It’s coming. You know it’s coming. But Final Destination: Bloodlines keeps the audiences guessing on who is going to die and how – it builds suspense even when everyone knows someone is about to die. If there is one thing that the Final Destination franchise excels at, it’s the journey more than the (final) destination. The viewer is consistently thrown into a puzzle trying to piece together the clues that lead to a character’s death. They’re constantly asking questions: Will the broken glass play a role in a character’s demise? What about the penny? Is the vending machine going to tip over?

That’s the charm behind Final Destination: Bloodlines and why the concept interests an audience 25 years after the first film: Creativity in death.

Writing a Creative Death

For the screenwriter, writing a creative death scene involves taking a holistic picture of any regular, mundane place and asking: how can I kill someone here? What series of events will lead to that death?

Here’s an example: I’m writing this piece in a coffee shop.

• They just mopped the floor (floor is wet, trip and fall)
• Ovens are cooking (explosion, fire)
• Pastries are secured behind glass (broken glass, allergen spills on food)
• Blenders make frozen drinks (sharp, spinning objects)
• Wobbly table (sharp corner, tips and falls on someone)
• Walk outside (hit by a car, a sign falls, breaking windows)

To design an elaborate death scene in a movie like Final Destination involves a lot of imagination, and makes the location and any number of items within that setting part of the process. The Red Herring is used constantly to trick the audience into thinking they figured out the puzzle. That wet floor in the coffee shop? Well, maybe someone steps on it and starts to slip, but then catches themselves. The audience gasps, then laughs.

But in this scenario, even though that person didn’t die, it sets up the death of someone. Maybe as they started to trip, the person at the counter rushed to make sure they were okay and turned up the oven’s temperature, which led to an explosion, flying sharp blender pieces and boom: death accomplished.

These deaths are all part of the fun. But they’re somewhat meaningless unless the audience has something at stake too. Audiences still need characters to care about and a story they can get behind. Let’s take a look at the Who, What, Where, Why and How of Final Destination: Bloodlines and see what screenwriters can take away from the 6th film in the franchise and the first one in 14 years.

Who Does the Story Follow?

The long, first scene of Final Destination: Bloodlines takes place in the 1960s at the opening of a new tower, and follows Iris (Brec Bassinger). While excited at first, Iris becomes increasingly wary of her surroundings as if she senses danger; a premonition. Everything from the elevator to the glass floor where dancers stomp their feet seems to send out warning signs. Is it something ominous, or just nerves?

This is a Final Destination movie so, of course, bad things are about to happen.

After this long, violent scene, the movie suddenly jolts to modern day where the audience meets Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), who claims to have this whole opening scene play out as a night terror every time she closes her eyes. Stefani is our hero tasked with putting the puzzle together and figuring out how to escape death, and, as “Bloodlines” suggests, the visions, premonitions and impending deaths all involve family. It’s up to her to track down information on Iris, who we learn very early on is her grandmother, and discover more about the stalking death that plagues her nightmares and soon her real life, including her family.

Brec Bassinger in 'Final Destination: Bloodlines'

What are Some Final Destination Tropes You Can Use?

If you watch any number of franchise movies, especially horror movies, there are tropes that have been adopted and that audiences expect. Even if your latest script isn’t a Final Destination sequel, there are tropes you can use to help get readers and viewers more engaged in the story.

• No Time to Mourn: Ever notice how after the death in a movie, the characters rarely spend time in mourning? Whether it’s a Lifetime movie of the week or the latest Scream, crying and reminiscing about the memory of a friend or family member doesn’t last long. Unless it specifically adds to the story, don’t dwell on the death – most characters don’t.
• Unhealthy Amount of Skepticism: No one wants to believe Stefani. Why should they? They’ve heard it all before and they’re all still alive. But our hero still must try to convince them – it’s a conflict that helps lend credibility to the character when everything she’s been saying becomes true.
• Have Fun with Red Herrings: A red herring is a piece of information meant to deceive or distract.  Final Destination: Bloodlines offers plenty of them, and they are meant to add suspense about the death (or not) of a character, or trick the audience into thinking one way before yanking them the other way. These are useful in any genre, from Rom-Coms to Thrillers.

Where Does the Movie Take Place?

Does it matter where a movie like Final Destination: Bloodlines takes place? Most horror films are set in small, suburban cities with familiar locations like schools, Main Streets, hospitals and colonial homes with nice backyards.  They are meant to be contained within a designated area with access to rural communities.

Decades ago, Halloween took place in Haddonfield, Illinois, and Scream occurs in Woodsboro, California. These places are familiar settings that a general movie-going audience can relate to. This is something writers should keep in mind when designing their story – also, suburbs are often easier to shoot in, more budget-friendly and offer plenty of options for scenes to take place.

Why is Death Interested in These People?

Final Destination plays upon the idea that everyone has a time when they die and, if someone cheats death, Death will come for them. In the original film, the protagonist had a vision that the plane they were boarding was going to explode, so he freaked out and was kicked off with some classmates – then the plane blows up on take-off. Death didn’t like that this group of people escaped Death’s plan, so Death went after them.

Final Destination: Bloodlines follows the same concept, giving a timeline of when people are supposed to die, and when Death is evaded, it returns to try and follow through with it. Storytellers can see how to keep an idea fresh even throughout multiple iterations – in today’s world where familiar sequels and reboots are commonplace, it’s important to be able to pitch a fresh approach on an old idea.

Kaitlyn Santa Juana in 'Final Destination: Bloodlines'

How Can You Stop Death?

That’s the question that drives the entire film. Death is a certainty of life, but when Death is stalking you and eager to kill you in an elaborate fashion, can you stop it?

Stefani is the protagonist tasked with answering this question. Even when she knows how Death works and learns there are tricks to stopping or delaying the inevitable, her family doesn’t believe her. Why should they? Her grandmother was crazy, isolated and afraid to step outside – now Stefani is showing similar signs.
Part of Stefani’s story involves convincing her family that Death is coming for them, and trying to use her instincts to prevent it from happening. Perhaps the most challenging part of telling a story is giving the characters something impossible to solve, and then trying to figure out how they can do it.

--

Final Destination: Bloodlines is the type of movie that can get rebooted every few years and no one gripes about how sacred and untouchable it is. What’s important is to take a modern approach to it, and not create it as a remake. How many Dracula stories have been told and retold? How many cop or hospital shows are there on TV? There’s nothing wrong with using a familiar concept, it’s the creativity and freshness behind it that will help it find an audience.