Remakes rarely outshine their predecessors, but Flatliners (2017) dares to defy the odds. This modern adaptation refines the storytelling and enhances the horror elements, making it darker and more intense than its 1990 predecessor. However, it still unfortunately faces some of the same issues that ultimately held the original back.
If you're familiar with the 1990 version, this movie sticks to the same basic premise: a group of ambitious medical students who find themselves in way over their heads when they begin recklessly experimenting with death. Driven by curiosity and ego, they start crossing into the "unknown" through an unconventional and highly dangerous heart-stopping procedure designed to record brain activity after someone flatlines.
In the original, Kiefer Sutherland’s character, Nelson, lead the charge, sparking the curiosity and participation of the others, ultimately setting the events in motion. Fast forward to 2017, and Sutherland returns, not as Nelson, but as Dr. Barry Wolfson, taking on more of a mentor-like role for the students at the hospital and playing a completely different character, rather than simply reprising his previous role as Nelson. His role in this version is more like a symbolic 'passing of the torch' rather than a central part of the action.
At the forefront is Elliot Page as Courtney, a relentless dreamer luring her peers into a forbidden dance with death. Echoing the original, they leap into the abyss with reckless abandon, careers be damned, chasing the ultimate truth of the afterlife.
They find themselves in the abandoned basement of the hospital, which is practically a fully equipped hospital within a hospital, designed specifically to handle natural disasters. Now, however, it’s become a playground for their reckless ambition, one to which they seem to have unprecedented access. With only the faint threat of a wandering janitor or stray orderly to interrupt, they chase the ultimate prize: decoding the brain’s final secrets at death’s door. An experiment that soon spirals out of control as others in the group seek their own afterlife experiences, with the stakes continuing to rise.
When it comes to the glimpses of the afterlife that follow each flatline, both Flatliners movies have their stumbling blocks, though the original far more than this remake. Rather than establishing a clear and cohesive vision, it fails to nail down the emotion and tone needed to make these moments more impactful. Instead, the focus is more on just giving us cinematic aesthetics more than anything else.
Where this remake starts to surpass the original is in the dynamic between the group, not just in Elliot Page's character but also in others, such as James Norton as Jamie, the brash thrill-seeker, and Diego Luna as Ray, the wary voice of reason trying to stay on the sidelines. The interactions simply feel more compelling this time around.
Like a curse carried over from the original, the remake struggles with an overcrowded cast, too many souls vying for the spotlight in this dance with death. With five students in the mix, the story scrambles to flesh them out, darting between arcs like a doctor trying to save every patient all at once. This juggling ends up watering down the more compelling character moments we want, especially as the consequences of their risky experiment start catching up with them.
If you were to watch only one, we'd certainly favor this remake. Neither movie will leave you sleepless, but this remake’s brooding atmosphere and horror vibes cut deeper, with its scares leaping from the shadows far more ferociously than the original’s. Still, take a stab at both and decide for yourself.