Today, when we talk about the genre work of the late Joel Schumacher, most tend to think about his infamous Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. And while those movies are, for better or worse, the legacy of this director, his most underrated masterpiece is the 1990 fantastical thriller, Flatliners. With a style bordering on bombastic, this film, released on August 10, 1990, is like nothing in Schumacher’s oeuvre, and remains, 35 years later, an arresting and eerie cinematic experience to rival the likes of David Cronenberg.
In an attempt to figure out the line between being alive and not being alive, five medical students named Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland), Joe (William Baldwin), David (Kevin Bacon), Rachel (Julia Roberts), and Randy (Oliver Platt), enter into a series of experiments in which they intentionally “flatline,” in order to truly experience what its like to nearly pass away. As Nelson, Sutherland begins the movie by declaring, “It’s a good day to die.”
