Ellen Page probably hopes you’re dying to see this trailer for the Flatliners remake
It’s the question that has haunted humankind, plagued our philosophers, and inspired countless works of art, intellect, and science, all while inspiring our greatest minds to look beyond the rational world: Why can’t we make up our minds about remakes? Actually, the question is, “What happens to you after you die?,” but right now we’re more curious about the status of remakes. We all bemoan them on a regular basis, but they make for some of our favorite films, and we all have at least one story we’d love to see get a remake. (Why, yes, we are talking about the 1984 Dennis Quaid thriller Dreamscape.) And now, Flatliners enters the remake world, with the Ellen Page-starring 2017 version of the old Kiefer Sutherland/Julia Roberts hit. (Sutherland even shows up in this one to lend his grizzled seal of approval.)
For those unfamiliar with the original movie, the above trailer covers pretty much the entirety of the plot, which is probably kind of a bummer if you were hoping for a little mystery. Page and her fellow medical students take turns stopping each other’s heart for minutes at a time, in hopes of uncovering what happens to the consciousness after we die. They each get to experience their own version of an afterlife, but soon, the visions take on a disturbing tone and start to menace them in this world. In addition to Page, the cast includes Rogue One’s Diego Luna, Vampire Diaries’ Nina Dobrev, and Kiersey Clemons, who’s been in a bunch of things but will likely soon be known as the DC cinematic universe’s version of Iris West.
This trailer doesn’t look like it’s doing much to reinvent the story, but hopefully the teases of CGI afterlives shown here will lead to something cooler. We’ll know when Flatliners hits theaters September 29.