Flatliners - Movie Review

How much I’d recommend it: 8/10

Plot w/ spoiler:
A medical student persuades her friends to perform an experiment on her which involves stopping her heart for a minute to allow her enter the afterlife, then resuscitate her.

She has a very trippy, dream-like experience in the afterlife but toward the end, things start to go dark and turn into a bit of a nightmare.

The next day, in class, she is a superstar. She remembers everything she has ever read and is able to diagnose patients quickly and precisely. She even remembers skills like playing the piano which she hasn’t done in 12 years. Envious of her new-found academic prowess, one-by-one her classmates undergo the flatlining experience. They all experience a new joie de vivre and are seen out partying and having fun while crushing it academically by day.

But, something dark starts happening. None of them are talking about the side effects of the procedure but each of them are seeing things from their pasts, the nightmares at the end of the afterlife experience. They start as hallucinations but become increasingly real to the point where the hallucinations are causing them physical pain and suffering like stabbing one of the characters in the hand. One student is even pushed off the balcony by her demon and she dies from the impact.

The survivors finally open up about their demons and realize it’s a haunting from their deepest, darkest secret. Murder in one case, abandoning a child in another, and ruining someone’s life by sending nude photos in high school in another. They realize they need to take responsibility for their sins in order to get past this. So they do, they all make amends with the victims of their wrongdoings. By doing so, they are able to end the visits from their demons.

Thoughts:
I liked the metaphor of the conscience of the characters. We humans act badly sometimes. None of us are perfect. And I like the message of taking responsibility, apologize where necessary, and learn to be better going forward. That’s life.

The movie was well-made (though I’m sure took many scientific liberties) and was thoroughly captivating. It had a few jump scares which I don’t love but there were so many scenes I was on the edge of my seat to see if the characters would survive (during the flatlining experiments).

I like movies that make me think and this did that.