“Are we in a cannibalism-themed bar?” asks my friend as he settles in, gazing up at the massive, floor-to-ceiling skull that holds court at the back of Last Rites.

Looking around the new Duboce Triangle cocktail spot from the Horsefeather team, I’m not sure. I’m just glad my friend has found me: The bar, whose artificial-plant-encrusted walls harbor just a few flickering lanterns, is dark enough that the rest of our group walked right past us, twice.

It takes a moment to get your bearings in this long, rectangular space, the former home of the Residence on 14th Street. More skulls — human sized — sit among the spirits on the bar shelves, which are fashioned upon an actual airplane fuselage. The plane’s ribs arc above vintage American Airlines seats, which take the place of barstools. The ceiling is hidden by billowing parachute fabric. The menu looks like a cargo manifest. We’ve crash-landed, it seems. You can order a mai tai, but Last Rites is not exactly your typical setting for happy hour.

The installation manages to be both grim and dazzling, and completing it was no small feat: The side of a small passenger jet, purchased from a Southern California “airplane graveyard,” had to be transported in four pieces, according to co-owner Justin Lew. Lew says the most shocking expense, though, was the $20,000 bill for fire-retardant foliage.

Fans of “Lost” may find the setting oddly familiar; the bar’s goth style is billed as “Polynesian noir.” Lew, who cut his teeth at immersive spots like Bourbon & Branch, says he thinks of Last Rites not as a tiki destination but as an “adventure bar.” He took inspiration from King Kong’s Skull Island and its giant bones, and read up on pulp hero Doc Savage, a precursor to adventurers like Indiana Jones.

As you sip the pisco-grapefruit-vanilla cocktail called Kali Maa’s Doom ($12), you can almost imagine yourself seeking fortune and glory with Jones himself. Or, maybe, turning to him for help.

Last Rites may not call itself a tiki bar, and you won’t see the ubiquitous tiki-mask mugs or scantily clad hula girls here. But the 20-odd cocktails on that cargo list are unmistakably updated interpretations of the sort of drinks you saw at Trader Vic’s.

By going dark, the bar manages to retain tiki’s escapism while sidestepping many aspects of the style that feel problematic: the co-opting of religious iconography and ritual, the erasure of a history of violent colonization and the dehumanization of native peoples — all in the name of an evening’s visit to a fantastical tropical isle.

“We wanted to do a different take on it,” says Lew. “Tiki is a staycation sort of thing, and we wanted to do more adventure, excitement — a little bit of danger.”

On the phone, Lew won’t talk ill of tiki tropes, but I’ll say it: It’s refreshing to skip the faux-luau that often accompanies beachy libations. And as you’d expect from a beverage team that includes co-owner Ian Scalzo (a Future Bars alum), Susan Eggette (Forbidden Island in Alameda) and Sevan Araneda (Horsefeather, Forbidden Island), some of the cocktails at Last Rites are excellent.

My favorite of the bunch is the Avian Evolution ($14), a bitter showstopper of a Jungle Bird, one of the few tiki recipes that calls for bittersweet Campari. The original dates back to 1970s Kuala Lumpur. Here, a few different rums layer wonderfully together, their earthy scruff amplified by a blackstrap molasses syrup and brightened with lime and pineapple. For extra punch, they’ve infused the Campari with schisandra berries, which are also called five-flavored berries for their sweet, sour, salty, bitter and pungent qualities. The cocktail winds up marvelously complex, its rich, fragrant side seamlessly woven into the bitter and funky ingredients that take center stage. It’s a worthy entry for best local riff on the classic.

I also love the Valley of the Shadow ($12; yes, it’s named for the Coolio song), made with bourbon, Averna, aged rum, cinnamon-flecked yerba mate honey, and cacao-nib infused Angostura. It drinks like a bracing manhattan, its high-proof heat and heavily bittered flavor at the forefront. If you’re hesitant about tropical cocktails, this stirred option is a welcome respite.

Some of the fruitier drinks veer toward sweetness. I prefer the luscious but citrusy mai tai ($12), made with a blend of agricole and Jamaican rums and mellowed with toasted cashew orgeat, over the juicy passionfruit- and cinnamon-scented Last Rites ($14).

The honey- and grapefruit-laced Jet Pilot ($14) comes with a tiny overturned bottle of rum nestled into the ice. Our waitress told us the booze would seep out as we sipped the drink, but it helped to shimmy the bottle a bit. I usually don’t wish for extra liquor in my cocktails, but here the additional hard stuff seemed to help the balance of flavors. According to the menu, you’re officially not allowed to order more than two of these; such limits are a long-standing tiki tradition held over from times when bar-goers might not have known how strong a fruity cocktail could be.

In a few cases, an intriguing savory note helps to keep Last Rites’ cocktails in check: The Rabid Chinchilla ($11) pairs grapefruit, bourbon and rum with a syrup made with curry powder and Standard Deviant’s porter. In the Jock Lindsey ($12), named for the pilot from “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” creamy coconut is cut with roasty mezcal, grassy Tequila and celery juice. Still, you may be happiest here if you want a tall, tangy number served on a mountain of ice.

Whether Last Rites really succeeds at putting a creepy spin on the transportive scenery that tiki has always been about depends a bit on where you’re sitting. Arrive early to snag an airplane seat or one of the five booths up front; at the bench seating in back, you may find yourself wishing for the sort of elaborate water features that you find at more playful tiki bars. Still, if you have a taste for danger, drinking in a haunted jungle beats an awkward luau every time.

Maggie Hoffman is the author of “The One-Bottle Cocktail: More than 80 Recipes With Fresh Ingredients and a Single Spirit“ (Ten Speed Press). Twitter: @maggiejhoffman Email: food@sfchronicle.com

More Information To order: Avian Evolution ($14), The Valley of the Shadow ($12) Where: 718 14th St., San Francisco; www.lastritesbar.com When: Daily, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.