Review of Flatliners (1990) by Abel D — 18 Mar 2014

Don't be fooled. This movie says 1990 which much mean it was filmed in the 80s...just as that awful decade of movies was flatlining itself. Regardless of the cast, a great concept is all but ruined by terrible 80s movie-making.

The movie screams goth from the start. I get it, it's a movie about death. But really? Those bright med students are operating of a facility that looks like that? It's a very gothic setting obviously meant to mirror the characters toying with death and not reality.

Not that the acting is horrible, it's just a bad story once you get by the premise. We've all heard stories from those who come back from the dead...why not do something with that? Instead, the writers chose to give each of our main characters a colored past that comes back to haunt them, usually physically. On top of that, because it's probably such a complicated thing to put into words and on the screen, the flashback scenes just seem kind of random and silly. You throw in your typical bad 80s music and wardrobe and you've got yourself a bad movie.