Flatliners

Flatliners is an absorbing and deeply disturbing film. Five medical school students become obsessed with the death experience and each wants to "flatline". They want to die under controlled conditions, experience what death is like, and then be brought back to life. They begin competing for who can "flatline" longer. (When the E.E.G. flatlines, the brain is dead.) After returning to normal life, Nelson keeps seeing his childhood dog, Champ. Champ appears to him whimpering and injured but when Nelson follows the illusive Champ, Nelson is severely beaten by a young boy. Each of the other flatliners also begin experiencing disturbing hallucinations and flashbacks to some traumatic experience in their past.

  • Starring: Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts
  • Director(s): Joel Schumacher
  • Producer(s): Stonebridge Entertainment
  • Screenwriter(s): Peter Filardi
  • Distributor: Columbia Pictures
  • Release Date: Tuesday, June 19, 1990

Featured Animal Action

The dog portraying Champ had stage blood and bandages placed loosely around him and had been trained to crawl so that he would appear hurt. In another scene, a tree branch falls on Champ. This scene was shot in cuts and edited together for the total effect. The branch was lightweight and dropped from a short height across the dog's hindquarters. He was not harmed. This was achieved in one take.