Sony has signed Ben Ripley, who wrote the screenplay for the Duncan Jones mind-bender Source Code, to pen a remake of the 1990 film Flatliners, which starred Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, and William Baldwin.

The original Joel Schumacher film centered on a group of medical students conducting near-death experiments.

Laurence Mark will produce the new film, which Deadline reports will be “a contemporary reimagining.” Right, remake, exactly, except let me guess: the group uses the Internet — better yet, Facebook! — to conduct the experiments!

I thought Source Code was a great movie and very well-written, so my issue isn’t with Ripley, since he’s proven he’s got the right stuff, but do we really have to set the clock back for Flatliners? The tagline for the original movie was “Some lines shouldn’t be crossed” — that should be the tagline for the news of this remake. Oh, and the original had actors who went on to become major stars, yet still when I watch Flatliners, I’m hoping they all die and stay dead.

So, what do you think, are you looking forward to an updated Flatliners?

[Source: Deadline]