Flatliners (1990)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  6 / 10

  Flatliners certainly gives a new breathe of life to its thrills. Having watched last year's remake and thinking "...right so this wasn't exactly terrible (or good)", I thought to visit the 1990 original. As with most early 90s flicks that involved either Schumacher or Sutherland, I initially ventured in expecting a campy laughable thriller. What I received was something different. A group of medical students attempt to discover what lies beyond death by flatlining for several minutes before being resuscitated back to life. What they bring back with them are hallucinogenic visions of their past sins. Sounds stupid right? Blending supernatural themes with a medical thriller. Yet oddly, it kind of works. Conjuring up the concept of how the afterlife can affect you both mentally and emotionally from a near-death experience. A plot that explores thought-provoking themes and maintains ghostly chills throughout, the end result is an enjoyable flick. Now by no means am I saying this is a great film, it's not. Schumacher is an incredibly messy director and rather amateurish, his lack of panache results in a sense of mediocrity. Zooming in on a defibrillator where you can see the camera and Schumacher's hand did take me out of the chaotic scene that was presented. The editing was too jarring with several quick cuts between the five students and the illusory imagery didn't necessarily suit the dark aesthetics of reality. As ludicrous as the premise seems, the actors have such convincing performances that naturally I went along with the absurdity. Both Roberts and Bacon were emotionally investable and were the saviours compared to the other generic cast members. Sutherland was fine but offered little incentive to connect with his character, who ultimately was unlikable. A few spine tingling scenes including the gloomy subway where a super talented crawling dog traverses the floor and the father relationship depicted for Roberts' character. So whilst this is much better than the recent remake, it still has a messy quality to the finished product. Maybe that's part of the charm...

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