Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Hollywood doesn’t want to spend too much time developing new projects. Just today, Sony announced that ‘Source Code’ screenwriter, Ben Ripley, will be writing the script for the remake of the 1990 Joel Shumacher film ‘Flatliners.’
‘Flatliners’ starred Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt as med-students who try to explore the afterlife by experimenting on themselves. They agree to each have their heart stopped then revived to see if there is something beyond death. At first it was a soothing experience but soon after, the med students struggle to determine whether they are hallucinating or is it reality when physical manifestations of their childhood sins come back to haunt them.
Hiring Ripley to write the screenplay seems to be a good move by Sony as he did a great job with ‘Source Code’ and the way he handled how people can harness unique powers when trapped between life and death. Whether he will play up the horror aspect (i.e. the childhood transgressions coming back to destroy you) or stick to the science fiction aspect of the story as in the original, we’ll just have to wait and see.
