Final Destination: Bloodlines

Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, Final Destination: Bloodlines follows Kaitlyn Santa Juana’s Stefani Reyes as she slowly-but-surely comes to realize that death is coming for her family and friends. Filmmakers Lipovsky and Stein, armed with a script by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, offer up a terrific installment within an impressively consistent horror franchise, and there’s little doubt that the movie gets off to an admittedly entertaining (and engrossing) start with its brutal opening sequence – with the effectiveness of this stretch paving the way for a compelling midsection rife with surprisingly well-developed protagonists and appreciatively gruesome set pieces (eg a character meets an incredibly grisly end within a trash compactor). And while the picture admittedly feels just a little long at 110 minutes, Final Destination: Bloodlines, which also boasts a superb (and unexpectedly heartfelt) appearance by series regular Tony Todd, predominantly comes off as a remarkably engaging (and periodically riveting) sequel that fares better than most horror-movie followups.

*** out of ****