Flatliners is a 1990 movie starring Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt as medical students experimenting with near-death experiences. The movie is directed by Joel Schumacher.

Plot

The movie opens with a shot of Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland), a medical student, saying, "Today is a good day to die." The movie then moves on to explain this statement as Nelson tries to convince Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt), and Rachel Manus (Julia Roberts), four of his classmates, to help him conduct a dangerous experiment: Nelson wishes to experience clinical death for one minute before being brought back to life by emergency measures, saying he wants to see if there is anything beyond death. Nelson's classmates are extremely apprehensive about the idea, but after much arguing, the five students decide to go ahead with the experiment. Nelson is then "flatlined," and his experience in the "afterlife" is interspersed on-screen with his classmates' attempts to bring him back to life. Despite some difficulty, they are able to successfully resuscitate him. Describing later what he felt, Nelson says, "You can't break it down into specifics, but there is something there. It's comforting."