In a franchise known for turning freak accidents into cinematic jump scares and making us even more afraid of the dentist’s chair, Final Destination: Bloodlines has managed to outdo itself. The latest movie in the series even earned a spot in the record books while doing it.
The film just set a Guinness World Record for setting the oldest person ever on fire in a film. That’s right: Hollywood officially lit a senior citizen ablaze, and not in a metaphorical kind of way.
Like the other movies in the franchise, Bloodlines follows a family that was never meant to exist. Their matriarch, Iris Campbell (Gabrielle Rose and Brec Bassinger as a young Iris) had a vision when she was younger, saving several lives. Now that she has grown old, death catches up to her and is looking forward to eradicating her entire family.
In the 1960’s when Iris had the vision of the fictional, 400-foot-tall Skyview Tower collapsing and killing a lot of people, she saw Mrs. Fuller catching fire. 71-year-old former stuntwoman and actress, Yvette Ferguson, plays Mrs. Fuller.
Check out the trailer below.
Final Destination: Bloodlines Set a Guinness World Record
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Zach Lipovsky said, “We lit so many different people on fire, including breaking the world record for oldest person on fire with Yvette Ferguson, who did that full body burn in the silver dress. That was the oldest person ever on fire, on camera.”
Bassinger shared her experience shooting the scene. “Oh, I was on set when they lit her on fire! I was within her vicinity. God, it was beautiful. Everyone started clapping…She was so pumped.”
Co-director Adam Stein summarized the whole idea behind making Final Destination movies. “We’re always looking for things that can happen in your everyday life that we can ruin,” he laughed. “So, fear of heights seemed like a really fun thing to play with and start as a foundation. We were very excited to bring that to IMAX because when you see it on a 60-foot screen, you really feel the vertigo of being 400 feet in the air.”
However, it’s worth noting that the film’s stunt team has already submitted the stunt to Guinness World Records for consideration but has yet to receive any feedback.
Final Destination: Bloodlines is scheduled to be released on May 16.
