Brief Story Line
College student Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana - The Friendship Game etc) was having nightmares involving her grandmother Iris (Gabrielle Rose - A Dog's Purpose, Excited etc) during her younger days. She decided to go back to her hometown and find out more about her dreams from Iris. There Stefani met with her younger brother Charlie (Teo Briones - Chucky TV series etc) and their cousins Erik (Richard Harmon - I Still See You, The Killing TV series etc), Julia (Anna Lore - Gotham Knights TV series etc) and Bobby (Owen Patrik Joyner - Knight Squad TV series etc).
However, it was not easy to find Iris as her uncle Howard (Alex Zahara - Aliens Stole My Body etc) was reluctant to share her whereabouts, while Stefani's mother Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt - Orphan Black: Echoes TV series, Home Alone 3 etc) had been out of their lives for years. After finally meeting with Iris, Stefani was warned about the imminent danger on her family which she did not believe. Until one by one they started to suffer from horrible deaths.
So what would happen to Stefani and her family? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
It has been so long since Final Destination 5 was released fourteen years ago which I remembered particularly on the smart way the story was linked to the previous movies. Obviously I was very excited when I heard the news about the sixth installment of this wonderful movie series. Even though I do not have any info on the premise, but I was very sure my wife and I would have loved it as the main attraction was how the death would pick its victim one by one. But after watching this movie, it turned out that not only the deaths were as gruesame (or worse) as ever, but the story was able to make an even more intelligent link. We were really in awe of how smart the movie makers in managing this.
As usual, the film would have the premonition about the huge incident. However this time the avoidance was shown differently from the standard formula in the past. In addition, I thought the characters here were better written and the sequence of deaths was also different which made it felt fresher and even a bit surprising (I did not see that dark and a bit humorous twist coming, though my wife immediately could see it). I like the fact that I could still be surprised seeing this. And I also loved the ending of the film just like all its predecessors. Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scenes here and honestly it looked like a proper conclusion to this chapter. Although I could still see a potential for new Final Destination stories in future that probably would be done if the studio felt it can still gain commercial success. For now though, this one was certainly a great addition to the long living franchise that began 25 years ago.
The special effects and sound effects here were awesome and the gruesome gore nature of the deaths were greatly done. I was thankful that the Indonesian censorship body did not cut any of the scenes here, although to be fair, it seemed they are more lenient nowadays and it's been pretty long since there was a censor of films released in Indonesia (I think the last time was Marvel's The Eternals). Anyway, the intensity was felt throughout the whole film which my wife was always terrified and briefly screamed during the death scenes. Sometimes we could also felt the hurt of those horrifying scenes. But best part of these movies had always been the seemingly logical way "accidental" things would happen, so realistic that my wife was wary about surrounding things after we left the theater.
Now the cast in general was unfamiliar to me. Aside from Richard Harmon whom I had seen multiple times in the past, there was only one person that I later found out was familiar i.e. Brec Bassinger (Stargirl TV series etc) who played young Iris, though I did not recognize her here probably because she had matured since I last saw here. Other support cast in the film were Tinpo Lee (General Hospital TV series etc) as Stefani's father Marty, April Telek (Scaredy Cats TV series etc) as Stefani's aunt Brenda and the late Tony Todd (Candyman, The Rock etc) who reprised his role and marked this as one of his final movies. The film was directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein (Freaks, Kim Possible etc) and written by Guy Busick (co-writer of Abigail, Scream VI etc) together with Lori Evans Taylor.
Overall this was another enjoyable movie in this franchise. The sixth installment that was also the highest rated by critics. It also look set to be the most successful in term of box office as it's outperforming the previous films. My wife and I enjoyed this movie and were amazed by the smart story plus obviously the intelligent work of "death". So if you are fans of the movies in the past, you would enjoy this one as much as we did. But if you are not accustomed to see gruesome deaths, then better avoid this one. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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