thejcowboy22
For centuries man has been overly curious with the after life. Is there a place for our souls to travel to? A utopia that exists for eternity? Do you re-unite with loved ones who departed before you? Are you judged by a higher being and then processed to different realms? How is one to be judged/ Bravery, Kindness, charity, good deeds bad deeds? This movie takes a different approach to the after life experience in a unique form. Cleverly written by Peter Filardi, Flatliners is definitely different and visionary. The movie opens with a Medical student , Nelson Wright (Keifer Sutherland)who gazes over the city and says, "Today is a good day to die." Nelson tries to convince four other Medical students to do a risky iatrica experiment which involves flat-lining a person for one minute to hopefully see what's beyond life itself. The cast is well known since this movie came out in 1990 with William Baldwin as Joe Hurley.Kevin Bacon as David Labraccio. Julia Roberts as Rachel Manus and finally Oliver Platt plays Randy Steckle. Since this was Nelson's brain child idea he volunteers himself to go under and have his heart go into cardiac arrest for one minute in hopes of seeing his afterlife. While being lifeless on the table Nelson is in the after world and sees a boy who he bullied named Billy Mahoney (Joshua Rudoy). Nelson gets resuscitated and lies to the group. Nelson simply said he saw something but couldn't describe it when in truth he awoke in the afterworld seeing a boy who he tanted in his childhood. Earlier in Nelson's life he teased Billy Mahoney and physically killed him by throwing a rock at him making him fall out of a tree. The others from the group followed the same procedure. Going into cardiac arrest for one minute, experience their after world, then revived. The problem now is what they inherit from the after world, as the dead meet the living in nightmares, living nightmares!Each one with a has a terrible vision. Joe went next and experienced an erotic world of sexy woman as Joe has a hidden collection of erotic videos he hides from his wife. Joe also claims to the group that his experience were hazy without specifics, another lie.Then David travels through the cardiac express to the crossover world as he finds himself on a train as he see a Black girl. Her named is Winnie Hicks (Kimberly Scott). Joe also bullied her in high school. Rachel goes next and crosses over to witness he Father committing suicide. As the procedure takes hold to resuscitate, the main power goes out as Rachel is lifeless on the table as the defibrillator is rendered useless. Rachel manages to wake up under her own power. Our story doesn't end here. It's just starting as there are drastic side effects as the world of the dead crossover to haunt our recipients. The violent scenes with Billy Mahoney and Nelson Wright are extremely gruesome. Some reach closure, others find out the truth behind the act of death. Still so many questioned UN-answered. Just love a different take on the afterlife.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I mainly found out about this film because of it being joked about in one of the EE Kevin Bacon adverts, I knew it was something to do with stopping your heart or dying, so I was certainly interested in watching it, directed by Joel Schumacher (Falling Down, Batman Forever, Phone Booth). Basically medical school student Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland) is fascinated, having spoken to various people who had near death experiences, e.g. during childbirth, during an operation, to discover what lies beyond death. Nelson convinces four of his classmates: Dr. Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Randall "Randy" Steckle (Eraser's Oliver Platt) and Dr. Rachel Mannus (Julia Roberts), to help him experiment. Nelson has his heart stopped, he flatlines for one minute, before his classmates resuscitate him, while "dead" he experienced a sort of afterlife, which included strange visions, of a boy he bullied, all he says is that he cannot describe what happened, but something does exist. With the experiment a success, the other four students one by one follow this daring feat, including extending the flatlining an extra minute each, they too have strange visions of an afterlife. Joe flatlines next, he experiences an erotic afterlife, he agrees with Nelson that something does exist, and David is third to flatline, he sees a vision of a black girl he bullied in school. The three men start to experience hallucinations related to their afterlife visions, Nelson ends up beaten up, Joe is haunted by home videos of women he slept with and secretly recorded, David sees the little black girl who verbally taunts him like he did to her. Rachel decides she wishes to go ahead with the experiment, David tries to stop her from having the same fate, but he is too late, Rachel nearly dies permanently during a power cut, the defibrillator paddles do not work, but she is revived, she too is haunted by visions, with the memory of her father committing suicide when she was young. They may have proved a theory with the experiment, but the three men talk to each other and reveal their harrowing experiences, David decides to put his visions to a stop, he finds the black girl now grown up, Winnie Hicks (Kimberly Scott), he apologises to her, she accepts, and he feels a weight has been lifted. David finds Nelson beating himself, he thinks it is the boy he bullied grown up, Billy Mahoney (Joshua Rudoy), doing it, meanwhile Joe's fiancée Anne Coldren (Hope Davis) breaks up with him, after discovering his videos with other women, his visions stop after she leaves, and Rachel seeks comfort with David, they make love, while Nelson in a graveyard reveals to Randy and Joe that he killed Billy Mahoney as a child, he then leaves them stranded. David leaves Rachel in order to rescue Joe and Randy, while alone Rachel has a vision of her father (Benjamin Mouton), he apologises to her, her guilt over his death is lifted when she discovers he was addicted to heroin. Nelson calls Rachel saying he needs to flatline again in order to make amends, he apologises for involving her and the others in the stupid plan, he has been dead for nine minutes when the other three join her and race to save him. In the afterlife Nelson dies from being stoned by the boy he bullied, his friends cannot revive him, they are about to give up, but David gives him one last shock and he is brought back, Nelson says "Today wasn't a good day to die", it is unclear if they tell anyone about their experiments. Also starring Aeryk Egan as Young Nelson, Kesha Reed as Young Winnie, Jim Ortlieb as Uncle Dave, John Joseph Duda as Young David, Afram Bill Williams as Ben Hicks, Deborah Thompson Duda as Terry, Elinore O'Connell as Rachel's Mother and Sanna Vraa as Bridget. The cast all do their parts fine, the concept is certainly interested, the question of what happens after you die is definitely one scientists are still curious to know the answer to, unfortunately the afterlife stuff and haunting visions the characters have are clichéd, it is supposed to be chilling with all the supernatural strangeness, but I just felt a little bored, I can't see myself watching this sort of film again, a weird but bearable I suppose science-fiction psychological thriller. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing. Okay!
