The Autopsy of Jane Doe is an indie horror movie that had it's debut at the Toronto Film Festival last year before supposedly coming out in December, even though on the movie release schedule is says it came out May 2nd. Anyway, no matter who you ask, it's out now and will be released Jun 27 on DVD, so here's a review.
It's the first English language film from Norwegian director Andre Ovredal, whose film Trollhunter I have not seen but hear is damn good. His reputation only grew earlier this year when Stephen King called this a horror film that rivaled Alien. I also hear it does for mortuaries what Jaws did for oceans, but i'd say mortuaries do that on their own.
Much like Alien, the movie takes place in one location where a lot of the most disturbing stuff comes from the slow movement of the camera through corridors, or from haunting silences. Ovredal couldn't do a better job in these scenes and the original idea for a horror film and slowly building mystery of the thing does the rest.
Taking place at a mortuary where an unidentified woman has been brought in, the father- son team of morticians played by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch work toward establishing cause of death but find a bunch of internal abnormalities, and that's before things really get weird.
There's a lot here that fits into the horror clichés category- from the storm going on outside to the radio switching stations on it's own and the freezer and body drawers suddenly going on the fritz. There's also a cat, so you know what that means. It's a little too reliant on jump scares, but it maintains it's atmosphere well enough.
The ace in the hole for this movie though is Brian Cox, who I think deserves to be mentioned in Oscar talks for this. His brings practicality, good sense, touching regret and even more miraculously, keeps letting us take this all seriously, especially during the last half hour when the script turns to contrivance and cheesy B-movie material.
Then there's Emile Hirsch, a promising young actor when not in Speed Racer, and I do feel he's underrated a lot of the time. He doesn't get as much to do here but his character also never comes off as dumb and he too is likable and someone you want to pull for.
So overall this is a really well directed movie featuring two really good performances that keep it from falling too far over. This movie also has a really promising premise, one I wish it would have done a bit more with, like maybe probe the emotional and metaphysical like it, at first, seems to want to do before just becoming another B-movie.
I go 7 out of 10. If you guys liked this, be sure to check me out on Youtube for more.
It's the first English language film from Norwegian director Andre Ovredal, whose film Trollhunter I have not seen but hear is damn good. His reputation only grew earlier this year when Stephen King called this a horror film that rivaled Alien. I also hear it does for mortuaries what Jaws did for oceans, but i'd say mortuaries do that on their own.
Much like Alien, the movie takes place in one location where a lot of the most disturbing stuff comes from the slow movement of the camera through corridors, or from haunting silences. Ovredal couldn't do a better job in these scenes and the original idea for a horror film and slowly building mystery of the thing does the rest.
Taking place at a mortuary where an unidentified woman has been brought in, the father- son team of morticians played by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch work toward establishing cause of death but find a bunch of internal abnormalities, and that's before things really get weird.
There's a lot here that fits into the horror clichés category- from the storm going on outside to the radio switching stations on it's own and the freezer and body drawers suddenly going on the fritz. There's also a cat, so you know what that means. It's a little too reliant on jump scares, but it maintains it's atmosphere well enough.
The ace in the hole for this movie though is Brian Cox, who I think deserves to be mentioned in Oscar talks for this. His brings practicality, good sense, touching regret and even more miraculously, keeps letting us take this all seriously, especially during the last half hour when the script turns to contrivance and cheesy B-movie material.
Then there's Emile Hirsch, a promising young actor when not in Speed Racer, and I do feel he's underrated a lot of the time. He doesn't get as much to do here but his character also never comes off as dumb and he too is likable and someone you want to pull for.
So overall this is a really well directed movie featuring two really good performances that keep it from falling too far over. This movie also has a really promising premise, one I wish it would have done a bit more with, like maybe probe the emotional and metaphysical like it, at first, seems to want to do before just becoming another B-movie.
I go 7 out of 10. If you guys liked this, be sure to check me out on Youtube for more.