I love horror movies. The sleek ones, the b-grade ones, the really crappy ones with bad acting and cheap thrills. I watch them all. This one? This one left me pleasantly surprised. The scares are carefully crafted, the acting is superb, and the atmosphere gets you before the walking dead does. As the case with most well made horror movies, it is that which you cannot see that frightens you the most. In some ways, the setting and atmosphere reminds of the movie Pontypool.
Quick summary, here be spoilers: An unidentified corpse of a woman (Olwen Kelly) is found half buried in the basement of a house where a bizarre homicide has occurred. What stayed with me, was the contrast of the messy and bloody homicide scenes, and the cleanness of the corpse and her grave. Even though half buried, she didn't even have dirt on her. They take the corpse to father-and-son coroners Tommy (Brian Cox) and Austin (Emile Hirsch) Tilden. During their examination, they come to realization that they are dealing with something supernatural.
A mountain of contradictions and inconsistencies arise. The corpse has no visible signs of trauma, no rigor mortis. The eyes are cloudy, something that only happens when the body has been dead for a few days. When they make the Y-incision, the corpse bleeds profusely, something that only happens when a corpse is fresh. Her tongue has been non-surgically removed, her ankles and wrists are shattered. One of her teeth is missing, which they later find in a hex bag in her stomach. Her lungs are charred, and her organs imply repeated stabbing. Her vagina is mutilated and when they pull the skin away from her rib- cage, they find strange symbols tattooed on her skin.
The first half of the movie focuses on the various, sometimes chilling, aspects of the external and internal examination. The seconds half is when lights go off and things go bump in the dark.
Øvredal succeeds superbly in first creating a relaxed atmosphere, with a small cast of characters, and then starts turning the discomfort levels and the creep factor up. I would have given the movie a higher rating, but the ending did not live up to the tone that was set throughout the movie.
That said, I still highly recommend The Autopsy of Jane Doe.
Quick summary, here be spoilers: An unidentified corpse of a woman (Olwen Kelly) is found half buried in the basement of a house where a bizarre homicide has occurred. What stayed with me, was the contrast of the messy and bloody homicide scenes, and the cleanness of the corpse and her grave. Even though half buried, she didn't even have dirt on her. They take the corpse to father-and-son coroners Tommy (Brian Cox) and Austin (Emile Hirsch) Tilden. During their examination, they come to realization that they are dealing with something supernatural.
A mountain of contradictions and inconsistencies arise. The corpse has no visible signs of trauma, no rigor mortis. The eyes are cloudy, something that only happens when the body has been dead for a few days. When they make the Y-incision, the corpse bleeds profusely, something that only happens when a corpse is fresh. Her tongue has been non-surgically removed, her ankles and wrists are shattered. One of her teeth is missing, which they later find in a hex bag in her stomach. Her lungs are charred, and her organs imply repeated stabbing. Her vagina is mutilated and when they pull the skin away from her rib- cage, they find strange symbols tattooed on her skin.
The first half of the movie focuses on the various, sometimes chilling, aspects of the external and internal examination. The seconds half is when lights go off and things go bump in the dark.
Øvredal succeeds superbly in first creating a relaxed atmosphere, with a small cast of characters, and then starts turning the discomfort levels and the creep factor up. I would have given the movie a higher rating, but the ending did not live up to the tone that was set throughout the movie.
That said, I still highly recommend The Autopsy of Jane Doe.