What people experience when they die and is there actually life after death? Those questions were being asked for millennia and the most of the given answers remained in the realm of faith rather than established facts. The science, which operates on the latter, came closest to something of an answer by studying and recording near death experiences. The ultimate answer is even less likely to be found in Hollywood films dealing with the concept, like Flatliners, 1990 psychological horror directed by Joel Schumacher.
The protagonist, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is Nelson Wright, young medical student who wants to discover the truth about existence of afterlife through bizarre and dangerous experiment. His idea is to induce clinical death under controlled condition, allow his vital organs to stop functioning (thus “flatlining” on EKG and EEG screens) and later get revived by four of his friends and fellow students – Rachel Manus (played by Julia Roberts), David Labraccio (played by Kevin Bacon), Joe Hurley (played by William Baldwin) and Randy Steckle (played by Oliver Platt). Despite their scepticism and fears that they could end being expelled from school or even prosecuted for murder, Nelson succeeds in talking them into going with his scheme. The experiment works and Nelson returns from the other side, telling them that he experienced “something” which he is reluctant to describe. That encourages his friends to try the same, each trying to prolong their clinical death and each returning with tales of different visions. Soon, everyone begins experiencing increasingly unpleasant and frightening hallucinations and Nelson finally admits that he had a vision of Billy Mahoney (played by David Rudoy), boy whom he had been bullying in childhood until ultimately causing his death. Billy continues to haunt and attack Nelson in the world of the living, while Dave gets an idea that he and his friends might try to atone for their wrongdoings.
Script by Peter Filardi had incredibly promising and thought-provoking premise which, if handled properly, could deal with issues of religion, science and ethics in mature and effective way. Sadly, Flatliners came to screen in the age when Hollywood fully embraced “style over substance” ethos. Joel Schumacher was among the most typical film makers to adopt those principles and in Flatliners he has put a lot of effort to make the film as visually impressive as possible. He had great help in Jan De Bont, experienced cinematographer who worked hard to create macabre atmosphere, also enhanced by the use of Gothic architecture and quasi-religious imagery at Loyola University locations in Chicago. Emphasis on style many times came at the expense of proper storytelling or plausibility of the plot – one such example could be found in scene that depicts Nelson’s group conducting one of its “flatlining” sessions during Halloween, a room away from spectacular Halloween-themed party. Even bigger concession towards “coolness” is the idea that the protagonists won’t be proper medical researchers but mere medical students; the idea was for Flatliners to be seen by younger audiences, so the characters had to be younger in order to be played by younger actors. The cast, although chosen for their good looks and popularity, does somewhat good job. Sutherland and Roberts (who were dating during production and whose widely publicised romance later helped the film at the box office) are solid, while William Baldwin is rather bland. Kevin Bacon, who plays the most level-headed and adult of the characters, is the best. Oliver Platt, on the other hand, is merely something of a comic relief and this film helped steering his future career into the realm of character roles.
While good in strictly technical terms, Flatliners ends as a huge disappointment. The main reason is in Filardi’s script which simply wastes brilliant premise for the sake of cheap genre thrills. Filardi in the end does give the film’s answer to the main question, and that answer is actually quite conservative, if not reactionary. In the world of Flatliners faith, and that of Judeo-Christian variety, is much valuable from science; death remains Great Beyond that isn’t to be disturbed by those over-inquisitive and those who do are going to be punished and having their lives turned into living Hell until they repent. While this worldview is legitimate, it is presented very sloppily. The film is overlong, some subplots - like David’s atheism – are glossed over, while others – like Joe’s secretly videotaping having sex with his girlfriends, are overused in exploitative manner. It takes a time before film reach that point, but viewers, at least those who expected more, become quite disappointed when Flatliners turn into stylish but over-produced ghost story with rather simple and predictable ending. The film nevertheless had good box office and even decent reviews. In 2017 eponymous remake/sequel was directed by Danish film maker Nils Arden Oplev.
RATING: 4/10 (++)
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