Flatliners - wikipedia Flatliners For the 2017 remake, see Flatliners ( 2017 film ). For other uses, see flatliner ( disambiguation ). Flatliners Theatrical release poster by John Alvin Directed by Joel Schumacher Produced by Michael Douglas Rick Bieber Written by Peter Filardi Starring Kiefer Sutherland Julia Roberts William Baldwin Oliver Platt Kevin Bacon Music by James Newton Howard Cinematography Jan de Bont Edited by Robert Brown Production company Stonebridge Entertainment Distributed by Columbia Pictures Release date July 27, 1990 ( 1990 - 07 - 27 ) ( United States ) Running time 114 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $26 million Box office $61.3 million Flatliners is a 1990 American science fiction psychological horror film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Michael Douglas and Rick Bieber, and written by Peter Filardi. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon. The film is about five medical students who attempt to find out what lies beyond death by conducting clandestine experiments that produce near - death experiences. The film was shot on the campus of Loyola University ( Chicago ) between October 1989 and January 1990, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing in 1990 ( Charles L. Campbell and Richard C. Franklin ). The film was theatrically released on August 10, 1990, by Columbia Pictures. It grossed $61 million at the box office. A remake, directed by Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev, was released in September 2017. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Release 4 Reception 5 Soundtrack 6 Stand - alone Sequel 7 References 8 External links Plot Nelson Wright, a medical student, convinces four of his medical school classmates -- Joe Hurley, David Labraccio, Randy Steckle, and Rachel Manus -- to help him discover what lies beyond death. Nelson flatlines for one minute before his classmates resuscitate him. While `` dead '', he experiences a sort of afterlife. He sees a vision of a boy he bullied as a child, Billy Mahoney. He merely tells his friends that he can not describe what he saw, but something is there. The others follow Nelson 's daring feat. Joe flatlines next, and he experiences an erotic afterlife sequence. He agrees with Nelson 's claim that something indeed exists. David is third to flatline, and he sees a vision of a black girl, Winnie Hicks, that he bullied in grade school. The three men start to experience hallucinations related to their afterlife visions. Nelson gets physically beat up by Billy Mahoney twice. Joe, engaged to be married, is haunted by his home videos of his sexual dalliances with other women. David finds Winnie Hicks on a train, and she verbally taunts him as he taunted her. Rachel decides to flatline next on Halloween. David tries to stop the others from giving Rachel their same fate, but she is already `` dead '' when he arrives. Rachel nearly dies after the power goes out, and the men are unable to shock her with the defibrillator paddles. Luckily, she survives, but she, too, is haunted by the memory of her father committing suicide when she was young. The three men finally reveal their harrowing experiences to one another, and David decides to put his visions to a stop. He goes to visit Winnie Hicks, now grown up, and he apologizes to her. Winnie thanks him, and she accepts his apology. David immediately feels a weight lifted off his shoulders. Then, David finds Nelson, who accompanied David to visit Winnie, beating himself with a climbing axe. For Nelson, Billy Mahoney is attempting to beat him to death for a third time. David stops him in time, and they return to town. Meanwhile, Joe 's fiancée, Anne, comes to his apartment, and she breaks up with him after she discovers his videos. Joe 's visions cease after Anne leaves him. Rachel seeks comfort in the arms of David, and the two make love. While Rachel and David are together, Nelson takes Steckle and Joe to the graveyard. He reveals that he killed Billy Mahoney as a kid when he hit him with a rock, and he fell out of a tree. Nelson storms off, leaving Joe and Steckle stranded. David leaves Rachel alone in order to rescue Joe and Steckle at the cemetery. While alone, Rachel goes to the bathroom, and she finds her father. He apologizes to his daughter, and her guilt over his death is lifted when she discovers that he was addicted to heroin. Then, Nelson calls Rachel, and he tells her that he needs to flatline again in order to make amends. He apologizes for involving her and their friends in his stupid plan. The three men race to Nelson, who has been dead for nine minutes. Rachel soon finds them, and the four friends work feverishly to save Nelson. Meanwhile, a young Nelson is being stoned by Billy Mahoney from the tree. Nelson dies in the afterlife from the fall, and his friends can not revive him. When they are about to give up, David gives Nelson one last shock. They bring him back, and Nelson tells them, `` Today was n't a good day to die. '' Cast Kiefer Sutherland as Nelson Wright Julia Roberts as Rachel Manus Kevin Bacon as Dave Labraccio William Baldwin as Joe Hurley Oliver Platt as Randy Steckle Kimberly Scott as Winnie Hicks Joshua Rudoy as Billy Mahoney Benjamin Mouton as Mr. Manus Hope Davis as Anne Coldren Patricia Belcher as Edna Beth Grant as Housewife Release Columbia Pictures released Flatliners theatrically on August 10, 1990. The film debuted at No. 1 and took in $10 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $61.5 million total in the United States. Reception The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49 % of critics give the film a positive review based on 43 reviews. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score 55 out of 100, based 10 critics, indicating `` mixed or average reviews ''. In her review for The New York Times, Caryn James wrote, `` when taken on its own stylish terms, Flatliners is greatly entertaining. Viewers are likely to go along with this film instantly or else ridicule it to death. Its atmospheric approach does n't admit much middle ground. '' Critic Roger Ebert praised the film as `` an original, intelligent thriller, well - directed by Joel Schumacher '' and called the cast `` talented young actors, ( who ) inhabit the shadows with the right mixture of intensity, fear and cockiness ''. But Ebert criticized Flatliners for `` plot manipulation that is unworthy of the brilliance of its theme. I only wish it had been restructured so we did n't need to go through the same crisis so many times. '' Similarly, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine praised the film 's young stars, but complained that `` by dodging the questions it raises about life after death, Flatliners ends up tripping on timidity. It 's a movie about daring that dares nothing. '' Entertainment Weekly gave the film a `` D '' rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote, `` What is n't in evidence is the sort of overheated lunacy that made the William Hurt speed - freak trip movie Altered States ( 1980 ) such delectable trash. Flatliners is camp, but of a very low order. Schumacher is too intent on pandering to the youth market to take the mad risks and plunges that make for a scintillating bad movie. '' In contrast, The Washington Post 's Rita Kempley loved the film, calling it : `` a heart - stopping, breathtakingly sumptuous haunted house of a movie ''. Over time, the film has become a cult film for fans of abstract and thought provoking films. Soundtrack `` Party Town '' -- Written and performed by Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys `` The Clapping Song '' -- Written by Lincoln Chase Stand - alone sequel Main article : Flatliners ( 2017 film ) On October 5, 2015, a remake starring Ellen Page and Diego Luna was announced, following the casting of Nina Dobrev, James Norton and Kiersey Clemons. Kiefer Sutherland will return for the remake. Sutherland later disclosed that he was reprising his role from the original film, revealing that the new film would actually be a sequel rather than a remake. However, the scene identifying Sutherland as playing his character from the first film was cut from the theatrical version of the sequel, only reinstated in the film 's extended edition. Directed by Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev, it was released on September 29, 2017. References ^ Jump up to : `` Flatliners ''. AFI Feature Film Catalog. Retrieved July 4, 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` Flatliners ( 1990 ) ''. The Numbers. Retrieved September 6, 2015. Jump up ^ `` Flatliners - Sony Movie Channel ''. www.sonymoviechannel.com. Jump up ^ Broeske, Pat H. ( September 17, 1990 ). `` Postcards Takes No. 1 at Box Office Movies : Mother - daughter comedy sales hit $8.1 million. Paramount 's ` Ghost ' is in second place on $5.8 million in sales. ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011 - 01 - 01. Jump up ^ Broeske, Pat H. ( August 14, 1990 ). `` Flatliners Leads Lively Box Office : Movies : Young audience helps medical drama and Gibson 's ' Air America ' shoot down Nicholson 's ' Two Jakes. ' ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 23. Jump up ^ `` Flatliners ''. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 6, 2015. Jump up ^ Flatliners, Rotten Tomatoes. Accessed March 11, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Flatliners ''. Metacritic. Retrieved September 30, 2017. Jump up ^ James, Caryn. `` Young Doctors Explore the Boundary Between Life and Death '', New York Times ( August 10, 1990 ). Accessed May 18, 2009. Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger. Flatliners review, Chicago Sun - Times ( Aug. 10, 1990 ). Accessed Mar. 26, 2009. Jump up ^ Travers, Peter. Flatliners review, Rolling Stone # 584 ( Aug. 9, 1990 ). Accessed Mar. 26, 2009. Jump up ^ Gleiberman, Owen. Flatliners review. Entertainment Weekly ( Aug. 10, 1990 ). Accessed January 20, 2010. Jump up ^ Kempley, Rita. Flatliners review. Washington Post ( Aug. 10, 1990 ). Accessed Mar. 26, 2009. Jump up ^ `` The Weird Reason The New Flatliners Is n't Really A Remake ''. 1 August 2016. Jump up ^ `` Ellen Page in Talks to Star in ' Flatliners ' Remake ( EXCLUSIVE ) ''. Variety. 2015 - 10 - 05. Retrieved 2016 - 03 - 01. Jump up ^ `` Diego Luna in Talks to Join Ellen Page in ' Flatliners ' Remake ''. Variety. 2016 - 02 - 29. Retrieved 2016 - 03 - 01. Jump up ^ `` New ' Flatliners ' is Actually a Sequel, Kiefer Sutherland Reveals ''. 30 July 2016. Jump up ^ `` Flatliners ''. ComingSoon.net. Retrieved December 28, 2016. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flatliners. Wikiquote has quotations related to : Flatliners Flatliners on IMDb Flatliners at AllMovie Flatliners at Rotten Tomatoes Films directed by Joel Schumacher The Incredible Shrinking Woman ( 1981 ) D.C. Cab ( 1983 ) St. Elmo 's Fire ( 1985 ) The Lost Boys ( 1987 ) Cousins ( 1989 ) Flatliners ( 1990 ) Dying Young ( 1991 ) Falling Down ( 1993 ) The Client ( 1994 ) Batman Forever ( 1995 ) A Time to Kill ( 1996 ) Batman & Robin ( 1997 ) 8mm ( 1999 ) Flawless ( 1999 ) Tigerland ( 2000 ) Bad Company ( 2002 ) Phone Booth ( 2002 ) Veronica Guerin ( 2003 ) The Phantom of the Opera ( 2004 ) The Number 23 ( 2007 ) Blood Creek ( 2009 ) Twelve ( 2010 ) Trespass ( 2011 ) Michael Douglas Producer One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest ( 1975 ) The China Syndrome ( 1979 ) Romancing the Stone ( 1984 ) Starman ( 1984 ) ( executive producer ) The Jewel of the Nile ( 1985 ) Flatliners ( 1990 ) Stone Cold ( 1991 ) ( co-producer ) Eyes of an Angel ( 1991 ) ( exec. prod. ) Double Impact ( 1991 ) ( co-prod. ) Radio Flyer ( 1992 ) ( exec. prod. ) Made in America ( 1993 ) The Ghost and the Darkness ( 1996 ) ( exec. prod. ) Face / Off ( 1997 ) ( exec. prod. ) The Rainmaker ( 1997 ) One Night at McCool 's ( 2001 ) It Runs in the Family ( 2003 ) The Sentinel ( 2006 ) Beyond the Reach ( 2014 ) Flatliners ( 2017 ) We Have Always Lived in the Castle ( 2017 ) ( exec. prod. ) Related articles Awards Career history Further Films Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flatliners&oldid=804818620 '' Categories : 1990 films English - language films 1990s drama films 1990 horror films 1990s psychological thriller films 1990s science fiction films American drama films American films American science fiction films American horror films American thriller films American thriller drama films Films about bullying Films about Christianity Films about death Films shot in Chicago Medical - themed films Near - death experiences Psychological drama films Psychological horror films Supernatural horror films Supernatural thriller films Columbia Pictures films Film scores by James Newton Howard Films directed by Joel Schumacher Films produced by Michael Douglas Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Català Deutsch Español Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Plattdüütsch Polski Português Română Русский Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 11 October 2017, at 10 : 23. 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Question: when did the original flat liners come out
Answer: August 10, 1990