Flatliners (1990) Movie Review

 

Flatliners | 1990 | 1h 55m
Genre: Psychological Horror/Psychological Thriller/Drama/Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller | Country: US
Director: Joel Schumacher | Writers: Peter Filardi
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts
IMDB: 6.6
My Rate: 9/10

Nelson invites four of his friends (David, Rachel, Joe, and Randi) to participate in his experiment to discover life after death. They experience events that nearly cost them their lives and reopen forgotten dark memories.

Warning:

Contains scenes of violence, strong language, nudity, drugs, sexual content, and sensuality.

 

Synopsis:

Nelson wants to conduct an experiment related to death to uncover the secrets behind death—Flatlines. Nelson invites Joe, Randi, Rachel, and David to join the project. This project is quite dangerous and can affect their future at the school.

Nelson becomes the first person to undergo the trial. Joe is responsible for recording all their activities, while the others carry out the experiment. Although initially hesitant, they proceed with the trial carefully. Nelson is successfully revived after being 'dead' for one minute.

Their adrenaline is pumped after completing the first trial. During his death, Nelson sees himself flying with several memories appearing. Nelson begins to see these things in the real world and cannot distinguish between illusion and reality. However, Nelson does not tell his friends and considers it trivial.

Rachel volunteers to be the second person. However, she is beaten by Joe, who offers a longer Flatlines time. Joe also passes the trial. He experiences strange visions and illusions afterward, about women who were victims of his secret videotaping.

Rachel is again beaten by David, who becomes the third person in the trial. David realizes that Flatlines damages their memories and causes disturbing illusions. David does not want Rachel to do Flatlines. However, he arrives too late as Rachel is already in the Flatlines state.

Will they be able to overcome the adverse effects they feel after death?

 

Review:

Flatliners has a quite interesting story idea. It raises the theme of curiosity about life after death, although this topic and its scenes are difficult to prove scientifically.

The story is presented systematically and in detail. The background development of characters and story is done very well. With a mysterious intro showing Nelson as the mastermind behind the experiment, the other characters appear one by one: David, shown as a skilled future doctor willing to take risks to save his patients; Rachel, who is very interested in death and interviews patients with near-death experiences; and two other classmates who are their friends.

Conflicts begin to emerge, especially after the success of their first project involving Nelson. The audience will see the terror that starts to appear, leading to a climax where they realize the terror gradually affects, disturbs, and destroys their lives. Internal conflicts within each character are also well presented without overlap.

The story resolution is done very well. Character development of each figure is quite significant compared to the beginning of the film. One by one, problems are solved with reasonable conclusions.

The film focuses mainly on five main characters: Nelson, David, Rachel, Joe, and Randi. The acting is very impressive, from expressions, attitudes, to speech. The tension of the story is felt by the audience, especially in scenes where they try to revive their friend. The chemistry is also well established.

Camera movement and the way each scene's details are presented are well done. The use of color changes for transitions between reality and illusion is a brilliant idea. Additionally, the music choice fits each scene, enhancing the tense atmosphere.

Notably, the illusion colors differ between Rachel and her three friends: Rachel’s illusion is red, while her friends’ illusions are blue. This may be due to differences in the source of their mistakes or sins. The three friends have faults they genuinely committed, whereas Rachel’s is not caused by herself but by her feeling guilty about it.

The director successfully conveys the story with details that help the audience understand the narrative well. There is also a deep message about death, showing that death is not something to be taken lightly. Each person’s experience varies depending on the 'sins' they carry. Moreover, for a more peaceful life, one should apologize to those they may have hurt.

Overall, although this is an old film, it is still interesting to watch.

 
Memorable scene:

Nelson conducts the experiment alone, causing his friends to be a bit late in bringing him back to life. David looks so frustrated that he, who initially did not believe in God, tries to negotiate with God to bring Nelson back. David feels guilty because they tried to engineer death, which is beyond their control.

 

Memorable dialogue:

"Today is a good day to die"

 

Ending:

Happy Ending

 

Recommendation:

Must Watch

 

(Aluna)