Flatliners Review
In 1985, Joel Schumacher helped give birth to the Brat Pack with St Elmo’s Fire.
In 1987, he made them look forever cool in The Lost Boys.
And in 1990, he killed them…
Flatliners is a near impossible amalgam of so many things that shouldn’t work – from its ridiculous science that makes no logical sense whatsoever (past sins are somehow physically manifested after a group of medical students purposefully kill themselves to be brought back to explore a possible afterlife), to its garish and farcical neon lighting used at every single opportunity (to this day, I have never seen strip neon lights set into the floor of an apartment) and on to its bizarrely gothic architecture used for its main sets (the baroque and wholly inappropriate setting for the cutting up of cadavers at the university simply beggars belief).
And yet in the hands of Schumacher, it becomes an indelible film of that period. A film that tries to do more with its insanely starry cast and be more than just the usual type of MTV-inspired glossy fare. A film that takes a fantastically intriguing premise – what is waiting for us when we die? – and builds it around a superbly human notion of looking into our past at those things we’ve all done that we regret and making us face them whether we’re ready to or not.
Peter Filardi’s script, based around a handful of real life near-death experiences, is brilliantly clever – not just in its basic plot outline, that feels achingly real and terrifyingly plausible, but in its building up of the characters: from Kiefer Sutherland’s insidiously charming leader, to Kevin Bacon’s headstrong voice of reason and even into the beautiful yet damaged Julia Roberts, whose past trauma sees the menfolk falling over themselves to amusingly ‘protect her’ while simultaneously trying to bed her, all feel more than just the tropes they so obviously are. A huge part of that has to be the cast who all do sterling work and, at the same time as they’re flashing their megawatt Hollywood smiles and oozing insane charisma all over the screen, all give us something just under their skins to hook us in to.
But for all that, the reality is that that film really succeeds because of Schumacher’s gloriously gonzo tone. Just watch the insipid and deathly dull remake of this from 2017 to see how the same story with almost the same characters can produce a film not even half as entertaining or interesting as this one and you’ll realise the true genius of what Schumacher brought.
... a deeply entertaining thrill ride that still offers up a satisfying slice of darkness from the very best that big budget Hollywood had to offer all those years ago
Part Hammer traditional horror gothic – those grandiose sets that feel ripped straight out of 18th century Vienna and its overblown choral soundtrack – part neon disco, every window having rainbow primary colours lights flashing behind it, bathing most of the sets in a sea of incoherent colour, aesthetically it makes little sense. At all. But that is its genius – Schumacher made it clear he sees this as a fable, a fairy tale, an update of those centuries old stories that were used to warn us not to mess with things that don’t concern us (its final shot is of a painting depicting Prometheus stealing fire from the gods). And as such, it looks like a fairy tale and feels like a fairy tale. A modern fairy tale for sure, but one with that superb hook at its core. Schumacher also channels a rich vein of dark humour throughout, with Oliver Platt dropping zinger after zinger to counter that dark overall feel and keep the whole thing from drifting into po-faced preposterousness.
Yet there’s a real cinematic intelligence at work here also – from having the dreams of the protagonist doctors each warp notions of the American ideal (Sutherland's golden hour, rural farm land kids at play ending in pure nightmare territory, while Roberts’ family and military love combine into similar twisted territory) through to purposefully eschewing the crazy fashions and stylings of the late 80s/early 90s to give it a timeless quality – that helps the story and strangely the film itself remain relevant over thirty years later.
Flatliners doesn’t seem to be as well remembered as so many of its Brat Pack brethren – maybe it got lost in the sea of Hollywood afterlife output in 1990 (from the heroically crowd pleasing ‘Ghost’ to critical darling and much darker Jacob’s Ladder, you can see Flatliners slipping right between the cracks of these two). Or maybe it’s because many can’t plug into that bafflingly eccentric tone and look (let's be honest, it's VERY 80s…). Or maybe even because those central notions of sins and guilt, reflection and atonement are given the barest minimum of passing concern, the film eschewing all in favour of its rollercoaster mainstream diet horror narrative and becoming confused in its own messaging…
But certainly for this child of the 80s, who grew up with the Brat Pack taking up near permanent residence on my own VCR, Flatliners is a deeply entertaining thrill ride that still offers up a satisfying slice of darkness from the very best that big budget Hollywood had to offer all those years ago.
Flatliners 4K Video
Flatliners was shot on Eastman 35mm film with Panavision Panaflex Platinum cameras and Primo and E-Series lenses. As Arrow only supply the check disc for review, there was no information supplied about the restoration, other than it was done from the original camera negative under the supervision of the film’s Director of Photography Jan De Bont. But given its Sony origins, I would be expecting them to have had a major role in the restoration too, so expectations are set accordingly. This then delivers a native 3840 x 2160p resolution image with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 that uses 10-bit video depth, both flavours of High Dynamic Range passes (HDR10 and Dolby Vision) and is encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec.
We reviewed this Region free UK Ultra HD Blu-ray release on a JVC-DLA N5 Ultra HD 4K projector and a Panasonic DP-UB9000 Dolby Vision/HDR10 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
... a near-perfect mix of detail, colour depth and contrast range to present Schumacher’s incredibly stylised visuals with a beautifully rich and filmic looking image
There’s a wonderful sense of detail immediately apparent in the image – gone is the woozy, hazy images of the previous Blu-ray, replaced with razor sharp lines, crisp fine detail and lovely subtlety in facial and clothing textures. When Kevin Bacon flashes back to his childhood taunting of Winnie Hicks, the medium shot of his school exterior looked absolutely immaculate, the fine detail of the brickwork apparent even in long shot. Similarly, on Sutherlands initial ‘dream’, as the camera pans up over a tree and shows a field with three kids running through it in a long shot, the mushy mess of the previous releases image tightens up considerably and individual leaf outlines in the field can now be clearly seen. And while Schumacher and De Bont utilise multiple visual techniques and sources that roughen up the image somewhat, it always returns to a near perfect sense of fine detailing throughout.
This is helped by the superb rendition of fine grain apparent in the source – again, while it varies according to the required aesthetic, it looks evenly rendered across the image, with no tell-tale signs of clumping or frozen elements, and this brings out that last little note of detail buried deep within its veneer. Again as per the previous release, the grain resembled noise, whereas here, it simply looks incredibly organic and filmic.
The insane colour scheme is also brought vividly to life with the addition of the WCG and HDR grading – the neon reds and blues have such extraordinary depth and energy to them, with no banding or any other nasties, it’s like seeing the film for the first time. On a few instances, the combination of searing highlights and intense colour grading causes some noise in the image – notably as Baldwin and Platt chase Sutherland down the alleyways en route to the graveyard there are several bare bulbs that fizz with noise – but these are very rare instances. And again, in comparison to the previous home release, this colour scheme is massively improved (assuming that reality was the last thing that Schumacher wanted from his visuals!) – the opening early morning pan into Sutherland across the harbour now sees intense burnt oranges bathe the entire image, while the previous Blu only managed a weak and insipid almost peach colour.
The restoration work improves the image considerably in all other areas – the entire picture is rock solid, with no judder seen at all, even across often problematic credits (which did indeed flutter on the previous release). There is also a complete lack of any print damage whatsoever – not so much as a blemish was noticed in the image across the entire run time. Finally, disk compression appears to be consistent and excellent, with no noticeable artefacts observed – bit rates hover around a whopping 93 mbps for the most part across the entire film, with the odd peak nudging just over a mighty 106 mbps during specific scenes, all of which were observed with a quick scan through the film’s playback information for those that like numbers.
Overall, the transfer here represents a near-perfect (perfect in comparison to the previous 1080p image) mix of detail, colour depth and contrast range to present Schumacher’s incredibly stylised visuals with a beautifully rich and filmic looking image. Arrow and Sony deserve serious praise for this.
Flatliners 4K Audio
The disc offers up the following soundtrack options:
- English 5.1 DTS HD-MA
- English 2.0 DTS HD-MA
There is also a single subtitle option included – English SDH.
The main English track does a very good job with presenting the Oscar-nominated sound effects work and James Newton Howard’s gonzo and wonderfully histrionic score.
Firmly anchored to the front soundstage, with the rears only really opening up for ambience, it feels a powerful mix. Those effects have the requisite heft when needed – the detonations of electricity as the defibrillator paddles work their magic explode through the soundstage with the weight of a bomb going off, while the important high frequency pings of the medical equipment similarly pierce the audio with appropriate clarity and focus.
... a powerful mix
Newton Howard’s score, sitting nicely between the two extremes, feels like a huge slab of aural energy across the entirety of the front array, expanding slightly into the surround speakers at key moments. It’s big and bold, the clarity of the splashy reverb drenched drums matching the beautiful tonal qualities of the choral voices, with the orchestra occupying the middle ground fully and completely. It doesn’t sound muddy, with every element often separately identifiable, but it certainly is as in your face as Schumacher’s visuals and by the end was a touch exhausting.
Dialogue was always clean and locked to the centre, with the exception of a single scene of Kevin Bacon abseiling (!) out of his apartment window, where his dialogue sounded like it was recorded in a small church rather than outside. There’s also no hiss, crackle, pop or any other audio anomaly present throughout.
Having not owned a version with the film’s original 2.0 surround audio, I’m unsure if the version included here is the original audio or a folded down version of the 5.1 mix. Toggling between the two indicates some subtle tonal differences between them (notably in the music in the opening credits) but whether or not that means it’s the original theatrical mix, I’m unsure. Given the maturity of the disc market and especially for boutique labels, it would be helpful if this type of information could now be provided to help enthusiasts with buying decisions…
Back to the main soundtrack for most and it’s a solid lossless 5.1 soundtrack that lacks subtlety but like the film itself, is a very much in-your-face experience that sounds technically very good.
We reviewed the region free UK Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Flatliners on a Denon AVR-X4300H and a 7.2.4 array of KEF speakers (including the Q range and ci in-walls/in-ceilings).
Flatliners 4K Extras
As per usual with most of Arrows 4K releases, there is no 1080p disc so all extras are on the 4K disc itself:
- New audio commentary by critics Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
- The Conquest of our Generation - a new video interview with screenwriter Peter Filardi (19 mins)
- Visions of Light - a new video interview with director of photography Jan de Bont and chief lighting technician Edward Ayer (18 mins)
- Hereafter - a new video interview with first assistant director John Kretchmer (14 mins)
- Restoration - a new video interview with production designer Eugenio Zanetti and art director Larry Lundy (10 mins)
- Atonement - a new video interview with composer James Newton Howard and orchestrator Chris Boardman (11 mins)
- Dressing for Character - a new interview with costume designer Susan Becker (6 mins)
- Theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Amanda Reyes and Peter Tonguette
... fascinating stuff
While it’s a real shame that nothing new could be sourced from any of the cast, what is here is fascinating stuff – Schumacher comes across incredibly well, with his risk taking on newcomers behind the camera and in his team self-evident. Kretchmer’s insight into some of the uncertainty from the studio around the end product is interesting, as is Becker’s into ensuring that the costumes seemed almost timeless and it's this level of behind-the-scenes detail that the near 80 mins of new interviews nicely provides. Maybe only one watch interviews, and if these could have been somehow combined into a single feature length documentary it maybe would have fostered more rewatches, but interesting stuff nonetheless.
Conclusion
Flatliners (1990) 4K Blu-ray Review
Incredibly glossy and shallow it may be, it's still a bizarrely dark mainstream thriller that wonderfully channels so much of Joel Schumacher’s audacious visual sensibilities. As A-list a cast as you could even today still hope to assemble makes this a pleasure to still lose yourself in and its gothic sensibilities in its plot as well as those loopy sets give it just the right amount of intriguing strangeness to keep modern audiences hooked from start to finish.
... Arrow does what Arrow do best
Arrow does what Arrow do best and give us a superb transfer of a film that had been previously underserved on home video media. The visuals are stunning, the soundtrack strong and its extras are interesting and insightful, even if none of the faces you really want to see amongst them are there. An all-round fabulous package for one of the 90's oddest mainstream films.
Flatliners is released by Arrow in the UK on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on the 1st August.
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