fan-blazing-inferno combo as cinema’s ingenious Death-as-Rube Goldberg saga continues. Whether this Death is operating pre- or post-Final Destination 5 remains to be seen at this point, as does any meaningful confirmation of the plot and extent of rebooting that Bloodlines will do, but the early signs are promising and the trailer is, aptly, a killer.
In terms of a synopsis, the vague logline for the movie — which cryptically promises to take fans “back to the very beginning of Death’s twisted sense of justice” — reads as follows: “Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefanie heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all.” Among the cast assembled to dance with Death this time out are Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Rya Kihlstedt, Brec Bassinger, and the late, great Tony Todd, whose presence in the line-up as series regular and longtime enigma William Bludworth is sure to raise a few eyebrows — and expectations.
Is Bludworth “the one person” Stefanie is looking for? When and where exactly is “the very beginning” of Death’s bloody crusade? And — just asking for a friend — is “I just saw the Final Destination: Bloodlines trailer so I don’t think I can make it to my appointment tomorrow” a legitimate excuse to cancel an appointment down at the local tattoo parlour? At least some of those questions will be answered when Death comes to cinemas in Final Destination: Bloodlines on 16 May.
