Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Flatliners 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 2, 2022

Considering how instrumental it was in the development of the Blu-ray format, and how respected it has become over the course of several years for its curation and transferring excellence of it catalog to high definition, it may come as a surprise to find out that some early Blu-ray releases from Sony were not especially well regarded for their technical merits. Take the 2007 (!) release of Flatliners, which my colleague Martin Liebman gave a relatively paltry score of 2.5 to for its video presentation. Kind of hilariously, while the video was nothing to write home about and there were absolutely no supplements included, take a look at the specs for the subtitles on that release, which suggest Sony may have had delusions of world domination with Flatliners, at least as evidenced by the global collection of languages offered in that department. Now, let's just get the bad news out of the way first and state that Arrow Video's new release of Flatliners does not offer French, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian, Swedish, or Turkish subtitles, but it pretty easily trumps the old Sony release in every other category.

For those wanting a plot recap, Marty's Flatliners Blu-ray review should suffice more than handily. As I seem to repeat ad infinitum when these re-releases come out, different reviewers means different opinions, and I'm probably not quite the fan of Flatliners that Marty is, but I'm scoring the film the same as he did. Marty's review can also provide those who are interested with screenshot comparisons between that release and this one. As I always try to do with these re- releases, I've aimed to at least come close to capturing some of the same scenes, and maybe even frames, as Marty did so that side by side comparisons can be made for those who like such pastimes.

Flatliners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's 1080 release. Per Arrow's standard operating procedure, this 4K UHD release does not include a 1080 disc.

Flatliners is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with a 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. Unless I've made the same stupid mistake I did some time ago with another simultaneous 1080 and 2160 release of an Arrow product where the insert booklets had different information, I believe that both the 1080 and 2160 releases of Flatliners contain the same insert booklet, which offers the following information on the restoration:

Flatliners was restored in 4K by Sony Pictures Entertainment, 4K scanning by Prasad Corporation, Burbank, from the 35mm Original Picture Negative.

HDR color grading and confrom by colorist Sheri Eisenberg at Roundabout Entertainment, Santa Monica. Digital Image restoration by Prasad Corporation, India.

Audio restoration was completed at Deluxe Audio SErvices, Hollywood, sourced from the original 35mm LCRS stereo magnetic tracks.

Restoration supervised by Bill Karydes for SPE, with color approval by cinematographer Jan De Bont.

As mentioned above, Marty wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the now long ago Blu-ray release of Flatliners actually by Sony, but of course technologies and dare I say it even understandings have evolved in the intervening years, and I can't imagine most fans of this film being much more pleased with this version than with the previous release, and I'd further venture a guess that real fans of Flatliners may want to experience this 4K UHD version, since it offers even more of the almost ridiculously suffused palette that Arrow's 1080 version does. There are some pretty obvious differences, with the Arrow version being noticeably darker and what I'd call more burnished looking, with an emphasis on almost yellow-orange tones that can give things a painterly air, and I'd argue that this tendency toward the very warm end of the spectrum is only increased courtesy of HDR and/or Dolby Vision. The increased resolution of this version also tends to support at least marginal increases in fine detail levels throughout, but perhaps surprisingly noticeably in some of the skewed hallucinatory moments. This has a grittier look than the Sony, and grain admittedly can be a little on the yellow side itself with occasional clumpiness, but nothing I personally found overly problematic, though the opening moments of this 4K UHD version may cause pause in some videophiles, as first the Columbia masthead and then the skies of the credits sequence can look like everything is covered in swarms of small insects. The black and white material also has excellent contrast and detail levels, despite (again) a somewhat psychedelic approach that can superimpose image on image and the like, and it maybe has a slightly more "video" like quality in this 4K UHD version, though detail levels are still excellent. There may be some who don't like a perceived minimizing of shadow detail since this is so much darker than the original Sony release, but I have to say just based on screenshots, the Sony looks artificially brightened to my eyes, and I found this version much more in keeping with the kind of Gothic undertones of everything, and all of this said, I found the HDR on this release to offer better shadow detail in general when compared to Arrow's 1080 version.

Flatliners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly, Marty also wasn't especially enthused about the old Sony Blu-ray's PCM 5.1 track, but I'm happy to report either I'm a lot easier to please or things have been improved for this release (I suspect it's the latter) with both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio options. I experienced none of the "mushiness" Marty described with regard to the Sony disc's audio presentation, and James Newton Howard's ethereal score in particular sounds beautifully full bodied and spacious in the surround track. There are a number of hallucinatory moments which admittedly probably don't have the same kind of "wow" factor that, say, a contemporary Christopher Nolan multilayered enterprise might offer, but there is still appealing immersion and both clear panning effects and discrete placement of individual effects in some of the "visionary" moments in particular. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. As jokingly referred to above, this release does not offer optional French, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian, Swedish, or Turkish subtitles, but does come with the ever popular English SDH option.

Flatliners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While Arrow continues to release its 1080 and 2160 versions of any given films separately, they have commendably tended to offer the same set of supplements in both formats, and that's once again the case this time.

• Audio Commentary by critics Bryan Reesman and Max Evry


• The Conquest of Our Generation (HD; 19:11) is a 2021 interview with screenwriter Peter Filardi.


• Visions of Light (HD; 18:23) is a 2021 interview with cinematographer Jan de Bont and chief lighting technician Edward Ayer.


• Hereafter (HD; 14:22) is a 2021 interview with first assistant director John Kretchmer.


• Restoration (HD; 10:47) is not focused on whatever actual restoration was performed for this transfer, but is instead a 2021 interview with production designer Eugenio Zanetti and art director Larry Lundy.


• Atonement (HD; 11:35) is a nicely cheeky title for a 2021 interview with composer James Newton Howard and orchestrator Chris Boardman.


• Dressing for Character (HD; 6:26) is a 2021 interview with costume designer Susan Becker.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:27)


• Image Gallery (HD) is authored without a timecode, but does advance automatically, so have the Pause button on your remote handy if you want to linger on any given image.

Additionally, Arrow provides its typically well appointed insert booklet, this one with interesting essays by Amanda Reyes and Peter Tonguette, along with cast and crew information, technical data, and some stills. The keepcase insert features a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin, and packaging features a slipcover.

Flatliners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kind of hilariously my wife, who was a news anchor in Chicago when this film released, and who is evidently a much pithier reviewer than I am, responded with a "kind of a silly film, but great shots of Chicago" when I told her it was in my queue. I have to agree with her, but among other pleasures a modern day viewing of Flatliners can give is playing the "who ended up with the bigger career" game with regard to its star filled cast, then in the relatively early days of their careers. I can't imagine anyone seriously arguing with the fact that this release is superior to the Sony release in both technical merits and some very appealing supplements. Recommended.