While most movies don’t need a remake, Flatliners is one that might actually benefit from a do-over. The original was okay but didn’t really do the idea behind it full justice, and now looks pretty dated, as if Joel Schumacher had managed to bottle 1990 and put it in a movie.
Columbia Pictures obviously thinks the same, as they’re now reviving Flatliners with a new remake and has hired Source Code screenwriter Ben Ripley to tackle the writing duties, according to Deadline.
The original Flatliners, which starred Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, and Kevin Bacon, focused on a group of medical students who conduct experiments with near-death experiences, by stopping each other’s hearts and then restarting them, to see if there is life after death. The group members eventually start re-living traumatic childhood experiences, which get more and more intense.
No production schedule is known for this new Flatliners remake, but Laurence Mark, who produced the original Flatliners, is on board to produce this new remake.