With spooky season just around the corner and how much I loved Weapons. It seemed like the perfect time to spend the weekend watching some horror films. We had to wait because of some poor timing. We wanted to see those two horror films, Final Destination: Bloodlines and Clown In A Cornfield. Luckily, both films have been released on streaming platforms. You can watch Final Destination: Bloodlines on HBO Max. Clown in A Cornfield is available on Shudder. Two films that were absolutely perfect to get us in the mood for spooky season.

Final Destination: Bloodlines may be one of the biggest surprises of the year. Coming from a franchise that made me fall in love with horror with Final Destination 3 at a young age. Unfortunately, the franchise’s later films really didn’t work for me. It felt like they were just trying to one-up each film with insane ways to die. Losing track of the story or not really featuring a story, boredom was sitting in with the franchise. The filmmakers knew their assignment. Directors Zach Lipasky and Adam Stein crafted one of the best entries in the franchise with Final Destination: Bloodlines.

What makes Bloodlines one of the best in the franchise? Its the family dynamics and playing into the insanity of the concept of never being able to escape death. The Campbell and Reyes family has a legacy of avoiding death. Stefani (Played by Kaitlyn Santa Juana) keeps having a reoccurring dream of the collapse of the Sky View tower that results in the death of all those attending the tower’s opening. In her dream, she is seeing a young version of her grandma Iris (played by Stargirl’s Brec Bassinger) witness the gruesome tragedy before succumbing to death herself. From here, Stefani is on a mission to find her grandma and find out why she is dreaming about her. This sets in motion death’s plan of killing off the Reyes and Campbell family.

Keeping all of the deaths in one family makes them more meaningful than any other film in the franchise. Instead of being friends or classmates, Stefani is fighting to keep death from her loved ones. The story was always the weakest part of the franchise. Despite the deaths not being over the top, the story works for Bloodlines. Nonetheless, one of the best deaths in the film comes at the beginning in hilarious fashion. A giant sized piano falls on a crabby kid and had me cheering, it was executed well and was hoping that it happened. This is the most memorable death in the film.

If this is the start of where the franchise is going, I am excited. I am looking ahead to seeing the future of the franchise. I do wish the death scenes were more memorable. However, I am sure that this is the best film we could have gotten from this. The film features Tony Todd in his last role and his final performance was pitch perfect.

Rating 3.5 out of 5.

Where Final Destination: Bloodlines succeeds, Clown In a Cornfield comes up short in. Now believe it or not, I was really looking to Clown In A Cornfield. Read the novel by Adam Cesare earlier in the year and loved it. It was the perfect YA horror novel that pushes the boundaries of being for young adults and adults. Oddly enough though I felt like the film struggled to capture the fun of the novel.

That being said Clown In A Cornfield is self aware of what it is. Directed by Eli Craig, who gave us the horror comedy masterpiece Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, the awareness is a strength of the film. Its a horror film that uses a killer clown as an allegory for generational gap. There were moments that I really liked the script and other moments that were so obvious that the twist doesn’t hit as hard as it should.

I found myself not really caring for the characters. I didn’t care if the clown killed the characters which could have been the fast paced nature of the film. Katie Douglas as Quinn, the main character does a serviceable job but it’s the adults that are more entertaining. Will Sasso as the overzealous sheriff and the underrated Kevin Durand as Arthur Hill stole the film.

The last 20 minutes works better than most of the film. Feels like a classic slasher film and works to the advantage of the filmmaker and Durand’s performance. This is a film that I will have to revisit later on. I enjoyed the novel so much. I am concerned that I am too harsh on this film. However as of right now, I am disappointed in Clown In A Cornfield

Rating 2 out of 5.