Welcome back to Shoot the Hostage, the movie podcast where hosts Sarah and Dan unpack cinema eight themed films at a time! For the 4th episode in our “After Death” season, we are dissecting director Joel Schumacher’s sleek 1990 gothic medical thriller, Flatliners – a film Sarah fondly remembers from her teenage years. But does it hold up thirty years later?
This episode offers an examination of one of the era’s quintessential films about the afterlife, taking listeners inside an abandoned, candle-lit building where five recklessly attractive medical students attempt conquering death. Schumacher’s melodramatic exploration of the afterlife sees these overly ambitious student doctors flatlining on purpose to peek behind the curtain of mortality, only to drag something back with them which may or may not reflect their own personal demons and past sins.
Throughout the discussion, we indulge in a bit of pseudo-Freudian analysis while examining how the film weighs science vs spirituality. We explore where this neon-drenched piece of 90s nostalgia stands within the broader Schumacher filmography and near-death experience (NDE) films in general to determine if this deserves a spot among legitimate cult classics. Along the way, the conversation celebrates the star-studded ensemble cast featuring Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt and William Baldwin, while tackling the story’s most bizarre choices – from Kevin Bacon refusing to use normal doors and Oliver Platt trying to read legal waivers by window light to William Baldwin’s heinous subplot and an empirical debate over whether David’s breath does actually smell like buffalo farts.
What to expect from this episode:
- We debate whether Flatliners withstands thirty years of aging or simply collapses under its glossy veneer.
- Highlighting Jan de Bont’s gorgeous cinematography, James Newton Howard’s score and contextualising 1990 cinema picks like Tremors, Total Recall and Gremlins 2.
- We crown Oliver Platt as the undisputed episode MVP for attempting to read a homemade legal liability waiver by window light while everyone else impulsively flatlines.
- We marvel at Kevin Bacon’s bizarre decision to abseil out of a dorm window rather than use a standard door.
- A brainstorming session over the empirical scientific test involving Kevin Bacon and a live buffalo to verify spectral insult claims about breath odour.
- Comparison of the film’s pop-existentialism to real-life near-death experiences, grief and shared cultural delusions.
This season has eight episodes, concluding December 7th!
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