The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

[baumer]

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[baumer]

@The Stingray recommended this to me.  I like his taste in horror.  So I found it and gave it a shot.

 

I've seen a million horror films from the big budget studio films to the grindhouse films of the 70's to the shitty straight to video horror films that are out there.  For the first time since perhaps Open Water (my fear of sharks is massive) or if you want to go before that, for the first time since I was perhaps a teenager watching something in my basement, I actually came close to turning the film off due to being freaked out.  That's a massive achievement for a film to do that to me.

 

Stephan King said of the film, "THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE: Visceral horror to rival ALIEN and early Cronenberg. Watch it, but not alone."  He was bang on.

 

 

I'm a big horror fan and this is the best little horror yarn I've seen in ages. Jane Doe is an excellent example that good horror movies are still being made. Top notch story, effects and scares. Highly recommended. 

Well acted, with some recognisable faces. Brian Cox is great as the small town coroner that leads the autopsy on the titular body, in one scene he even managed to give me a sad lump in the throat which was an unexpected feeling during an unnerving horror flick. Emile Hirsch plays his son and assistant and though he's good doesn't have as much impact as Cox. Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) makes an appearance as the town sheriff.

Where this film really succeeds is in doing something a lot of modern horror has forgotten about - it toys with the viewers imagination, creating an uneasy feeling out of the narrative, half light, sound and shadow. This is not to say you don't get to see anything grotesque or unsettling, as certain scenes are not for the squeamish.

I don't want to spoil the story but will say this, the resolution is not quite as good as the build up. It's very hard for a horror film, especially one that plays on fear and the imagination, to deliver a conclusion that is suitably unsettling - this one half succeeds. But the ride is more than worth it and the ending is far from a failure.

If you like horror, watch this....but not alone.

 

8.5/10 (would have been a 9.5 but again, the ending just didn't quite live up to the rest.)

[The Stingray]

Great, pretty spot on review, B.

 

If only the ending had been a bit stronger, the movie would be top 3 of 2016 for me.

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by The Stingray