The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  6 / 10

  The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a unique concept that does not always hit the mark. A family who run a morgue are presented with a nameless body to which they must find the cause of death before morning. This nameless body isn't just any anonymous individual...oh no no, we have ourselves a mysterious corpse that's wrapped up in an enigma (literally...). A murder mystery that quickly transcends into typical horror tropes. The scares that were conjured up were effective I must say. Some really good camera techniques involving reflections, slow zooming in on dark crevices and prolonged static shots of Jane Doe who, may I just say, makes me incredibly uncomfortable. That's one thing I can compliment, the creepy atmosphere and intrigue is well crafted. The plot has me both on edge and mystified. Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch gave consistent performances with plenty of character development. I admired the on screen chemistry which assisted in the likability of these two individuals. I became invested. Any horror film to do that is worth a watch. Good use of prosthetics and gore as well. The first act was well paced and continuously increased the terror in a rather subtle away. An innovative concept. How did she die? Why did she die? Who even is she? But then...then the third act arrives at it just becomes so convoluted! Urgh, I thought the plot was more intelligent than that! Supernatural occurrences soon wreak havoc in the morgue and a few unpredictable yet unbelievable instances happen that made me immediately shout "nope, that doesn't make sense!". The smart script then dissolves into exposition and constant reminders of what discoveries have been found within the autopsy so far...y'know, in case we forgot. Then the final scenes play out and it's just so formulaic and dumb. Really disappointed with the third act, the plot just couldn't maintain its subtlety that made the first act legitimately creepy. A few unnecessary jump scares, but on the whole an effective horror mystery. Just forget about the last 30 minutes...wait make that 40 minutes.

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