Autopsy (2008) User Reviews

Gore, Bizarre and Insane

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 16 February 2012]

In Louisiana, while driving on the State Route 53, Emily (Jessica Lowndes) has a car accident. Her boyfriend Bobby (Ross Kohn) and their friends Clare (Ashley Schneider), Dmitriy (Arcady Golubovich) and Jude (Ross McCall) find that she had hit a stranger. When they see an ambulance on the road, they ask for help and the attendants Travis (Michael Bowen) and Scott (Robert LaSardo) bring them to the Mercy Hospital.

In the reception, the nurse Marian (Jenette Goldstein) realizes that Bobby is seriously wounded and sends him to the surgery room. When Emily tries to get information about her boyfriend, she meets Dr. David Benway (Robert Patrick) that tells her the Bobby is all right. But sooner Emily unravels a dark secret about Dr. Benway and his team.

"Autopsy" is a gore, bizarre and insane horror film that uses the clichés of a group of youngsters that has a car accident and end in a creepy hospital. The special effects and make-up are top-notch and the weird story has many ups and downs. When Emily finds her boyfriend in the hospital in the end of the story, the scene is insane. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Autópsia" ("Autopsy")

Strange Movie

[dschmeding · 5/10 · 22 March 2009]

"Autopsy" is a really strange movie that takes pretty obvious elements from other movies but still manages to have some identify. The movie starts with some bad clichés, like a car full of kids having a crash and standing around the scene like in "I know what you did last summer", but then the movie turns and they get taken to a creepy hospital with some strange docs and nurses where they get counted down in a "Crazy doc needs living patients in sick experiments to keep is beloved wife alive" plot. The movie is carried from the strange suspense of an abandoned hospital with crazy lit endless floors (the visuals are pretty different from your average horror/slasher movie) and the crazy hospital staff that mixes utter weirdness with black humor and some rather disturbing elements. Its often hard to tell if "Autopsy" takes itself serious because it stumbles from comedic strangeness to extreme violence and grossness in a second. Scenes like the head bashing remind of Irreversible in their rawness and there was really times I wonder "WTF was that supposed to mean" up to the strange ending. To keep it short... "Autopsy" has many things going for it in the shock and visual department as well in strange characters. Problem is that these elements appear very disjointed in the plot and are pretty much leading nowhere. The movie is often described as a comedy which made me expect something like "Brain Dead" but where "Braindead" clearly doesn't take itself serious "Autopsy" comes across dead serious more often than it makes you smile (and you won't smile if your humor is not pitch-black, believe me), so don't expect a comedy here.

Bland and disappointing

[Sabalon · 3/10 · 6 May 2009]

For some reason I was really looking forward to this movie - the description, the poster, something just made it good. And I may be a bit harsh because I felt let down. It had some good parts, and gore if you like that.

The plot, pretty basic, reminded me of Night of the Dead: Leben Tod for the most part. It is pretty straight-forward and predictable, and I think about 3 good jump scenes. I was worried at first with the Mardi Gras footage that it was going to be another "handheld" style, but that was just for the credits thankfully.

A couple of rewrites could have made this work a lot better. The main problem is you really don't care. You don't care about the kids, you don't care why the bad guys are doing anything - there is just nothing. Robert Patrick's Doctor could have had some real depth to him if they tried. The nurse is so stereotypical it's not worth it. The lead actress did deliver a good scene, but that was an exception to the script.

All in all, it had some memorable moments for those into the Saw/Hostel style gore, but mostly it was forgettable.

Pretty entertaining

[Red_Identity · 26 July 2012]

This isn't a masterpiece of horror of course, but for what it was, still very entertaining. Of course, when it comes to trash the only trash in genre that I can see is horror films, just because there's always something to be enjoyed. But as it is the film wasn't as trashy as I expected, and was actually damn effective. The gory scenes are pretty well-done and some of them truly horrifying. There are some effective jump scares as well, mostly due to the editing and music. There is a scene in the end that is truly a sight to behold, one involving the lead and her boyfriend that made it all even more worth it. As a huge horror fan, I do recommend this.

Effective enough

[BakuryuuTyranno · 7/10 · 16 April 2011]

Autopsy exists primarily to provide gory scenes. From the opening several people manage to crash into some random guy. An ambulance shows up despite not being called but everyone is in shock. Unsurprisingly, nobody notices. They're in shock. Gory films don't usually interest me but at least this one achieved some shock value.

Therefore everyone arrives at the hospital where insane paramedics, doctors and such try to experiment on their newfound victims or murder victims.

Naturally the story doesn't matter because it's only setup for gory stuff that comes later. The kids are only there to be victims.

However, although I consider "Event Horizon" and "Hostel" unmemorable, and "Hostel 2" groan-inducingly stupid, Autopsy actually managed to shock me during at least once.

Do yourselves a favor, do not watch this. Waste of your time.

[dluquer · 1/10 · 6 November 2009]

In my humble opinion, horror movies are amongst the tougher ones to make. Avoiding the clichés and keeping the audience on the edge is really hard. This movie is among the worse in its genre. Not because of the actors, some of which quite well known, although a few of them could have tried a little harder. Mainly because of the appalling script and the miserable direction. Totally (and I mean it) ridiculous. I have not jolted once and I could very much tell what the next scene was going to be through the movie. Soon I simply could not wait for the film to come to an end. So I could do something more useful than waste my time watching this.

If you know what you're entering, then you'll have loads of fun

[marais-alexander · 8/10 · 2 January 2014]

I watched this on a Thursday night when there was nothing else good to pick from. It seemed like a good, gory, old-school slasher with a pinch of Coma interspersed with all the mayhem. Don't even expect anything close to Oscar nominations, but if you are in the mood for some disturbing fun this is for you. Robert Patrick is wonderful as the sadistic surgeon. Everyone else delivers slightly disjointed performances - heroes become victims in a heartbeat and vice versa - so it's far from believable. It feels like an inspired Dario Argento rip off really, but gore is the driving force. Character development is last on the list. The deaths are disturbing, however. It's not for the faint of heart. But for those who can stomach some old school gore, disturbing eccentricity, and have fun with B-movies check it out. Definitely not my top pick, but enjoyable enough. I'll give it an 8.

A relatively good horror flick

[JasonUsher · 6/10 · 9 June 2009]

This is a movie with good gore, a good plot, good acting, and a good ending. The only thing bad about it is the ending was sorta predictable in my mind. There were parts that were unbelievable. But that's to be expected with the horror genre. Robert Patrick plays a good villain, could be better but overall good. Jessica Lowndes was pretty good as the leader of the movie but again could be better. Robert LaSardo was definitely the best actor in the movie. I do not have a single complaint with his part in the movie. Jennette Goldstein would be a creepy nurse in real life but it seemed that in the movie she was overacting just a little. All that being said it was a good (not great) Horror Flick.

You've got to be kidding me

[whitehotjazz · 1/10 · 27 December 2009]

I logged onto IMDb after having the misfortune of burning two hours of my one and only life on this tepid pile of cinematic feces. Except using the term "cinematic" in any context regarding this film is an insult to cinema. What a waste. I expected uniform revulsion from other IMDb users, but I am dismayed at the number of positive reviews here. Has the Saw franchise and Reality TV really pulled down the bar this far? And I actually like horror movies- even stupid ones. But I don't believe that anyone involved with this crap was in on the joke. I felt such pity for Patrick and Goldstein being associated with this worthless endeavour. Don't waste your time horror fans. Autopsy is a zero.

Tortureporn is probably healthy for your mind..

[aetherbrain · 3/10 · 5 April 2009]

Why is it that more and more horror movies contain so much violence that is completely unnecessary to the story, do people really want to see such crap? I wish horror movies would be more like the old ones. More focus on the story and less on the actual violence. I don't mind seeing gruesome scenes of violence, but it has to be necessary to the story. Watch this movie if you want to fill your mind with pointless scenes of violence. It's just like a bad soft-core porn movie with no story, horrible acting, but with a tit or two to make it worth the viewers while. I'm a pacifist, but this movie almost made me want to apply some old fashion whoop ass on the director ;).

rather gory flick with some stupid moments

[trashgang · 7/10 · 9 November 2011]

Adam Gierasch isn't unknown for me, I just have seen his latest effort Fertile Ground and liked it and in fact I have seen so many flicks directed by him, Night Of The Demons, Mortuary,...And some of them I loved some I hated because they didn't deliver on the horror part. But luckily this one does deliver.

The story itself is as usual, some friends having an accident and are being picked up roughly by an ambulance. They are taken to an abandoned hospital with a sick doctor. From there on it goes badly wrong for the friends. The acting is okay and believable. But the main lead Jessica Lowndes did already appear in a Masters Of Horror (Dance Of The Dead) and did another horror, The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008) but for the moment she's in the 90210 series. And didn't I recognise Robert Patrick from Terminator 2? Well, they all know their job and did well.

Although some stupid things going on that are unbelievable like the scene were Emily is trying to catch a cell phone without being seen is ridiculous. And there are some other parts like that (the cutting of an arm) but it's the amount of red stuff and even some gory scene's that makes it watchable.

But you keep watching until the end to know what is going to happen, surely one to autopsy.

Gore 3/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

If i could give 0 stars...

[mr_andy_7489 · 1/10 · 31 March 2009]

For someone to give this film 10 stars is wrong. To give this film 1 star is equally as bad, but they wouldn't let me give 0.

I genuinely felt everything about this film was either cheap, badly acted and/or extremely stereotypical. The 'gore' scenes were a disaster (may I note having NOTHING on such major gore films as Saw), the ending extremely predictable and tacky and it left me feeling like I'd lost all faith in good, current horror films. My biggest disappointment was in Ross McCall. I thought he was a wonderful actor in Band Of Brothers and his performance was terrific. To see him in this was a real let down.

Don't watch this film - I don't know why I did.

A Star Above Decent

[MisterSisterFister · 6/10 · 25 October 2018]

I literally watched this on a rainy afternoon with my cat. We didn't really expect much since this is one of those After Dark Horrorfest movies (which are usually pretty lame), but this wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it while it was on, but I know I will soon forget I even watched it. My cat wasn't very impressed, though. That might just be because he's a cat. Who knows.

The worst film I have ever seen

[smmcgill-2 · 1/10 · 13 February 2010]

Couldn't get past the first 30 minutes of this truly shocking film. Film starts noisily and irritatingly, then goes straight into what I assume is the plot. Without spoiling anything for people that haven't seen it, the story starts with some people (its impossible to make out who they are, what they have in common or what they are doing)finding a dead body underneath their car, after that they are taken to a hospital by some pathetic looking ambulance men who can neither act or look the part. The hospital is unrealistic and none of the scenes fit together or make any real sense. But by far the worst thing about this film is the acting, without exaggeration, my 6 year old nativity play this year was better acted than this film.

I cant comment on the rest of the film, because I didn't have the time to waste watching the rest of it, I had better things to do (like watch the grass grow in my front garden)

Old school horror within a modern setting.

[spike06 · 8/10 · 28 August 2019]

This deserves a much higher score than it currently has, 5/10 is a joke! Horror comes in many guises and as long as you head into this with thoughts of, for example Re-Animator or Society (I.e Body horror), then you should have a blast. From a presentation point of view the colour scheme is top notch. The use of coloured lighting is very much inspired by the great Dario Argento, when Dario was a true master of the craft think Suspiria, Cat o' Nine tales etc. The lighting is truly stunning with red & green bathing many scenes giving a dream like quality. A weird thing I found about Autopsy is the truly strange 1990s Canadian horror vibe it gives off. I persistently felt like I was watching a film from that era filmed in Canada like Hemaglobin or Habitat. Can't put my finger on why this is but I remember the same vibe coming over me on my 1st viewing quite a few years back. As others have said Autopsy plays out like a mad scientist horror with loads of believable practical effect gore, top notch acting and superb atmosphere. And who doesn't love a hospital based horror film especially in a facility that is abandoned and filled with lunatics. I've watched this twice now, once 5 to 10 years ago and again tonight and my score of 8/10 still stands, solid old school vibes in a nasty modern setting.

Starts bad but really pulls itself together by the end

[gluonpaul · 7/10 · 31 October 2018]

At the start of this movie it is so cliche as to be painful. Having said that as the movie really starts going it has some decent acting, some real heart and soul and a few pretty good visuals.

It was a very poor start but really by the end of the movie I have to say i thought it was pretty good.

Cause of death is a not very good script

[RockPortReview · 5/10 · 6 April 2015]

"Autopsy" was apart of the After Dark Horror Fest 3 which was a collection of eight movies released in 2009. Keeping with my current theme of movies featuring insane doctors and medical madness, "Autopsy" fits the bill with mixed results. With an extremely simplistic plot and generic characters, all the movie has to offer is shock value. Most of it is pretty creative and gross but still unable to support any sort of story.

A group of college kids are partying at Mardi Gras having a fun time, but when they get back on the road to wherever they're going next they accidentally hit a man in a hospital gown who comes running out of the woods. A few moments of panicked arguing and finding out their cell phones can't get any reception an ambulance shows up out of nowhere. Hesitant at first but the paramedics take the kids back to an eerily empty Mercy Hospital to get checked out. An older nurse runs the show up front as Dr. Benway takes care of thing behind closed doors.

In typical horror movie fashion they are quickly split up, some just wander off to explore the dark and spooky building, while others are taken by the orderly to be fodder for the doctors experiments. Emily is the girl we follow the most and will undoubtedly be the final girl who will have to fight for her life against the doctor and other crazies. When things start to go bad Emily is able to call for help and a lone police officer shows up. Its no surprise that he doesn't last more than a few scenes before he is taken out.

The character of Dr. Benway is pretty weak and uninspired for being the main bad guy. He is not scary, threatening, or all that interesting. He has a very thin and clichéd back story and most it leads up to a few shocking gore filled scenes at the end. The gore and effects as I have said are pretty good, but this is a strictly by the numbers horror film that will drift off into obscurity. One final note for those interested the film was scored by Joseph Bishara, who has most recently done the two "Insidious" movies.

A very generic horror movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 16 May 2017]

All that I knew about "Autopsy" when I sat down to watch it was that it was a horror movie and that it involved a hospital setting, and that was it. So it was my love for the horror genre that called me to the movie.

"Autopsy" is by no means a milestone in the horror genre in any possible way. In fact, it is a very mediocre and monotone movie. It is entertaining enough for what it turned out to be, just don't expect anything breathtaking or spectacular.

The storyline is also a fairly generic one, revolving around the horrible and macabre events in an old hospital. Yep, it is one of those types of movies. So don't expect an innovating storyline. It should be said that the storyline is adequately paced, although it is very linear and generic, and thus also quite predictable.

Now, the acting in the movie is adequate, taking into consideration what kind of movie it is, its budget and the genre. However, there were some casting choices which does raise some questions as to why they opted for those individuals. A matter of personal preference, of course.

As for the horror factor of the movie, well it is a diminutive one at best. There are no shocks, no thrills, no scares and such throughout the course of the movie. Which left me with a very mediocre feeling once the movie had run its course and came to an end.

If you enjoy horror movies that take place in a hospital setting, then there are some more impressive movies available, and so much more entertaining movies for sure. I managed to sit through "Autopsy" to the very end, but I can with all honesty say that this is not a movie that I will be watching a second time.

better than i thought

[RickHarvey · 6/10 · 6 January 2010]

to be fair, i didn't expect much. to me, the plot sound like if been done already a million times and that it going to be another boring , average B horror movie. Well, it was slightly above average. The acting was OK ( apart from the druggie, just wanted to punch him) and the film itself is fun to watch. At some parts the atmosphere is perfect inside the hospital while at some parts it bland.

there barley any good scares, some bits will make you jump and the gore is great in the film. The whole scenario is crazy. How come no one notices that the hospital is completely empty and that the paramedics look like junkies. I usually forget about these things but in this film, it made the characters seem dumb.

Overall, the film is not at all bad, it actually fun to watch. it makes you jump, makes you laugh, contains extreme gore and has a crazy plot. The acting was decent and not once did i feel like i couldn't watch more. I'm not an extreme horror fan but i still enjoyed it for what it was . Too me, it contains all the ingredients that a decent horror film needs

Not bad little shocker...

[keith-73 · 7/10 · 13 August 2010]

Middle of the road shocker that starts instantly and rolls along unfettered by common sense or reality. The inclusion of Robert Patrick and Jenette Goldstein only makes this film better. It actually moves along quite well and newcomer Jessica Lowndes does an exceptional job as her moment by moment confusion becomes fear becomes dread becomes terror and then becomes retaliation. As usual with movies of this sort, there's the "I'm the next victim" characters, the orderlies gone mad and all sorts of "this is bullsh*t" moments, but the ending makes up for some if not all of those.

Very high production values, very good photography, generally good acting across the board-- I doubt I'll watch it again, but if you haven't seen it, give it a view.

Awesome Horror Stuff, Must See

[whatsupnotmuch · 10/10 · 22 March 2009]

I was not expecting much from this movie.. this movie turned out to be far far better then what I thought it would be.

This is a must see for every horror fan. I think this movie is under rated cause if they would have hired well known stars this movie would have rocked on box office.

All though acting is great from all stars. Story is cool and many new things to see.

Well done..

This is from a true horror fan..

Thanks

Good, clean fun

[ctomvelu1 · 7/10 · 27 December 2009]

A car accident on a lonely road in Louisiana (for a change, it's not West Virginia) lands several fresh college grads in an eerie old hospital. Problem is, the doctor in charge (Patrick) like to perform grisly, Nazi-like experiments on people. One of the accident survivors tries to save her friends, but ends up in a life or death battle with the psychotic doctor and his menacing cohorts. Gore fans will eat this one up, with spinal taps and head drillings and lots of scalpels and knives and needles piercing tender flesh. It also features some nifty head-beating scenes, although these are not particularly believable and makes one wonder if this may have started out as a comedy. While it is a no-budget job, filmed in some abandoned building with a bunch of mostly unknown actors and a minimal plot, it still works. It owes much to the splatter/slasher genre, specifically HOSTEL, Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and SAW. Good company to be in.

one of the better of the "8 films to snooze to"

[movieman_kev · 5/10 · 23 April 2009]

A group of friends coming back from Mardi Gras in New Orleans suffer through a car accident on route 53. An ambulance shows up and takes them all to Mercy Hospital (which is anything but) where they meet the unorthodox doctor Benway (Robert Patrick, 'the Unit & T2), a nurse with a terrible bedside manner (Jenette Goldstein, Near Dark & also T2) and two orderlies who do most of the grislier work.

This slasher film, while much better then the only previous '8 films to Die For' movies (the abysmal "the Broken") was not without it's own problems. The film moves at a steady clip when it gets going and some of the gore is impressive. But it's also quite predictable, has a clichéd storyline and under-developed characters. The actors all did a fairly good job, yet I didn't really care about any of them. I will concede that it's better than the previous films that Gierash & Anderson have worked on, although they've been (partly) responsible for Mother of Tears, Toolbox Murders, & Mortuary. So the fact that it's better is no mean feat.

My Grade: C

Lionsgate DVD Extras: Audio commentary with Adam Gierash, Even Katz, Jace Anderson, Ross McCall and Jessica Horowitz; Behind the scenes of the operating room featurette (20 minutes); Miss Horrorfest Web-isodes (running 58 lame minutes in total); an alternative ending; a combo trailer for the 8 films to die for 3; and trailers for "A Haunting in Connecticut", "Crank 2", "Punisher: War Zone", "the Transporter 3", "Weapons", "Midnight Meat Train", & "Saw 5"

A Nutshell Review: Autopsy

[DICK STEEL · 4/10 · 19 June 2009]

The fastest way to induce an audience's nausea, is perhaps to throw up plenty of thick crimson blood and splatter loads of internal organs on screen, and there's just something about having a ready made premise in hospital mortuaries where there are dead bodies ready to be exploited for some horror and gore, playing into the consensus that these places are just those that you wouldn't want to linger for a second longer.

Autopsy here didn't refer to any post-mortem done on bodies to discover death, but rather plays out like a typical formulaic horror film of recent times where the human bodies go through extreme, mindless torture which torture porn flicks have been trying very best to go one up against one another by upping the ante, either by body count, death by strange tools, or some insanely crafted violent sequences. A look at films such as Body #18, Pathology, Unrest and even Saw IV would give you an idea of what you're in for, should you opt to give this film a shot.

Told in relatively low budget terms, it centers around a group of teenagers, all drunk and high on dope, getting into a car crash, and checking themselves voluntarily into Mercy Hospital, run by two unconventional looking ambulance drivers / helpers, the receptionist Nurse Marian (Jenette Goldstein) and Dr. David Benway (Robert Patrick). I suppose if one's not drunk, a hospital run by a crew of four would have raised eyebrows, but to some traumatized teens, it seemed like a godsend being able to be medically looked at before they get on their way.

Only for things to go bump, with scenes crafted with little logic and flow, plenty of repetitiveness (climbing up and down the same stairwell for example) and cheap tricks out to elicit cheap scares. While you'd appreciate what writer-director Adam Gierasch is trying to get at, especially with the build up toward the end under lead protagonist Emily (Jessica Lowndes), what was ultimately a let down was the plot loopholes that you could pilot a 747 through, poor, choppy pacing, and plenty of throwaway, useless characters in hospital patients just shown on screen to boast what good make up artists they have.

And the make up and art department deserve some credit in coming up with some really mind-numbing, gory looking wounds, parts, decapitations etc, in order to keep you somewhat engaged in looking out for the next big gory scene. While you don't expect Oscar winning performances, I can't help but chuckle at some very wooden, amateurish acting amongst the cast, and even Robert Patrick seemed like he's parodying his Terminator role here, being deadpan in expression, and persistently hard to shake and get rid of.

Autopsy is a poor man's cousin of flicks like Hostel, where things just aren't quite they seem and victims get compartmentalized in some divide and conquer strategy. In most cases, you're going to laugh at the scenes for being implausible, or clumsily executed, so while I won't recommend this film as a horror flick, I definitely would do so as a comedy of errors, and how it contains some of the pitfalls that one should consciously try to avoid when making a horror film.

Quirky

[okpilak · 6/10 · 3 November 2023]

The movie certainly is a bit strange, with a combination of massive gore, grossness and a dollop of humor. It starts with a group of young people celebrating on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and then they take off and get into a car crash. No cell phone coverage, and they find a man under the car. But sure enough along comes an ambulance, ready to take all of them to a hospital. A strange hospital, saying they are short staffed and it seems deserted. One of them comes across a patient who tells her "what makes you think they are here to help?" In an exam room, one of the injured kids asks "doctor, am I going to be OK?" Reply: "I don't think so." And later in the film "hard to get a good quality hand drill. Find an electric drill." Meanwhile, there is constant heavy rain and a massive lightning storm. Dr. Benway seems to have a good doctor-patient manner, but there seems to be other things going on. And Jude, one of the kids, is clearly a druggie, and one of the security persons introduces him to a room filled with illicit drugs, telling him to make a selection. Then there is a gurney overflowing with body parts, at the worst possible time. The amount of blood shown has to be in the gallons. And there is plenty of grossness to go along. The bottom line is what is going on would never get FDA approval for the experiments taking place.