Flatliners Parent Guide

There’s no shortage of movies depicting young people taking risks for the sake of entertainment. Flatliners offers a new twist (unless you’ve seen the 1990 Flatliners this remake is based upon). It depicts a dangerous behavior supposedly motivated by scientific research—and it will certainly kill you.

Courtney (Ellen Page) is one of five medical interns who are being challenged by their supervisor (Kiefer Sutherland, who also starred in the original) to work toward discovering something new in the field of medicine. It’s a high bar, especially for residents who often are expected to make life and death decisions without having slept for well over a day. Yet, knowing their future careers are on the line, Ray, Mario, Jamie, and Sophia (Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, James Norton and Kiersey Clemons) eventually get talked into Courtney’s perilous experiment.

Meeting her colleagues in the stand-by medical facility deep inside the hospital’s basement, Courtney reveals her plan: She wants to have her heart stopped so she can discover if there is an afterlife. At first only Jamie and Sophia are willing to be part of the procedure. But after a hair-raising resuscitation, they all become curious. Their interest is especially heightened when Courtney suddenly appears smarter in every way and can even play complex piano pieces.

Then the side effects begin to emerge, but not until four of the five have given the death defying process a try. At this point, the script of Flatliners turns the corner and becomes more horror than thriller.

If you’re still wondering whether this movie is suitable for teens, perhaps you missed the warning about its premise. This is a film that glamorizes risk-taking behavior to the point of teetering on suicide. While scientific evidence suggesting the link between media portrayals of suicide and actual suicidal behavior is weak, there is concern these depictions could inspire imitative acts. In addition, without spoiling plot elements, parents should be aware that Courtney’s motivation for designing this “experiment” isn’t fully revealed until later in the story. Her reasons for wanting to dabble with death may initiate curiosity for viewers to try similar, hazardous activities.

The serious nature of this film’s message makes the two sex scenes seem trivial. Trust Hollywood screenwriters to come up with the idea that a near-death experience will leave women hungry for sex. The passionate interludes include non-explicit nudity along with sexual activity and sounds. Violent scenes offer images of corpses and fantastical dream-like sequences. A serious car accident is replayed twice and a character falls from a window. Profanities are infrequent, but include a sexual expletive. As well, the main characters are frequently depicted drinking alcohol, and illegal drug references are heard.

Entertainment-wise Flatliners feels long and struggles with clumsy editing and uninspired performances. One near-death experience feels like a direct rip-off from Inception (complete with horns blaring in the musical score), a movie that would be a far better viewing choice for older teens than this tale of quack med school interns.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.