The Autopsy of Jane Doe starring Emile Hirsch Brian Cox directed by Troll Hunter‘s director André Øvredal, is collecting all the buzz right now within the horror circuit. Martin Sheen was originally supposed to play the supporting role that was ultimately cast to Brian Cox after Sheen dropped out due to scheduling conflict, but I think Cox did a fantastic job.
Without going further into the story and spitting out spoilers, this is a movie for the die-hard-horror-fan who enjoys human anatomy as well as slow-burn cinema. The director, Øvredal wanted to make a movie like The Conjuring, although not at all comparable to The Conjuring, The Autopsy of Jane Doe holds to its own.
Austin ( Emile Hirsch) and Tommy (Brian Cox) are a father/son duo who work in an underground morgue when they are assign to do an overnight autopsy on an unidentifiable female. The movie begins as a medical students wet dream into a chaotic nightmare that consumes the viewers fears only to end on a tragic note. What I really liked about Autopsy Of Jane Doe, was the simplicity of its horror and story, as if Edger Allen Poe wrote a poem about it. Hirsch and Cox really deliver a chemistry that will keep the viewer intrigued. As a movie nerd, I like to enjoy movies where I’m not looking for continuity errors and plot holes because I want to enjoy what I’m watching. I feel as if the ending, or moments towards the end were very confusing and lost what the beginning hour of the movie perfectly set up for me. It’s sometimes a difficult translation when foreign directors create a movie on a Hollywood budget and deliver to American audiences their unique style that could get away with other viewers outside the United States. In America, most of the time we, American movie goers, rely on cookie cutter endings where we feel at ease. Movies like “Let The Right One In” could never get away with its original version in US theaters. That’s why we have the American version “Let Me In” where we keep all of the glorious moments of terror but leave out the parts that made the original movie unique in other countries.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is the kind of movie where it should be watched by yourself with all of the lights out. 7/10