Flatliners

Now I know why lots of viewers hate the 2017 remake. The Original is Fantastic, Im so satisfied. Lots of lessons to learn.

Although Flatliners is 15 years old, tonight was my first time ever seeing it. I had heard about the movie Flatliners, but there was never a buzz about it to make me go out and rent it or make a point to see it period. Well, I caught it on one of the premium channels and I must say that it was very good. This movie was about some brilliant young medical students deciding to explore death. They have figured out a way to cause a person to die briefly and bring him/her back to life. Besides the all-star cast, this movie had some serious bite to it. Just the very thought of exploring death is riveting enough, but I really thought the writer & director did an excellent job in giving a different yet hair raising view. This was no generic attempt to thrill, frighten, and make one's mind race... this was the real deal. Instead of making it an empty, superficial, star-studded thriller, this movie had substance. A nail-biter, white knuckle, edge-of-the-seat, hard nose thriller. I give it an 8/10.

The bevy of box office big league stars is phenomenal in this movie!! William Baldwin, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon and Julia Roberts!! This movie was made in one of my favorite years too, 1990!! I am a Chicagoan, and the setting in Chicago was very identifiable and artistically expedited as well!!I liked this movie, and the agitation which motivated the climax in this picture was a powerful element to the plot which was utterly sensational!! "Flatliners" centers around a group of disgruntled pre-med students who want to be flat lined as a way of attaining some sort of societal vindication!! When life does not make sense, it would appear very illogical to get curious about apocalyptic nightmares!! At the same time, once their desultory curiosity has gotten the better of them, there is no turning back!! The king of the hill, (so to speak) is the one who vehemently shouts: I WILL DO TWO MINUTES!! WHO ELSE IS GOING TO DO THAT!! ANYONE WANT TO TRY FOR TWO AND A HALF!! Ultimately, all of these newly arrived and very unwelcome recriminations now have an extremely ubiquitous disposition in these re pro-bate's lives!! The consummation to their justified or unjustified pathos required a full 360 degree perspective on the issues they were agonizing over!! Whatever purpose all of this reckless and academic chicanery serves, it is definitely an original approach for asserting your personality!! I liked this movie, 1990 was a good year for me too, things seemed to fall into place that year!! When I saw this movie some night in November during the year 1990, I was very glad that I did!!

Five talented young students at university hospital school of medicine decide to push the boundaries of life in the search for knowledge and the ultimate thrill. They take turns to die (Flatline) for as long as they can in an attempt to see what lies beyond death. It becomes somewhat of a competition between them to see who can stay dead the longest; but they soon discover that crossing over to the spirit world is not free of consequences. Joel Schumacher directs this quite stylish thriller and with a very fine cast of young and talented actors - Keifer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt and William Baldwin; we have a pretty fresh well made thriller, that is certainly worthy of your attention. 6.5/10 it wasn't quite as good as i had been led to believe.

This movie perfectly exemplifies two things SO wrong with modern American cinema, in the forms of Joel Schumaker and Julia Roberts. Joel Schumaker is one of those directors I hold largely responsible for the cultural dumbening (to borrow a 'word' from Lisa Simpson) of the US. His films so perfectly embody the very attributes that make stereotypic 'American Movies': the symbolism is heavy-handed, the actors are weak, the effects are big and the technology is misunderstood but overused! This man should have been stopped long ago, but I understand that people want to see this kind of popcorn chow garbage. Garbage like that has given freak-of-nature Julia Roberts her entire career, which now seems (thankfully) pretty well over. This woman overacts every line she's been given, chewing up the scenery with that gaping maw of hers and over-emoting every scene. This film joins these two paragons of modern cinema for a bland and nearly unbearable journey to the other side. Only Joel Schumacher could've taken such a large and (all things being relative) promising young cast and made it into a sub-B-movie schlockfest like this. Don't get me wrong: I REALLY don't like Oliver Platt, can barely stand looking at Son-of-Skeletor Kevin Bacon, and think Keifer Sutherland has been typecast to DEATH. That said, I still think a film like this shouldn't happen to a cast like this. I mean, I just don't like these guys, but I'm not saying they don't have their place (Kevin Bacon's supposed to be great in 'The Woodsman' and Keifer may be typecast but he does make a fun villain). A movie like this shouldn't happen to a DOG! The strange thing about 'Flatliners' is that it's not a bad idea, it just goes SO horribly wrong. The writer clearly had a very slim grasp of religious belief (and the lack thereof) and an even slimmer one of medical technology (EEG, ECG, who cares?). And, of course, Schumacher's not happy unless you KNOW he's there! Movies can be over-directed, Joel. Back off once in a while. The only reason to see this movie is for nostalgia (it is SO dated looking, and from a time Schumacher must've been a fan of Michael Mann) or for a loved one. In my case, it was for a loved one's nostalgia: my wife had fond memories of this movie from her teen years, but by the end even she was irritated by this pile of dung. I rated this movie at a 2, though, because at least it's not '"Manos" The Hands of Fate.'

This film was awesome, the story line was fantastic and found that it kept me glued to my seat through out the whole film. I am a massive Kevin bacon fan and this was one of his best movie's the only other one better than this was Footloose. The casting on this film was excellent and all the actors play a important part in the film. Since watching this movie I have found myself wondering if there is anyone out there that would like to take part in such a experiment and if there is any doctors that would take part as well. Such a great film which makes you think about allot of things. I would love to find out whats after death. Sounds strange but I would love to become a flatliner.

The medical student Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland) invites Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Rachel Mannus (Julia Roberts) and Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt), who are friends from his class, to participate in a near death experiment where he will die for one minute to see whether there is afterlife or not. After the successful result, Nelson tells that there is something afterlife and hides that he saw the boy Billy Mahoney that he used to bully with his friends. The next to try is Joe, who likes to secretly videotape women that he has sex. He stays dead for a longer time and has an erotic experience. Then the atheist David is the next to try the experiment for a longer time. He sees the black girl Winnie Hicks that he used to bully at school, and later he is haunted by her. David tries to convince Rachel Mannus to avoid the experiment but she is already dead when he arrives at the university. Soon Rachel is haunted by her deceased father that she believes died because of her. David learns that Nelson is haunted and injured by Billy Mahoney and discovers that they are haunted by their sins and atonement is the only way out. What will happen to them? "Flatliners" is a suspenseful horror film directed by Joel Schumacher in 1990 with a great cast. The storyline of afterlife, sins and atonement is original and well-resolved. Unfortunately this great storyline was recently used in a totally unnecessary remake. My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): "Linha Mortal" ("Mortal Line")

Greetings All, Isn't it amazing the power that films have on you after the 1st viewing ? I was so delighted by the first viewing of this film, I couldn't stop talking about "Flatliners" to all my friends for weeks - mind you I was a very impressionable 18 year old back then and my taste in films have become a little more conservative since then. Then somehow I forgot about this film until I saw the DVD in my local department store and remembering how great it was I thought "Right ! I'll pluck you off the shelf when they bring out the Special Edition". Last week, I was overjoyed when my best friend invited me over to watch Flatliners on DVD. The expectation was that I would love this film even more on 2nd viewing.. How wrong I was ! Verdict: after 11 years my view on this film had changed from a very scary 1st class movie to total junk which overplays on the religious and supernatural side of things ratherly superficially. I have never been a big fan of Julia Roberts' acting (excepting for Erin Brockeridge in which she deserved her Oscar) I think the problem with this film definitely lies with the director and a so so mediocre script. I left this film feeling it had no real substance or potential, and just a couple of scarey cheap thrills which weren't very well done at all. Not even the score by James-Newtown Howard, who I rather like as a film composer, could captivate and thrill me. In 1990 I would have given this film 9.5 / 10; but in 2001 I'd be lucky to give it 2 / 10 at best.

Five medical students (Kevin Bacon, David Labraccio; William Baldwin, Dr. Joe Hurley; Oliver Platt, Randy Steckle; Julia Roberts, Dr. Rachel Mannus; Kiefer Sutherland, Nelson) experiment with clandestine near death & afterlife experiences, (re)searching for medical & personal enlightenment. One by one, each medical student's heart is stopped, then revived. Under temporary death spells each experiences bizarre visions, including forgotten childhood memories. Their flashbacks are like children's nightmares. The revived students are disturbed by remembering regretful acts they had committed or had done against them. As they experience afterlife, they bring real life experiences back into the present. As they continue to experiment, their remembrances dramatically intensify; so much so, some are physically overcome. Thus, they probe & transcend deeper into the death-afterlife experiences attempting to find a cure. Even though the DVD was released in 2007, this motion picture was released in 1990. Therefore, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Julia Roberts & Kiefer Sutherland were in the early stages of their adult acting careers. Besides the plot being extremely intriguing, the suspense building to a dramatic climax & the script being tight & convincing, all of the young actors make "Flatliners," what is now an all-star cult semi-sci-fi suspense. Who knew 17 years ago that the film careers of this young group of actors would skyrocket? I suspect that director Joel Schumacher did.

I don't much mind the factors that others here have objected to - acting, lighting and so forth. For the most part, these things were executed well enough to carry the film and put its points across. It's just a horror film, after all. What bugged me were the points themselves. Because this is a deeply moralistic film, and its morality is deeply tacky. In fact it's actually fundamentalist Christian morality, and this is a fundamentalist Christian film. Look at the 'sins': * Sutherland's character picked on a kid at school when he was a pre-teen, leading to his accidental death. * Baldwin's character used masculine wiles, persuasion and good looks to shag quite a few women, some of whom he videotaped. Ooh, the swine! How unlucky for him that women are such passive, gormless creatures that they had no complicity in the matter. * Roberts' character's dad came back from Vietnam a junkie, so ashamed to be caught shooting up that he kills himself. Yes, what a terrible sin! Why couldn't he have just become an alcoholic like all the others? * and Bacon's character picked on another schoolkid. How awful! The fact that he was a child himself apparently counts for nought. Children, it seems, are divinely judged by adult criteria. Well, maybe lots of people support this level of moral absolutism. It certainly seems to have gone unremarked in this movie's comments. Does everyone just buy this stuff? At least human laws treat children differently from adults, recognising that their ethical sense is partially-formed. This film has no such qualms, and I find that pretty objectionable. Ditto the notion that women are helpless, fluffy creatures before young men's evil lusts. Or that a Vietnam vet driven to drug addiction is so shameful that suicide is a valid option. Pathetic.