Flatliners
Ambitious medical students who repeatedly flirt with death are confronted by supernatural visions shaped from their deepest guilt.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- foreboding
- intense
- gothic
- late night horror viewing
- 1990s movie marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film stylish and atmospheric, with an impressive young ensemble and an effective premise, but felt its repetitive plotting and evasive treatment of life-after-death questions weakened the concept.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The students' near-death visions take the form of childhood sins and physically attack them.
Medical students repeatedly stop and revive their hearts to investigate near-death experience.
The film combines medical spaces, death imagery, and striking shadowy visions in a heightened supernatural style.
The students pursue increasingly dangerous experiments in search of insight into life after death.
Films like Flatliners, and why
The Lazarus Effect
shared psychological horror, medical experimentation, and escalating encounters with death and guilt
The Invisible Man
shared science fiction horror, morally reckless experimentation, and supernatural consequences
The Sixth Sense
shared existential horror, guilt-driven hauntings, and young protagonists confronting death
Movie Details
- Director
- Joel Schumacher
- Release Date
- 1990-08-10
- Runtime
- 115 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (1802)
Cast
- Kiefer Sutherland
- Julia Roberts
- Kevin Bacon
- William Baldwin
- Oliver Platt
- Kimberly Scott
- Joshua Rudoy
- Benjamin Mouton
- Aeryk Egan
- Kesha Reed
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Flatliners about?
- Ambitious medical students who repeatedly flirt with death are confronted by supernatural visions shaped from their deepest guilt.
- What is Flatliners like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Flatliners as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Flatliners violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Flatliners as mild.
- What did critics think of Flatliners?
- Critics broadly found the film stylish and atmospheric, with an impressive young ensemble and an effective premise, but felt its repetitive plotting and evasive treatment of life-after-death questions weakened the concept.
- Which films are like Flatliners?
- Films with a similar feel include The Lazarus Effect, The Invisible Man, and The Sixth Sense.
- How long is Flatliners?
- Flatliners runs 115 minutes.
- Where can I watch Flatliners?
- In United States, Flatliners is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
