I have no hesitation in stating that the first half of The Autopsy of Jane Doe really did suck me in. The corpse of an unidentified young woman is found at the scene of a bloody multiple homicide, with no real clues to aid the local constabulary in solving the case. Local father and son coroners, played by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch respectively are coopted by the town sheriff, to do an urgent autopsy on the corpse, so as to hopefully give the police some sort of lead to solve the murders.
It's an intriguing set-up with 2 very experienced lead actors in Cox and Hirsch. Cox in particular is very convincing as a skilled small-town medical examiner, who we soon understand, won't be easily swayed from forensically seeking the truth behind mysterious deaths. Autopsy, though clearly not made on a huge budget, looks far superior in production standards to Norwegian director Andre Ovredal's earlier found footage films. It also boasts an excellent soundtrack and some realistic looking mortuary sets.
But roughly at the half-way point of this compact story, things decidedly take a turn for the worst. Solving the mystery of Jane and the mysterious deaths, is relegated in importance, as we become immersed increasingly in a case of "things going bang in the night" and yes, zombies (of the non-flesh eating variety) suddenly appear, which are pretty common around the traps these days.
From here on in, the narrative contrivances kick in, thick and fast to propel the story forwards. Tommy's and Austin's basement mortuary in their house, must be one of the few such facilities in the world that doesn't have a proper fire escape. It has an elevator, which we know won't work in a blackout and a weird spiral staircase to a trap door instead. Why? Because that might be needed later in the story. A supporting character is somehow able to gain access to the house and mortuary quite easily during a raging storm, when Tommy and Austin can't get out themselves. How? Don't even go there. All we find out is that ancient mumbo jumbo is able to control seemingly everything in the modern world; from the weather, to locks, telephone communications and even radio music programming.
The second half of Autopsy is a real comedown. Tommy's and Austin's back stories, which aren't exactly deep anyway, we find have entirely no relevance to the final outcomes of the story and if viewers were waiting expectantly for an engrossing explanation to the first act discovery outlined above, I sincerely hope they are not holding their breaths. And then of course the final scenes leave open the possibility of a sequel, I don't think I'll want to see.
I don't want to appear too down on The Autopsy of Jane Doe, but it just seems extra disappointing, when a very promising looking beginning, degenerates so swiftly into a second half of seen again morbid goings - on. I have to admit genuine surprise at the general high critical regard for this pretty average production.
It's an intriguing set-up with 2 very experienced lead actors in Cox and Hirsch. Cox in particular is very convincing as a skilled small-town medical examiner, who we soon understand, won't be easily swayed from forensically seeking the truth behind mysterious deaths. Autopsy, though clearly not made on a huge budget, looks far superior in production standards to Norwegian director Andre Ovredal's earlier found footage films. It also boasts an excellent soundtrack and some realistic looking mortuary sets.
But roughly at the half-way point of this compact story, things decidedly take a turn for the worst. Solving the mystery of Jane and the mysterious deaths, is relegated in importance, as we become immersed increasingly in a case of "things going bang in the night" and yes, zombies (of the non-flesh eating variety) suddenly appear, which are pretty common around the traps these days.
From here on in, the narrative contrivances kick in, thick and fast to propel the story forwards. Tommy's and Austin's basement mortuary in their house, must be one of the few such facilities in the world that doesn't have a proper fire escape. It has an elevator, which we know won't work in a blackout and a weird spiral staircase to a trap door instead. Why? Because that might be needed later in the story. A supporting character is somehow able to gain access to the house and mortuary quite easily during a raging storm, when Tommy and Austin can't get out themselves. How? Don't even go there. All we find out is that ancient mumbo jumbo is able to control seemingly everything in the modern world; from the weather, to locks, telephone communications and even radio music programming.
The second half of Autopsy is a real comedown. Tommy's and Austin's back stories, which aren't exactly deep anyway, we find have entirely no relevance to the final outcomes of the story and if viewers were waiting expectantly for an engrossing explanation to the first act discovery outlined above, I sincerely hope they are not holding their breaths. And then of course the final scenes leave open the possibility of a sequel, I don't think I'll want to see.
I don't want to appear too down on The Autopsy of Jane Doe, but it just seems extra disappointing, when a very promising looking beginning, degenerates so swiftly into a second half of seen again morbid goings - on. I have to admit genuine surprise at the general high critical regard for this pretty average production.