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Flatliners (2017 film)

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Flatliners
Theatrical release poster
Directed byNiels Arden Oplev
Screenplay byBen Ripley
Story byPeter Filardi
Based onFlatliners
by Peter Filardi
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEric Kress
Edited byTom Elkins
Music byNathan Barr
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29) (United States)
Running time
110 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$19 million
Box office$45.2 million

Flatliners is a 2017 American science fiction psychological horror film directed by Niels Arden Oplev and written by Ben Ripley. A stand-alone sequel to and remake of the 1990 film of the same name, it stars Elliot Page,[a] Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, James Norton, and Kiersey Clemons. The story follows five medical students who attempt to conduct experiments that produce near-death experiences.

Sony Pictures released the film in the United States on September 29, 2017, and was panned by critics, who generally remarked that it repeated the problems of the original in failing to do justice to its interesting premise.

This was Page's last film under the name Ellen Page before his change up in 2020.

Plot

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Courtney is a medical student who is obsessed with the afterlife. She invites her classmates, Jamie and Sophia, to join her in an experiment, in an unused hospital room: using defibrillation to stop her heart for sixty seconds while recording her brain. She assures them they would not be held responsible for any accidents. Sophia is against this, but Jamie does it anyway. After sixty seconds, they are unable to revive her until a fellow student, Ray, steps in to help. Marlo, another medical student, arrives and learns of the experiment.

Courtney begins to recall experiences about increased intelligence and euphoria. Envious, Jamie flatlines, and has a disturbing near-death experience as he meets his ex-girlfriend. Marlo and Sophia follow suit, increasing the duration of time they are down. During Sophia’s turn they are nearly caught and flee the hospital.

Those who flatlined experience visions are: Courtney sees her sister Tessa, who died in a car crash Courtney caused; Jamie sees the baby he begged his ex-girlfriend to abort; Marlo sees a patient named Cyrus, who died when she accidentally mixed up his medication; and Sophia sees Irina, whose life she ruined out of spite, allowing Sophia to become valedictorian. Everyone keeps their visions to their individual selves.

Courtney, traumatized by her visions, records a message apologizing and admitting that her interest in flatlining was due to the death of her sister, not for scientific discovery. She dies having been pushed out a window by the ghost of her sister. The others are devastated. They think they may be implicated if their experiments are discovered. They attempt to clean Courtney’s apartment of all evidence. Marlo goes to the morgue to find Courtney’s phone, where she is disturbed by more visions.

On his boat, Jamie again hears the cries of a baby and a woman weeping. He falls out of his boat and swims to the dock where a figure stabs his hand.

Courtney's recording discloses they all had similar visions. They admit the mistakes they made and come to the conclusion that their hauntings experiences are hallucinations owing to guilt from their sins, not the paranormal. The only one who did not flatline, Ray, initially disbelieves what is happening.

Sophia's apology to Irina is accepted. Jamie discovers his ex-girlfriend has kept their baby and pledges to provide for his son. Ray and Marlo get into a fight when he uncovers her attempt at hiding Cyrus' cause of death and she refuses to confess. Marlo hallucinates being suffocated while driving and crashes her car. Tired of being haunted by her hallucinations, Marlo flatlines on her own in the hope of asking Cyrus for forgiveness. She sees Courtney, who tells Marlo that she needs to forgive herself. Ray, Sophia and Jamie arrive to resuscitate Marlo.

Marlo confesses to the Dean and is held on probation. Marlo, Ray, Sophia and Jamie meet to reminisce about Courtney.

Cast

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Production

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In 2008, Michael Douglas and Stephen Susco attempted to reboot Flatliners, as television series. Douglas would produce the series while Susco would handle writing duties.[6][7] Development would officially shift from a TV series to a feature film in August 2011; Source Code writer Ben Ripley was attached as screenwriter and Laurence Mark would co-produce with Douglas.[8] By February 2013, Niels Arden Oplev was slated to direct.[9]

Oplev aimed to have a more representative cast than its 1990 counterpart.[10] In October 2015, Elliot Page[a] was cast in the film.[11] In February 2016, Diego Luna was added,[12] with Nina Dobrev joining in April.[13] In May 2016, Kiersey Clemons and James Norton signed on for the film.[14][15]

In July 2016, it was announced that Kiefer Sutherland, who starred in the original, would return in the new film.[16] Sutherland later disclosed that he was reprising his role from the original film, adding that the new film is actually a sequel rather than a remake.[3] Despite the announcement, Sutherland played a character with a different name than in the original, with no reference to the specific events of the previous film.[citation needed] In July 2016, Charlotte McKinney also joined the cast.[17]

Principal photography began in early July 2016 in Toronto,[18][19] Ontario primarily at Cinespace Film Studios' Kipling Avenue facility, and concluded on September 7.[citation needed] The film went into post-production on October 4.[20] Additional photography began in Toronto on July 24 and wrapped on August 1, 2017.[21]

In his memoir Pageboy, Page described an unsafe and toxic work environment on set. During the filming of a car stunt involving Page and Kiersey Clemons, neither were allegedly given any restraints and had their concerns dismissed by the stunt coordinators. Page also detailed instances of racism toward Clemons by a crew member, and queerphobia towards himself, notably from an unnamed head of production.[22]

Nathan Barr composed the film score. The soundtrack was released by Sony Classical.

Release

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Flatliners was released by Sony Pictures Releasing on September 29, 2017.[23] It was previously scheduled to release on August 18, 2017.[24]

Home media

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Flatliners was released on Digital HD on December 12, 2017, and on Blu-ray and DVD on December 19, 2017 in Canada, and on December 26, 2017 in the United States.[25][26]

Reception

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Box office

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Flatliners grossed $16.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $28.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $45.2 million, against a production budget of $19 million.[27]

In North America, the film was released alongside American Made and 'Til Death Do Us Part, as well as the wide expansion of Battle of the Sexes, and was projected to gross $8–12 million from 2,552 theaters in its opening weekend.[28] It ended up debuting to $6.6 million, finishing 5th at the box office; even before factoring in inflation, the number was lower than the $10 million opening of the original film in 1990.[29] In its second weekend the film dropped 42%, grossing $3.6 million.[30]

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 4% of 79 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Flatliners falls flat as a horror movie and fails to improve upon its source material, rendering this reboot dead on arrival."[31] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 27 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[32] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 66% overall positive score and a 46% "definite recommend".[29][33]

Criticizing the repetitiveness of the scenes and lack of tension, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the film "even more witless and stupefyingly dull than the original." He gave it one star.[34] Ryan Porter gave it one-and-a-half stars in The Star, saying that like the original, it takes a solid premise and fails to develop it in an interesting or exciting way. He said the film's one positive is the unintentional humor which results from the stupidity of several scenes and the earnestness with which the actors approach them.[35] Matt Zoller Seitz similarly said that "[the] premise [of the original Flatliners], which could have opened the door to a visionary work of sci-fi horror, settled into a sort of gothic self-help drama groove, with the medical students realizing that the seemingly supernatural goings-on triggered by their experiments in 'flatlining' were manifestations of their past misdeeds. Director Niels Arden Oplev's remake ... sticks to that template, changing key details here and there while embracing a style that stirs every current horror movie visual cliche into a jagged paste." He also remarked that the obvious effort given by the entire cast could not overcome the contrived and clichéd scares and melodrama.[36] Both Travers and Porter derided the visual effect of the afterlife scenes as cheap-looking and silly.[34][35]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Credited as Ellen Page.
  2. ^ A deleted scene identifies Wolfson as being an older version of Dr. Nelson Wright from the original film, having changed his name.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ "FLATLINERS (15)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Instagram post by Nina Dobrev • Aug 11, 2016 at 10:40pm UTC". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24.
  3. ^ a b Lee, Ann (27 July 2016). "Kiefer Sutherland reveals who he's playing in the Flatliners reboot". Metro. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  4. ^ Oplev, Niels Arden (28 September 2016). "There's A Flatliners Deleted Scene That Connects The New Movie To The Original". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  5. ^ Gallupo, Mia (27 July 2016). "'Awkward' Actor Beau Mirchoff Joining Sony's 'Flatliners' Reboot (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  6. ^ Longsdorf, Amy (April 15, 2015). "Downington Native Writes Michael Douglas's New Film". Delaware Online. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  7. ^ Weintraub, Steve (February 5, 2008). "Stephen Susco – Exclusive Sundance Video Interview". Collider. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  8. ^ Kit, Borys; McClintock, Pamela (August 26, 2011). "Flatliners Revived By Columbia Pictures With Source Code Writer on Board to Script (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  9. ^ Miska, Brad (February 26, 2013). "Exclusive: Flatliners Director Has A Dragon Tattoo". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  10. ^ Washington, Arlene (September 28, 2017). "How 'Flatliners' Reboot Is Representing a New Generation". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  11. ^ Kroll, Justin (October 5, 2015). "Ellen Page in Talks to Star in 'Flatliners' Remake (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  12. ^ Geier, Thom (February 29, 2016). "'Rogue One' Star Diego Luna in Talks to Join Ellen Page in 'Flatliners'". TheWrap. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  13. ^ Patten, Dominic (April 20, 2016). "Nina Dobrev In Talks To Join Sony's 'Flatliners' Reboot". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  14. ^ Kroll, Justin (May 3, 2016). "'Dope's' Kiersey Clemons to Star Opposite Ellen Page in 'Flatliners' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  15. ^ Galuppo, Mia (May 9, 2016). "James Norton Joins Ellen Page in 'Flatliners' Remake (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  16. ^ Busch, Anita (July 7, 2016). "Kiefer Sutherland Crossing Over To 'Flatliners' Redo". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  17. ^ Busch, Anita (13 July 2016). "Supermodel Charlotte McKinney Supercharges 'Flatliners'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  18. ^ Eigenmann, Conan Geisler (July 11, 2016). "'The Vampire Diaries' star Ian Somerhalder's ex Nina Dobrev filming 'Flatliners' remake; Kiefer Sutherland returns as doctor". YIBADA. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  19. ^ Lesnick, Silas (July 12, 2016). "Flatliners Reboot Set for 2017 Release - ComingSoon.net". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  20. ^ Hime, Nelly (August 29, 2016). "The Flatliners Remake – Everything You Need to Know". Nagame Digital. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  21. ^ Gallagher, Brian (June 3, 2017). "Flatliners Remake Is Ready for Reshoots". MovieWeb. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  22. ^ Sharf, Zack (June 14, 2023). "Elliot Page Says Flatliners Set Was a 'True Mess' and 'S— Show' Due to Unsafe Stunt, Queerphobia and More: 'It Went Off the Rails'". Variety. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  23. ^ Barkan, Jonathan (November 3, 2016). "The Flatliners Remake is Going to Have to Wait a Little Longer Before Revival". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  24. ^ McNary, Dave (July 12, 2016). "Kiefer Sutherland's Flatliners Reboot set for 2017 Release". Variety. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  25. ^ "Flatliners synopsis and movie info". Tribute.ca. Archived from the original on December 27, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  26. ^ "Flatliners DVD Release Date December 26, 2017". DVDs Release Dates. Archived from the original on December 27, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  27. ^ "Flatliners (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  28. ^ Faughnder, Ryan (September 27, 2017). "'It' drives record September box office with Tom Cruise's 'American Made' ready to battle 'Kingsman'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  29. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 2, 2017). "'Kingsman' Edges Out 'It' In Fierce Three-Way B.O. Tie; Early AM Figures Have 'American Made' In 3rd – Monday". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  30. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 9, 2017). "'Blade Runner 2049' Still Rusted With $36M+ Columbus Day Weekend Opening: Monday Postmortem". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  31. ^ "Flatliners". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 3, 2019. Edit this at Wikidata
  32. ^ "Flatliners". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
  33. ^ "Is the Flatliners remake any good?". BBC News. October 2, 2017. Archived from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
  34. ^ a b Travers, Peter (September 29, 2017). "Flatliners Review: This Thriller Remake Is a Fright-Free Fiasco". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  35. ^ a b Porter, Ryan (September 30, 2017). "Flatliners Amounts to Uninspired, Redundant Viewing Experience". The Star. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  36. ^ Seitz, Matt Zoller (September 29, 2017). "Flatliners Movie Review". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
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