Flatliners (2017) - Movie Review

I saw the original Flatliners at the cinema and don't recall it being special enough for a remake. However, I mistakenly believed that modern effects might bring a new element to the 1990 thriller. Although the original was actually nominated for an Oscar for the special effects. The trailer I have been seeing in the theaters looked mildly entertaining, so I ventured out this evening in spite of a low IMDb score of 5. Talk about flatlining...

Flatliners provides an updated take on the 1990 story of five medical students who begin experimenting with the afterlife. The experiments require them to undergo a controlled, medically-induced death followed by resuscitation after a set time to prevent brain damage. The experiments are scientifically captured in order to create a model of brain activity following death. The students begin experiencing heightened senses following the experiment, excelling at school as well as other endeavors. It affects them all with mild differences, but the side effects are the same. The experiment awakens a darkness in their consciousness that haunts them. Following the death of a student, they must determine if there is a way to change their fate.

The story is pretty basic horror fare. On the mild side of scary. The story had more holes than a sieve and lacked continuity for me. It felt choppy and poorly conceived. The characters were flat and predictable. The dialogue was stilted. The exploration of the thematic material was superficial. The attention to detail was weak. They took a mediocre film and succeeded in making it worse. Aside from the flaws in the writing, there were some glaring mistakes. For instance, when they are in the room with the MRI, one of the characters chides the others to make sure there is no metal present because of the giant magnet. Yet there is metal everywhere in the scene (and subsequent scenes). I would have rather they didn't draw my attention to it if they were going to blow it off. And the CPR was laughable. It would have been better not to do a wide angle scene as bad as the performance was. And seriously, no broken ribs?

The film did do a few things right. The scenes of intubation and other medical devices looked solid. If they didn't actually have the tubes in their throat, I would be surprised. That looked pretty legit. The special effects were decent, although not special. The acting was decent. Other than the CPR. The story had a decent, although simplistic ending. The film offered resolution for the dilemma created, although it could have been tighter.

I'm going to give this film a non-recommendation. My wife and I were the only ones in the theater. Yeah, it's a weeknight. But I don't expect this film will last long in the theaters. On balance, it was more bad than good. 5/10 on IMDb is pretty fair. I think I will notch it down to reflect my non-recommendation and set it at 4.5/10. I'll throw a trailer on here so you can see what you think. But don't waste your money on this film at the theater. If you feel like it might interest you, wait for the streaming version.