Unnecessary afterlife horror remake flatlines
Flatliners, with Ellen Page, Nina Dobrev and Diego Luna, Directed by Niels Arden Oplev. 3/5
THIS is one of those movies that shows how Hollywood is running out of ideas.
The original Flatliners came out in 1990, and was probably most famous for casting three rising stars together in the form of Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon.
The premise was memorable – a group of medical students induce death and then are resuscitated to be able to see if they have any experience of an afterlife. It becomes like an addictive game.
They do remember things from their brief clinical death, each one unique. But what they share in common is that they start being haunted by things in their past. It goes beyond bad memories – the guilt of past misdeeds starts manifesting itself in their lives through terrifying visions and what seem to be tangible experiences.
The new Flatliners is almost exactly the same. The only justification for remaking this movie would be to bring the concept to the millennial generation of movie-goers.
Courtney (lead actress Ellen Page) has the most plausible reason for wanting to see if there is an afterlife, as she carries with her the guilt of a car crash years ago in which her young sister died.
She manages to persuade two other students, Jamie (James Norton) and Sophia (Kiersey Clemons) to join her in her experiment, using a conveniently fully-fitted but unused medical facility in the hospital basement.
They use defibrillation to stop Courtney’s heart for 60 seconds while recording her brain activity on a MRI scanner. The minute ticks by and Jamie and Sophia start panicking when they can’t revive Courtney. They call on fellow student Ray (Diego Luna) for help and revive her. Figuring something is up, Marlo (Nina Dobrev) also arrives and learns of the experiment.
Initially the death and resuscitation experience seems to have a beneficial effect on Courtney, as she can remember her grandmother’s recipe for bread and obscure information from her studies that proves useful in her internship.
One by one, the other students want to go through the same flatlining experience. One would think that after struggling to revive Courtney they would have it down to an art, but no, each one is a battle, with their periods of death lasting longer.
And despite their initial euphoria and new sense of purpose, they all start having horrible visions. It actually starts feeling like a horror movie.
Ultimately it felt like I was watching the same movie with different actors. It wasn’t necessary.