Flatliners

Flatliners (1990), directed by Joel Schumacher, Arrow 4k remaster, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including original theatrical 5.1, original theatrical stereo, commentary track, and subtitles in 21 languages.

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099582/

Video encoded in two-pass 11.0 Mbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image.

English subtitles OCRed, proofed, and corrected. All other subtitles converted to VobSub and repositioned.

Note : Joel Schumacher has a reputation as something of a schlockmeister, but he made quite a few very solid films, and this is definitely one of his better ones, a sort of horror-light supernatural thriller with a cast that in retrospect seems like a small miracle, including Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon, who were just transitioning out of 80s teen stardom, and Julia Roberts, fresh off of her big breakthrough in Pretty Woman. This new 4k remaster looks very good, with a brand new color grade supervised by DP Jan de Bont, although I must say, it takes the film's already hyper-stylized and very colorful cinematography to a level that's probably beyond what was seen in the original theatrical release, but if you can get into it, I think it looks great, all warm womb ambers and crackling electric blues, a mix of 80s cinematography omnipresent neon lights at night and 90s super-warm pink skintones. A lot of the locations look gorgeous too, gothic cathedral looking open spaces, staged like renaissance paintings. A classic, for good reason, though it's light on the actual horror.

A group of medical students in Chicago perform experiments with near-death experiences to find out if there's anything beyond death, taking turns volunteering to have their hearts stopped for several minutes before being resuscitated. All have meaningful, seemingly spiritual experiences, but one by one, they start having hallucinations and other aftereffects, and it seems they might have brought something back with them from "the other side". Although at first it seems like it's just their own guilt over past sins, the visions start taking on material form and even attacking them, leading them to frantically search for a solution before it's too late.

As mentioned, this is a very good looking remaster, highly saturated and contrasty, with well-managed grain, not oversharpened, and just pretty much all you can ask for. 5.1 remaster sounds good, original stereo is there if you want it, and the commentary track is at least above average.

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