Latest news with #Skyview
Los Angeles Times
21-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Retro signs, wallpaper and keys. At these motels, the delight is in the details
I am a photo fellow at the L.A. Times, and recently spent three days photographing for the Motel California project at the Skyview Los Alamos. What immediately struck me was how tucked away in the hills the motel was, even with its close proximity to the freeway. While only two hours away from L.A., I felt like I was in a totally different place. I captured the iconic yellow 'Motel' sign by the pool, the turquoise Moke shuttle, and lots of unique fixtures. Having three days to photograph an assignment is rare in daily news, so I felt lucky to be able to spend more time in certain spots of the property and reshoot in different lighting situations. Good light is critical to making a good photo, so I made the most of golden hour during my visit. All of the pops of orange, yellow and teal around the property complemented warm light well. I loved that most of the plants were succulents and cactuses, giving the place a desert feel on the Central Coast. When I look at all the photos as a whole, I feel the sense of calm and warmth I experienced while I was there. — Juliana Yamada, photography fellow
Geek Girl Authority
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES Spoiler Review
Major spoilers ahead for Final Destination: Bloodlines. You've been warned. * * If you're looking for horror flicks that encapsulate the early 2000s look and vibe, you need look no further than the Final Destination franchise. The five flicks (2000-2011) managed to combine horror and comedy into its own little subgenre. And even though they all share the same story structure, each flick kept us on edge to find out how Death would get its revenge on survivors of tragedy. But does Final Destination: Bloodlines have what it takes to draw an audience in 2025? Read on to find out. RELATED: Sinners Spoiler Review Final Destination: Bloodlines begins in 1969, where a cute young couple named Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones) and Iris (Brec Bassinger) drive to their date destination, a brand-new restaurant called The Skyview. Paul blindfolds Iris so she's surprised by the reveal – but as she looks up at the huge, Space Needle-looking tower, she gets anxious. They see a bratty kid (Noah Bromley) trying to steal coins out of the fountain. And in the elevator ride to the top, the same kid jumps up and down on the floor, making Iris even more nervous. When they get to the top, Paul and Iris marvel at the swanky restaurant, but Paul's reservation gets bumped. They decide to stay and have a drink. Brec Bassinger in Final Destination: Bloodlines Now here we go with the Rube Goldberg mechanics: one of the waiters opens a wine bottle, sending the cork flying up into the chandelier, loosening one of the crystals. The crystal falls and hits the glass floor, creating a crack. Meanwhile, Iris feels nauseous and heads for the bathroom. One of the singers (Natasha Burnett), who's looking after her kid (Jayden Oniah), sees her and asks how far along she is. Iris is surprised that she was able to tell and confides that she hasn't yet told Paul. The singer reassures Iris that she'll be alright, and she shouldn't be afraid to tell Paul the good news. RELATED: Drop Spoiler Review Paul finds Iris and takes her outside to the observation deck, where he proposes. Iris butts in and blurts out that she's pregnant, and Paul couldn't be happier. Everyone out there with them applauds as he gives her the engagement ring. Then Iris sees that same bratty, coin-stealing kid throwing pennies off the tower. A security guard yells at him, but as soon as he walks away, the kid tosses the penny anyway. The penny gets sucked into the ventilation system, causing it to clog a fan and start releasing gas into the restaurant. Paul and Iris hit the crowded dance floor, where the band starts a rousing version of 'Shout.' Everyone stomps on the cracking floor, which then shatters, sending people falling to their deaths – including poor Paul. Then a flambé flame ignites the gas in the air, setting several guests on fire. Everyone rushes for the stairs, but they collapse before Iris can get there. Then, everyone dashes for the elevator, and it plummets. The outside supports break, the whole restaurant tilting, sending people slamming into the windows. Then the infamous penny reappears and lands on the precariously hanging piano. The infinitesimal weight of the penny causes the anchor on the piano to snap, sending it flying into more people – happily, including the bratty, coin-stealing kid. Brec Bassinger in Final Destination: Bloodlines Iris sees the singer's kid and tries to rescue him. The rest of the restaurant gives way, sending Iris and the kid out the window. She gets caught on some rebar – more specifically, she gets caught by her engagement ring, which was tight on her finger. But their combined weight pulls the skin off her finger (eww), and she and the kid both fall to their heinous deaths. Cut to present day, where a college kid named Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) wakes up screaming, having dreamed the whole thing. She's in the middle of class and is mortified by the teacher and everyone else laughing at her. Then after class, her teacher delivers bad news: her grades are in the toilet, so they're putting her on academic probation. RELATED: The Woman in The Yard Spoiler Review Later, in her dorm room, Stef wakes up screaming again, which also wakes up her roommate. Stef confides that the recurring dream/vision is keeping her from sleeping, hence the bad grades. Her polite but annoyed roommate says she needs to take some time off to resolve whatever issue she's having. So we cut to Stef driving to her Dad, Marty's (Tinpo Lee) house, who's surprised to see her. So is her younger brother Charlie (Teo Briones). Stef asks Marty about Iris, who, as it turns out, is her and Charlie's grandmother. But Marty doesn't want to talk about it, seeing as Iris' insanity is the reason he and Stef's mother Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt) divorced. Charlie wants to go to their cousins' place to hang out, so Stef drives him. All the cousins, Erik (Richard Harmon), Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner) and Julia (Anna Lore), are also surprised to see her, as are her uncle Howard (Alex Zahara) and Aunt Brenda (April Telek). Stef has a reputation for distancing herself from the family, so she has to deal with their obvious resentment. Katilyn Santa Juana in Final Destination: Bloodlines Stef tries to get information from Howard, but he, too, doesn't want to talk about Iris. All he'll say is that surviving the Skyview accident made Iris severely paranoid and pretty much insane, which made growing up hell for him and Darlene. After he walks out, Stef begs Brenda for help, and she clues Stef into a box of old letters in a cabinet. She gets an address off one of the letters and drives out to Iris' house, which to her shock, is a scary-looking, DIY fortress. Stef announces herself over the speaker on the gate and granddaughter finally meets Grandma (Gabrielle Rose), but she's not at all like a typical grandmother. She explains to Stef that at the time, she trusted her instincts and managed to evacuate the restaurant before the collapse. But after that, she found that people who had been at the Skyview and survived started dying. RELATED: Novocaine Spoiler Review Iris says she became consumed with preventing Death from claiming her and her kids. The fortress has kept her safe for 20 years – but now she's got terminal cancer. She shows Stef a notebook filled with writings, news articles and a flow chart about other similar situations (e.g., Flight 180), and info on all the survivors who became eventual victims. Weirded out, Stef tries to leave. Iris begs her to stay, afraid to step outside the house. But knowing that Stef's in danger, Iris bravely walks outside to give Stef the notebook. And as soon as she does, Death sends a fire extinguisher flying into a broken weathervane, which launches right through Iris' head, and does the signature Final Destination blood splatter all over Stef's face. Ick. At Iris's funeral, everyone's surprised when Darlene shows up. Stef and Charlie aren't happy to see her, as they believe she abandoned them. Uncle Howard and Aunt Brenda invite her to a memorial barbecue at their house. Teo Briones, Tinpo Lee, Kaitlyn Santa Juana, April Telek, Alex Zahara, Richard Harmon, Anna Lore, Owen Joyner in Final Destination: Bloodlines Howard raises a toast to Iris at the barbecue, telling everyone how they need to enjoy the time they have with family. But of course, Death has other ideas, laying several traps to the tune of 'The Piña Colada Song' – a faulty grill venting gas, a rake underneath the trampoline, a shard of glass hidden inside a glass of ice. Meanwhile, back at her Dad's, Stef goes through Iris's notes. Then she gets the feeling something's wrong and rushes over to Howard and Brenda's. Even though Darlene spotted the rake under the trampoline, it rips, sending Bobby falling through it. Then when Erik lights the grill, it nearly explodes in his face. The shard of glass ends up stuck in the grass, where Howard steps on it. He falls, and the rake then falls into the lawnmower – and poor Howard gets mowed. RELATED: Movie Review: Death of A Unicorn After his funeral, Stef gathers the family to discuss Iris' theories. Stef realizes that because Iris survived – and wasn't meant to – that her children and grandchildren weren't meant to be born. So Death's coming for all of them (except Brenda and Henry, who aren't blood relations). But of course, nobody wants to believe such a whacked-out idea, and they all dismiss Stef. That night, as Erik closes up at the tattoo/piercing shop he works at – and while mourning by giving himself a 'Dad' tattoo (and listening to 'All by Myself'), he falls victim to a heinous series of events. He almost gets pulled into the ceiling fan by his nose piercing (yikes), and then a fire started by spilled alcohol rages through the shop. But miraculously, he survives. The next day, Stef tries to convince Erik that he's still in danger, as evidenced by the truck that rushes by and nearly hits him. But he's still not buying it, and neither is Julia, who angrily dismisses Stef again before heading out on a jog. But then, through another series of events, Julia falls into a garbage can that gets picked up by the passing dump truck. Teo Briones, Kaitlyn Santa Juana in Final Destination: Bloodlines While Erik and Charlie try to alert the driver, Stef climbs up onto the truck and tries to grab Julia. But Death has its way and crushes her with the compactor ( really gross). What's left of the family finally believes Stef and they try to figure out who's next on Death's list. Stef finds someone named 'JB' in Iris' notes, and Darlene remembers that he works at a local morgue. Everyone piles into Darlene's RV (which she's been living out of for years), including Erik and Bobby. As they drive, Stef notices that Darlene has photos of her and Charlie, and Darlene says she keeps them close. When they get to the morgue, they meet William John Bludworth (the late, legendary Tony Todd), aka 'JB.' Turns out, he's the son of the singer at the Skyview, and remained friends with Iris. JB knows about Iris' death and isn't surprised to see Stef. RELATED: Movie Review: The Uninvited About to retire, JB clues them in on how to beat Death. You can either kill someone to get the years that person has left, or you can technically 'die' and then be revived. Like Iris, he's survived this long, but now cancer has the final word. He tells them to enjoy life while they have it and wishes them good luck. Then he takes his box of belongings and exits. Aww. We love you, Tony. Erik and Bobby split off from the group to take matters into their own hands. Bobby's next on the list since Death missed Erik. They ever-so-briefly consider killing a baby. But then Erik comes up with the idea that they can cheat Death by having Bobby 'die' from anaphylaxis from his peanut allergy. Then, Erik says he'll resuscitate him, and he'll be okay. Bobby reluctantly agrees, deciding that if he's gonna go, he's gonna die by peanut butter cups. Tony Todd in Final Destination: Bloodlines They duck into an MRI room and unknowingly start it up. It slowly ratchets up to its most powerful setting as Bobby eats the peanut butter cup. By the time anaphylaxis sets in, the MRI's pulling in every metal thing on the entire floor. Erik gets sucked in by all of his piercings (eww) and then gets crushed. Bobby manages to get his EpiPen and stab himself, but then a nurse walks in the door, and a metal coil from a vending machine (where they got the peanut butter cups from) flies right into Bobby's head and kills him. Yow. After that horrifying disaster, Darlene decides she'll go to Iris's fortress and stay there. As long as she survives, Stef and Charlie should be safe. They decide to go with her and stay together. They drive the RV through the gate, but then another series of events causes an explosion, which sends the RV crashing on its side into a pond. RELATED: Movie Review: The Surfer Now underwater, Stef can't get free of the seatbelt. And meanwhile, Charlie's stuck under some debris. Darlene decides to free Charlie first, but as soon as she does, a lamppost falls on her and kills her. Charlie races to rescue Stef, but she's already drowned. Cut to black for a moment – then Stef awakens, resuscitated by Charlie. The chain's broken, and Death's finally defeated. Cut to sometime later. Stef's about to head back to school, and Charlie's headed off to prom. They go to Charlie's date's house, who is dressed remarkably like Iris. Stef sees a car drive over some train tracks – an old car that looks just like Iris and Paul's. Meanwhile, a penny that some lady dropped gets stuck in the track. Kaitlyn Santa Juana in Final Destination: Bloodlines Stef and Charlie talk to one of the guys there for the prom, and he says that even though it's miraculous that she survived, Stef didn't really die. She was just unconscious. Uh-oh. The oncoming train derails and crashes into the neighborhood. Stef and Charlie run from it, nearly escaping – until a ton of logs fly off the train and crush them. Yep. Classic Final Destination. *** I only recently, within the last few years, got into the Final Destination flicks. I didn't watch them before because I figured they were going to be cheesy and goofy – and they are. But after I watched the original and then the sequel, I was hooked. It's hard to describe, but any fan of Final Destination knows that it's its own subgenre, equal parts disgusting, silly and hilarious. It has such a unique story structure – one that definitely isn't art-house, high-brow cinema. It's just fun. And to write a Final Destination flick means being a stickler for tiny details, so it takes its own sort of talent to pull it off. RELATED: Mickey 17 Spoiler Review It's been 14 years since the last flick in the series, and technology has changed so much in that time that trying to reinvigorate the franchise for a new generation is a risky venture. It's entirely possible that Final Destination was so unique to its time that to remake it would just mean turning it into something it was never designed to be. Directors and cast with Tony Todd in Final Destination: Bloodlines Thankfully, the directors and writers of Final Destination: Bloodlines are clearly huge fans of the series. They put a slightly different spin on it by making the doomed heroes descendants of the survivors rather than the survivors themselves. And by taking the initial catastrophe way back in time, they gave the old Final Destination structure a new look and feel without changing it so much that it's unrecognizable. I must also give props to the directors for giving Tony Todd that terrific scene. Tony's been the face and voice of Final Destination since the beginning, so I'm glad that they made sure to include him. It was also incredibly cool that they let Tony improv his final lines of dialogue, so that he could speak to the fans directly and say his goodbyes before his death. So many times, attempts to remake older flicks – or to restart dead franchises – end up delivering nothing but mediocrity. Thankfully, Final Destination: Bloodlines didn't fall into that trap. It's revitalized, reinvigorated and just as gory and darkly, tragically funny as ever. Final Destination: Bloodlines is a gift for horror fans, and I can't wait to see what new disaster they come up with next. Directed by: Zack Lipovsky, Adam Stein Written by: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts (story) Release date: May 18, 2025 Rating: R Run time: 1hr, 50min Distributor: New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures THUNDERBOLTS* Spoiler Review
Forbes
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Final Destination Bloodlines' Opening Was Originally Set On Riverboat, Directors Say
Partial "Final Destination Bloodlines" poster. The hit horror film Final Destination Bloodlines opens with the terrifying Skyview scene, but that dizzying sequence wasn't there when the film's directors, Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, started working on the film. Instead, the directors said, the original scene in the screenplay was not set 500 feet above ground in a tower in the sky, but in a boat on the water. Final Destination Bloodlines opened at No. 1 at the box office over the weekend with $51.6 million in domestic ticket sales and $54.1 million for a worldwide tally of $105.7 worldwide, making it the biggest opening in the six-film Final Destination franchise that began in 2000. The horrific Skyview sequence — set atop a Seattle Space Needle-like structure in 1968 — originates as a recurring nightmare that college student Stefanie (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) keeps having at the beginning of Final Destination Bloodlines. After a Rube Goldberg-like chain reaction leads to explosions and a breakdown in the structure, everyone in the Skyview restaurant either falls to their death or burn alive in the tower. As it turns out, however, the nightmare is a premonition of Stefanie's future grandmother, Iris (Bech Bassinger) had in 1968 in the Skyview, and in turn, everybody rushed out of the tower and survived. But death in the Final Destination movies has a way of coming for those who cheat their fate, and in this case, the grim reaper wants the survivors of the Skyview disaster and their blood relatives. In a Zoom conversation with Lipovsky and Stein before the release of Final Destination Bloodlines last week, the directors said the Skyview opening was a scene they helped build with the screenwriters and other talent to set the stage for the horror thriller. 'The draft of the script that we read and based our pitch around didn't even have that same opening sequence,' Stein explained. 'It had a completely different opening sequence that took place on a paddle wheel riverboat. So, we pitched a bunch of ideas for that sequence.' At the same time, Stein added, he and Lipovsky weren't afraid to tell the production that the riverboat idea had some choppy waters to navigate. 'We also mentioned our reservations about that direction, because as soon as we started going down the road of thinking about ideas and how to do a major disaster on a boat, you run into Titanic,' Stein recalled. 'But you're never going to have the budget to do what Titanic did. [We thought], 'You're never going to make a better disaster than Titanic, so you might want to think about other ideas.'' While Stein and Lipovsky were pushing back on the original riverboat idea, their candidness about the shortcomings of the script didn't rub the Final Destination Bloodlines producers the wrong way. 'I think one of the things that I think is really important in doing a successful pitch is to be very passionate to have lots of ideas, but then also be very candid about your reservations about the material because they want to know that you're gonna have lots of ideas of how to make it better than it already is,' Stein said. Interestingly, there were a couple of other key scenes in the final version of Final Destination Bloodlines that weren't in the original script, either. 'There wasn't a tattoo parlor scene and there wasn't a backyard barbecue scene,' Stein said. 'It was a very different movie when we first got involved.' HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MAY 12: (L-R) Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky attend the World Premiere of ... More Warner Bros "Final Destination Bloodlines" at TCL Chinese Theatre on May 12, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic) Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein — who beat out around 200 other directors vying to helm Final Destination Bloodlines by staging a fake decapitation scene during a Zoom meeting with studio reps — said working on the film presented them with a decidedly different process than their 2018 indie horror film sensation, Freaks. Ultimately, it was an environment where the filmmakers said they thrived as new ideas were brought to the table. 'It's a many, many-year process that involves hundreds of people collaborating,' Lipovsky explained. 'It starts with all the producers and writers in the studio as we're working on ideas, but then very quickly, you start hiring crew. 'You're continuously iterating and having huge meetings with all the different key department heads and artists that are going to work on the film, and then you're also budgeting everything and going, 'Oh wait, well, we can't do that. So, we have to do this instead,'' Lipovsky added. 'It's this massive, evolving machine that can take many years to get all the pieces in place.' Brec Bassinger in "Final Destination Bloodlines." Stein said one of the first things he and Lipovsky did after they were hired was participate in a huge collaborative session of writers to bounce ideas off each other. 'They got a writer's room together with a bunch of talented horror writers from around the industry to just brainstorm [with questions like], 'What are other locations we could exploit? What are other fears we could exploit? Lots of ideas came out of that,' he said. After that, Lipovsky and Stein, as well as the film's writers and producers, had a 'roundtable summit' at Final Destination franchise producer Craig Perry's house to construct what became Final Destination Bloodlines. 'We went through all the ideas that were on the table and we basically started shaping the version of the movie that became what it is now,' Stein said. 'The Skyview idea came out of that conversation. Basically, we said, 'Well, if we're not going to do a boat [disaster], what else could we do? What are other fears we could exploit?' And that's where the fear of heights came in.' Final Destination Bloodlines, featuring a screenplay written by Guy Busick & Lori Evans Taylor that is based on a story by Jon Watts and Busick & Evans Taylor, is playing in theaters worldwide.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Governor Polis signs seven new bills in Southern Colorado
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A bill signing spree in Southern Colorado, as Governor Jared Polis signed seven pieces of legislation into law on Monday, May 19. The governor began his day in Pueblo and eventually made his way to Colorado Springs. He said these laws will increase public safety, support smaller businesses, and improve healthcare across our state. 'There's a number of other public safety-related bills were signing,' said Governor Polis. The first bill signed in Pueblo allows electric utilities to offer lower rates for up to ten years to commercial and industrial businesses in Colorado. 'This bill provides the flexibility for utilities to make sure that new commercial and industrial customers, they can invest in Colorado and grow, and more importantly, protects the existing ratepayers from rate increases from things that are beyond their control,' said Governor. Another new law signed in Pueblo looks to make Colorado safer, and it adds motor vehicle theft to the list of crimes that ban offenders from owning a gun. 'The bill makes sure that there's a broader list of offenses to help it reduce gun violence by adding first degree motor theft to the criminal offenses that make you ineligible to possess a firearm,' said the Governor. During his time in Pueblo West, the governor also visited one of the four Blue-Ribbon Award-Winning Schools to acknowledge their achievements. 'It's amazing to see the magic that goes on here at Skyview, how they're preparing students for success, and I'm glad to help lend our state recognition to the important national recognition of the blue ribbon,' said the Governor. Later in the day on Monday, Polis made his way to Colorado Springs to sign four more bills, with one looking to help critically-ill patients. 'This bipartisan bill that allows terminally ill, seriously ill patients in consultation with their doctor to try individualized, tailor-made treatments,' he said. The second allows life care institutions to meet seniors where they are, with community-based continuing care services right in their homes for people waiting on admission to a senior living center. 'Another thing that's happening here in Colorado is our average age is going up. We have a lot of folks that come here to retire because it's such a wonderful place to live. So, we want to make sure that everyone has a place to get the assistance they need as they age,' said State Rep. Amy Paschal. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Digital Trends
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Final Destination Bloodlines review: Bringing the franchise back from the dead
Final Destination Bloodlines review: Bringing the franchise back from the dead Score Details 'Final Destination Bloodlines has some great kills and a new story to go along with them.' Pros Adds a new twist to the franchise Has some great kills Epic opening disaster scene Cons While it adds a lot, it's *still* a Final Destination movie, meaning it's a retread of stuff we've already seen and already know. The latest entry in the Final Destination franchise is Final Destination Bloodlines, which is premiering almost 15 years after 2011's Final Destination 5. This time around, we learn that all of the events from the entire film series go back to one fateful evening in the 1960s, when a swanky new observation tower and restaurant called the Skyview should have collapsed to the ground, killing dozens. Recommended Videos But in classic Final Destination style, a young woman named Iris (Brec Bassinger) prevents the disaster thanks to a premonition. In the decades since the would-be disaster, Death has been coming for every Skyview survivor and their descendants – meaning everyone in the Final Destination franchise is either a survivor of the Skyview incident or their children and grandchildren. Bloodlines centers on Iris' family, the last remaining descendants of the Skyview incident, who are forced to confront the reality of their situation while trying to escape Death once and for all. As much as this idea makes me want to roll my eyes and groan, I have to admit that Final Destination Bloodlines is actually a pretty solid entry in the franchise. Bloodlines has an excellent opening disaster For me (and I think most horror fans will agree), the opening disasters are the highlights of the Final Destination series. Bloodlines doesn't disappoint, and its opening scene is now one of my favorites in the entire franchise. Without giving too much away, I'll just say this: the Skyview Tower is inspired by the Space Needle in Seattle (and looks almost identical to it). So you have a lot of people high above the ground, supported only by a slim piece of concrete that's just wide enough for one elevator and a very narrow stairwell. So, when a fire breaks out and the foundation begins to collapse … where do you go? Combining claustrophobia and the fear of heights makes Bloodlines' opening disaster a genuinely scary scene that's sure to get under your skin. Plus, it's got a few really great, morbidly funny moments that made me laugh out loud and drove the audience crazy. Final Destination Bloodlines offers a new take on the franchise formula Like other Final Destination movies, after the opening disaster, we meet our group of protagonists, aka Death's targets. But unlike the previous installments, Bloodlines jumps from the '60s to the present day, and the group isn't friends or strangers brought together by fate but Iris' family. Iris' granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) begins having strange dreams about the Skyview Tower, which leads her on a quest to find her estranged grandmother. After meeting, Stefani learns the truth about how all the deaths have always stemmed from the Skyview incident. Her family is not just next on Death's list, but they're the last surviving lineage of anyone who was in the tower. From there, Bloodlines plays out similarly to other Final Destination movies. One by one, the family members die, and after each death, the survivors get a little more cunning and a little more capable of fighting back. But what sets Bloodlines apart is the new, deeper meaning behind it all. In some ways, you could say Bloodlines is a lore-heavy movie. Finally, we get answers about why Death has been stalking these seemingly random groups of people throughout the years, and we also know that since these are the final survivors, their deaths have huge implications for the franchise and could possibly even end it. All Final Destination movies have a plot, but most lack a story. They're about watching people get killed in wild ways, not about a captivating story that offers exposition or explanation. To finally get that in a Final Destination movie is a welcome change, and for once, audiences actually have something engaging to watch between the kills instead of just seeing a group of teenagers scream 'This can't be happening!' for fifteen minutes until the next kill scene begins. But don't get me wrong, the kills are still the highlight – and they're a lot of fun While I love that Bloodlines builds out a great story, we all know why we bought a ticket for a Final Destination movie. We want to watch Death kill people in wild, bombastic, Rube Goldberg-style disasters. Sadly, some of the later Final Destination movies couldn't even give audiences that (cough cough, looking at you, The Final Destination), but Bloodlines comes through with some solid kills. Even better, the film uses many practical effects, and the scenes that use CGI are at least quality, unlike the super cheap look that some of the later movies had (cough … again, The Final Destination). I promise I won't go in-depth on the kills, because that will spoil everything. Plus, Bloodlines succeeds in faking audiences out a few times, so even mentioning where the kills take place could give away spoilers. Just know they're good, fun, and worth it. Final Destination Bloodlines is a great send-off for Tony Todd Without much connective tissue throughout the franchise, the one thing that's really linked the films together is the late Tony Todd. Todd plays William Bloodworth, a mortician who's always seemed to have a surprising amount of knowledge about Death. Todd originated the role in the first movie and returned for Final Destination 2 and 5, while also having a few secret cameos in 3. In Bloodlines, Todd returns as Bloodworth once again, and this time audiences finally learn why he knows so much about Death. Again, shoutout to Bloodlines for finally building a story and creating a plot for a character that until now had unfortunately been pretty hollow. Beyond that, it's a very fitting final role for Todd, who died in 2024. He's an actor who made a name for himself in the horror genre, so it seems oddly full circle for his last role to be in a horror movie all about how none of us can ever truly escape death. In the film, his character admits that as the list of survivors dwindles, he knows he'll soon be targeted by Death as well, and his final line in the movie is, 'Life is precious; enjoy every single second; you never know when…' For horror fans, it hits hard and feels like it's exactly as he would have wanted it to be. Bloodlines is great … for a Final Destination movie The TLDR is this: Bloodlines works with Final Destination's tried-and-true formula but adds enough new elements to make it unique. Plus, its ability to create an overarching story and reveal the franchise's origins is a lot of fun, and again, is something that no other movie in the series has offered yet. By Final Destination standards, it's a very smart and fun movie. But, by 'smart,' I don't mean in some A24 or Neon way, where the entire film is actually a meditation on the generational trauma that women are forced to carry in patriarchal societies. Bloodlines is smart … for a Final Destination movie. But you know what? Sometimes that's totally fine, and we all just want to watch a good splatterfest filled with guts and gore. Final Destination Bloodlines is now playing in theaters.
