Flatliners

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Although not necessarily considered one of the so-called "Brat Pack" movies of the 80´s, Joel Schumacher´s "Flatliners" (1990) does boast of a "Brat Pack"-like cast of talented and attractive young upcoming actors. Consider this, you have two hot actors coming off a pair of hit movies: Julia Roberts, fresh off her breakthrough role in "Pretty Woman" and Kevin Bacon, straight off the enjoyable sci-fi comedy "Tremors." Getting top billing is Kiefer Sutherland, who had pretty much established himself as a legitimate Hollywood actor by then from the success of the two "Young Guns" movies, "Stand By Me" and another Joel Schumacher-directed film, "The Lost Boys." Also in the cast is a young William Baldwin, who may not have been well known then but would be on the verge of making a personal breakthrough in "Backdraft" one year later. And rounding up this impressive cast is perennial supporting actor, Oliver Platt.

While not exactly a box-office hit nor was it critically acclaimed, "Flatliners" is a competent thriller with supernatural elements that asks the simple question, "Is there anything beyond death?" In order to answer that age-old question, five aspiring medical students--Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland), Rachel (Julia Roberts), David (Kevin Bacon), Joe (William Baldwin) and Randy (Oliver Platt)--attempt to temporarily kill themselves and hopefully, live to tell about it. The leader of this ragtag group and also its chief motivator is the charismatic Nelson, who has devised a dangerous and ultimately reckless procedure that would first put a person into a state of clinical death (flatlining) and then after a few minutes, reviving and bringing them back to life. At least in theory. Yes, every great idea is indeed theoretical until you actually try it out. So confident that his procedure could actually work, Nelson volunteers himself as the experiment´s first test subject. Either it works and Nelson becomes the hero or he could very well end up being the only sacrificial lamb.

Well, succeed they did, as Nelson is miraculously revived without any apparent side effects after flatlining for a couple of minutes. Or so they think. You see, when Nelson was resuscitated, an unexplained phenomenon occurred as well. Something from his sinful past has followed him back to the land of the living. No, we´re not talking giant evil demons hell bent on Armageddon but rather Nelson´s own personal demons. In Nelson´s case, a boy from his past has come back to haunt him, not just in a supernatural way but physically as well. This boy from his past who seems like just a figment of his imagination has somehow metastasized into a menacing bully that is able to inflict physical pain and even visible injury on Nelson.

Now that the experiment has proven successful, the others in the group naturally want to jump at the chance to be a part of medical history, not knowing the full extent of Nelson´s troubles after his brush with the afterlife. As each of them goes through with the experiment and is revived, specific elements from each of their checkered pasts begin to haunt them in ways that at first may seem like a waking dream but as time pasts, takes on a more sinister form that threatens them both mentally and physically. It is then that they must now each face their own personal demons head-on or else risk losing more than just their minds.

"Flatliners" is unfortunately a victim of its own movie era (the late 80´s and early 90´s) of camp and excess. Filmed and released in 1990, it is easy to set aside this movie as just an afterthought in an era crowded with many such movies. The formula was quick and easy: cast a few members of the Brat Pack, throw in a reasonable script and voila, you have yourself a hit movie. Joel Schumacher was himself a purveyor of such movies, namely "St. Elmo´s Fire" and "The Lost Boys." With "Flatliners," Schumacher took the initiative and the high road to construct a rather stylish horror/thriller that happens to avoid all the trappings and clichés employed by most horror movies back then. Forget about cheap scares mixed in with gallons of blood and gore. You would encounter very little of that here. This movie seeks to scare you psychologically rather than make you cringe in fear and disgust.

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