Director: Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys, 8MM, The Number 23)
Pigeonhole: Thriller /Drama/ Suspense
Briefly: Five sexy med students (ok, Platt is arguable) decide to "flatline" - stopping their own hearts for various amounts of time so they are technically "dead", while the other four monitor and then resuscitate - to supposedly discover what is beyond life and death. After revival, what they find is their guilty consciences for past actions have come out to haunt them in the form of hallucinations, and in one of the doctor's cases, physical attacks.Schumacher created a great looking film with great sets and scenery; attractive actors; and excellent style with cameras, editing, and sound. Even with these now well established names, the acting in Flatliners is very borderline, with Bacon probably turning in the best performance, and the plot comes off shaky at best.
More: **spoiler alert**
- Steckle (Platt) - is the geeky bow-tie wearing sort. He has a decent supporting role in this film; he comes off as the voice of reason, although that "reason" is usually ignored, and is the only one of this "crew" that does not flatline. Which is probably for the best.
- Nelson (Sutherland) - is the first of the group to flatline. Nelson comes off as a bit obsessive, and has "something to prove" as far as his doctoring skills go. His initial motive for this demented experiment seems to be genuine scientific exploration. During his flatline he sees some fast, intense flashes from his childhood involving an incident while he and some of his friends bullied a boy named Bill Mahoney. After he is revived Nelson then begins to have waking hallucinations of this bullying incident, except Billy (still a boy) is now attacking Nelson, the adult. The "incidents" begin to increase in intensity, and Nelson sports fresh injuries after each new hallucination. However, Nelson chooses to lie to the others about where his injuries are coming from, because he wants to continue the flatlining experiments.
We piece together as the film progresses that as a child Nelson and his friends bullied Billy; in the instance Nelson keeps seeing, Billy climbed up a tree to escape his tormentors while they pelted him with rocks. One last rock was thrown which struck Billy causing him to fall out of the tree and he dies from his injuries. It seems that Nelson's guilt over Billy's death is causing him to harm himself, and in the last scene of the movie he flatlines again to try to finally resolve the battle in his mind.
- Joe Hurley (Baldwin) - Joe is the second of the group to flatline. Joe is engaged, but is still a "player" of sorts since his fiance currently lives out of town. Joe has had sex with multiple women over an indiscriminate period of time, and secretly videotaped each of these trysts. After his flatline and revival he reports to the group having had an "erotic" experience, garnering some sarcastic chuckles. However, Joe's reality turns into him having hallucinations of the women he had one night stands with, and each woman now confronting him - but not violently. This "horror" culminates when his fiance visits his apartment, discovers his video collection, and then breaks off their engagement.
- David Labraccio (Bacon) - is probably the best doctor of the bunch. While he might not initially agree with the idea to flatline, he decides that there could actually be some deeper knowledge in the experience and becomes the third of the group to go. His visions and hallucinations after coming back center around him (as a child) and his friends bullying a girl at school; her name is Winnie Hicks. Winnie appears (still as child) and begins taunting David the adult as he is riding the subway one afternoon - again it does not result in a physical attack, like Nelson.
David decides to locate the adult Winnie Hicks and apologize, which lifts the burden of guilt. He informs the others this is the way to "cure" whatever happened.
- Rachel Mannus (Roberts) - is the fourth flatliner. Her emotions seem fairly flat through the movie until she goes under. Of the group she probably had the most personal reason to search for meaning in "anything" after death. Her revival was particularly difficult for various reasons, and her hallucinations center on seeing flashbacks of her father. We learn through her progression that he was a veteran and that he killed himself when she was a child (she was also in the house at the time), and she continues to harbor deep guilt about it. Rachel in a waking hallucination discovers that her father was a heroin or morphine addict, likely because of something that happened in the war, and that she is able to make peace with him and his suicide.
And so: This film is pretty entertaining, and it is great to be able to look back and see these actors in the early stages of their careers. Schumacher created a great environment, and good crescendo of intensity that does really make this a thriller film.
Where this film flatined was in the diversity of experience after the death and subsequent revivals. Bringing people's guilt into a waking hallucination as a plot driver? It worked best for Nelson and Rachel because it was obvious their experiences were still affecting their daily lives, and in Nelson's case he was in true physical danger after his flatline. And I will compliment Schumacher for keeping us guessing about what was going on in the bathroom with Rachel's father (his drug use) that caused him to bolt out of the house and kill himself when Rachel, as a child, opened the door. That was excellent work with these two characters and did make this film worth seeing.
But David and Joe's experiences offered literally nothing to the plot. I felt absolutely no tension or danger coming towards them, and in Joe's case it was almost like we should think "good, he got what he deserved". In fact, I question whether Joe even really felt guilt about his past acts, other than getting caught. Had something more been done with these two characters - maybe altered the post-flatline experience to something beyond "guilt", and created either more danger or conflict - Flatliners could have been a truly great film.
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