Flatliners ** (1990, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt) – Classic Movie Review 10,858

Director Joel Schumacher’s dark-toned 1990 horror sci-fi drama Flatliners is a tale of young medical school students exploring near death experiences, in which five medical students embark on a bizarre experiment to die, visit the hereafter, and then are revived by emergency heart treatment. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt.

Flatliners turns in a weird, unpersuasive rumination on guilt and atonement, abandoning a promising fantasy of the afterlife in preference to a moral tale that says ‘be good and don’t tamper with death’.

The pluses are the fascinating premise, likeable performances and the film’s startling good looks, thanks to Jan De Bont’s brilliant camerawork.

But Flatliners is a teasing, flashy, naïve film with such a good idea that it really should have delivered much more than this.

Writer: Peter Filardi.

Also in the cast are Kimberly Scott, Joshua Rudoy, Benjamin Mouton, Aeryk Egan, Kesha Reed, Hope Davis, Jim Ortlieb, and John Duda.

Flatliners (2017) is a pointless remake.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,858

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com