THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (R)

Released by IFC Films
Review by Dan Bringhurst

THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE, which was directed by the creative André Ovredal (TROLLHUNTER), is a work that feels as if it’s been boiled down over several drafts. Which, given the scrutiny that goes into making a film, seems sensible enough, but it’s more prevalent and obvious to me here, even after three viewings.

It’s a simple premise, with simple obstacles to be overcome, and with characters that are easy to like. Austin Tiden (Emile Hirsch) is the son of mortician Tommy (Brian Cox.) Together they run the family business. It’s late and Austin has plans, despite his father accepting a last minute body. But Austin feels uneasy leaving his father alone, and so he abandons the date he’d set up and returns, to Tommy’s great surprise, to assist in the autopsy of a mysterious Jane Doe–A woman who has died, and paradoxically, with no apparent cause.

But the situation grows relentlessly bizarre as this father and son dig deeper and deeper into the cold body, removing organs and bones in a very graphic, nauseating manner; and though I might be prone to go looking for these extra steps in the film making process, I enjoyed imagining the work that Ovredal went through in procuring the gore, carefully choosing shots to better compliment both his strengths and weaknesses given the props.

But all of that said, I was never taken out of the movie. For as they remove the rib cage, and the liver, and as they peel back the skin, searching methodically for a cause of death, it seems that with every organ severed there’s a new wound to be found, internally, and they are all impossible to explain. That is until Austin and Tommy remove themselves from the equation and consider the paranormal ramifications.

Cox (THE RING, MANHUNTER) is always a joy to watch, and his performance is no different here, with sure direction and the embodiment of both disbelief and eventual dread. We feel safe with him wielding the scalpel, and for a good while it’s just another mystery to be solved. Equally effective is a charming turn from Hirsch (INTO THE WILD, MILK), a skilled actor whom we don’t see nearly enough of.

But the morgue is a damp, dark, and poorly lit place, with noises in the pipes and creaks that call out regularly along the metal steps. And with an effective score accompanying the father and son’s autopsy, we are dropped cleverly into a new kind of film altogether. We are set upon by not the mystery of what killed “Jane Doe,”  but by something else in the dark that comes with her, and that is ultimately exacerbated as they peel back her skin, discovering the final clue.

Gory, clever, well written, and strangely likable, THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE is a fun film that takes me back to the forgotten era of early John Carpenter and Sam Raimi, with a focus on performance and clever effects over meaningless gore and sorry direction.

I am immensely excited for what Ovredal has in store for us down the line, and the performances by Hirsch and Cox only further suggest that the low budget film industry is alive and well, particularly where it pertains to the thriving horror genre.