THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE

Directed by:  André Øvredal

Starring by: Brian Cox, Emile Hirsch, Ophelia Lovibond, Olwen Catherine Kelly

Production: Impostor Pictures

Definitely fresh new idea on making horror at the place of homicide coroner, place where science or crime stories like CSI are dominates the scenery but not horror.  I never heard of Andre Ovredal before but the movie catch me as I read what Stephen King said about it, he said “This movie is visceral horror to rival Alien and early Cronenberg. Watch it, but not alone.”

After an unidentified corpse of a woman was found in basement of a house where a bloody and bizarre homicide had occurred, the police taking the death to Tommy Tilden, a small-town coroner, which doing his job with Austin, his son. Austin was taking his girlfriend to look around inside the morgue when the corpse of Jane Doe came in. Emma, the girlfriend, got interested of hanging bell on the ankle of one of the corpses and he explained that in the past the bells were used to signal if someone was actually just in comatose state instead of really dead.

The sheriff said he needs the cause of death and identification of the body by morning, that’s why Austin cancelled his date with Emma and accompanied his father making autopsy to the corpse. Several strange investigations occurred later, like cloudy eyes, something that only happened when bodies have been dead for a few days, yet the corpse looks fresh, as noticed on the blood that flows profusely.

Later they found her lungs were severely blackened, like someone who has suffered third-degree burns, and internal organ which reveal numerous cuts and scars tissue, likely from repeated stabbing. And the most bizarre was cloth that wrapped Jane Doe’s missing tooth inside her stomach. There are Roman numerals, letters, and drawing on the cloth that finally leads them to history of the curse for witch back to days of witch burning era on Salem.

The corpse examination were followed by strange things like blood that stored by Austin in the freezer was strangely started to leak, and a standing figure on the alley who was seen by Austin in a mirror but turned out there’s no one when he took a close look to the alley. 

The tense increased when they heard a creepy song from radio when they were doing the examination and by sudden the lights went out. Both found out corpses that stored in morgue’s cabinet were loose, and the ankle’s bells which shown to Emma before tingling.

Tommy and Austin tried to escape from the place but Tommy was attacked on the bathroom and he had to stab the dead corpse who’s chasing them with an axe when they’ve got trapped inside the elevator. It’s too bad because in reality he did not killed the corpse that turned alive, instead he killed Emma who went back to the morgue to catch up Austin

They tried to burn Jane Doe’s corpse to stopped the odd but it was useless because the fire couldn’t destroyed the dead body, instead they finally realized that the thing that they thought as dead person actually still alive from active tissue of her brain tissue’s sample. 

Tommy decide to do sacrifice in order to save his son from the woman’s curse but the end of the story giving me nice thought as the ankle bells ringing…and perhaps you should watch it for yourself because this movie it’s worth to view.

And just like what Mr. King's said, "Don't watch it alone..."