Flatliners 1990

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: It`s much to Schumacher's credit that Flatliners, for all of its crazy excess, does not turn into camp. Despite two or three bad laughs, the picture retains a basic conviction. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times: The movie's problem, like many others recently, is that it isn't any deeper, dramatically or psychologically, than its own trailer. It is the trailer: the long version. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: All I remember is that, just before I came to, there was a sudden burst of brightness. At last the movie was over, and someone had turned on the lights in the theater. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Except for the performances by Roberts and Bacon, which occasionally redeem it, Flatliners is exasperating, a compelling concept unfulfilled. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon all bring conviction to these scenes, and William Baldwin, as the most irresponsible of the students, continues to suggest an electric screen presence that rivals his brother Alec. Read more

Caryn James, New York Times: Flatliners is a stylish, eerie psychological horror film laced with wit, a movie that thrives on its characters' guilty secrets and succeeds on the strength of the director Joel Schumacher's flair for just this sort of smart, unpretentious entertainment. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: While the ersatz experimentalism of the "death" sequences has its moments, the meat-locker expressionism of the rest of the movie -- all red filters and demonic jets of steam -- fails to provide any sort of realistic anchor. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: We're supposed to think, ''Gee, will they make it back?!'' By the third or fourth close call, we're not exactly sweating. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Flatliners is an original, intelligent thriller, well-directed by Joel Schumacher. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: It's a movie about daring that dares nothing. Read more

Time Out: We're in mystical territory here, hence the flamboyant visuals; but that's no excuse for Peter Filardi's affected script. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: A cautionary tale that ends along fairly traditional horror-sci-fi lines, Flatliners is a strikingly original, often brilliantly visualized film from director Joel Schumacher and writer Peter Filardi. Read more

Joe Brown, Washington Post: Flatliners is a New Age Nightmare on Elm Street, with anti-drug propaganda and heavy-handed messages about atonement and reconciliation. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: Flatliners is a heart-stopping, breathtakingly sumptuous haunted house of a movie that takes off where Dracula and Dante left off and CPR began. Read more