The first official trailer for Flatliners starring Ellen Page and Diego Luna has just made its way online. Serving as an answer to the original science-fiction film of the same name directed by Joel Schumacher from 1990, the 2017 reimagining will include returning franchise star Kiefer Sutherland in an original motion picture production that is sure to further explore the tenuous boundary between the world of the living and the realm of the dead.
Centering around a group of five medical students attempting to discover life after death by subjecting themselves to a series of near-death experiences, the original Flatliners received mixed reviews upon release. Nevertheless, the genre pushing feature has since become a cult-classic for its psychological horror elements that seek to ponder abstract concepts. Enter Danish director Niels Arden Oplev - whose past work behind the camera includes the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from 2009 and an episode of Mr. Robot - and a whole new cast of curious medical students in the new film, and there's apparently even more to be explored in regards to the living and the dead.
In the footage featured above, potential viewers can catch their first sneak peek behind the curtain at everything the 2017 version of Flatliners will have to offer moviegoers later this fall. Based on an original screenplay by Ben Ripley, the new movie looks to be seeking an audience of moviegoers drawn in by the horror genre elements that served to define the original film's lasting appeal. What's more, you can check out the first theatrical poster below:
While Kiefer Sutherland is nowhere to be seen in the first trailer, viewers do get to see plenty of footage of Page, Luna, and the rest of the supporting cast - including Nina Dobrev, James Norton and Kiersey Clemons - engaged in a series of experiments with terrifying repercussions. Borrowing heavily from the core thematic structure of Schumacher's original, the 2017 reimagining of Flatliners caters to the same crowd that has found and loved the original science-fiction film over the course of the past twenty-odd years.
Whether or not the 2017 version of Flatliners will manage to make a dent at the box office remains to be seen, but considering its built-in audience Oplev may very well have a genre film with the legs to make it with both domestic and international audiences. On that note, here's to hoping for the very best from the forthcoming science-fiction thriller.
Source: Screen Gems
