I used to jokingly call it a horror movie for people who don’t like horror movies.
I remember a time when Flatliners felt like the deepest, most profound thing ever. It had everything a morbidly wistful teen could want in a movie that waxes about life, death, and the afterlife. Sure it all seems a little foolishly woo-woo now, but back then, this was my kind of existential cool.
And honestly? It still kind of rules.
I’m crazy for spooky mad science stuff. Lab coats, electrodes, something otherworldly being tampered with by maniacally obsessed med students, that’s my idea of a wicked good time. And back in ‘91, this formula made for the perfect date night rental for a brooding hipster like myself.
It had everything – Hollywood’s hottest 20-somethings, a deft script full of gloomy esoteric ponderations, and some truly atmospheric staging from Jan de Bont and Joel Schumacher.
The whole undertaking is so beautifully shot – the baroque cinematography looks like the abnormal brainchild of an EC horror comic and an old Universal monster flick – it’s all Basil Gogos-styled coloured lighting, Dutch angles and constant camera zooms. No wonder Schumacher seemed like the perfect choice to follow Burton on Batman. Say what you will about bat credit cards, but the man knew how to make things look like they jumped out of a four colour moiré-patterned splash page.
It’s like a high-brow take on A Nightmare on Elm Street, but instead of Freddy chasing you through snarky dream manifestations of your deepest fears, you’re caught in a game of cat and mouse with your own guilt-ridden subconscious.
It might have avoided a near-death experience at the box office, but it’s always deserved its place on the slab next to Jacob’s Ladder or Hideaway. -Pop
Flatliners was resuscitated on home video today in 1991, after an August 10th, 1990 theatrical defibrillation.