The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Plot synopsis:
An unidentified corpse of a woman is found half-buried in the basement of a house where a bloody and bizarre homicide has occurred. One of the police officers concludes that there are no signs of forced entry and the victims seemed to be trying to escape the house instead.
Small-town coroner Tommy Tilden and his son Austin, who assists him, have just finished the autopsy of a burned corpse when Austin's girlfriend, Emma, arrives and gets curious about the bodies in the morgue. When she notices a bell tied to the ankle of a dead body, Tommy explains to her that, in the past, the bells were used to signal if someone was actually just in a comatose state instead of really dead. The sheriff arrives with the mysterious body and tells Tommy that he needs the cause of death (COD) by morning. Austin decides to help his dad instead of going to the theater with Emma, but asks her to come back later.
Since the body's identity is unknown and its fingerprints are not on police records, they refer to her as Jane Doe. Austin and Tommy start the autopsy with an external examination of the corpse, which has no visible signs of trauma,scars or marks. They discover that her eyes are cloudy, something that only happens when bodies have been dead for a few days, yet the corpse looks fresh. Her wrist and ankle bones are shattered without any outward signs of injury and her tongue has been non-surgically removed.
They begin the internal examination as the radio they listen to starts to randomly switch channels by itself. When Tommy cuts her chest open, the corpse bleeds profusely, something that usually only happens to fresh corpses. Tommy attributes her abnormally small waist to the use of a corset, which were commonly worn by women in the past. Austin discovers that the blood he stored in the freezer strangely started to leak. Examination of her lungs reveals that they are severely blackened, which is consistent with someone who has suffered third-degree burns. Her internal organs reveal numerous cuts and scar tissue, likely from repeated stabbing.
Austin hears a sound outside the examination room and sees a standing figure in a mirror, but finds nothing once he turns around. He then discovers that the sound is coming from an airshaft; where he finds their cat, Stanley, badly hurt and bleeding in the vent. Tommy kills Stanley out of mercy and burns his body in the cremation furnace. Back in the examination room, they find Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) in Jane Doe's stomach, a paralyzing agent that, again, is only found in the north of the country. Austin hears over the radio about a strong storm coming and wants to leave. Tommy states that he will finish what he started, and Austin concurs.
Later, Tommy finds her missing tooth wrapped in a piece of cloth in her stomach. They find Roman numerals, letters, and a drawing on the cloth. When Tommy finally separates the skin on her chest from the body, they find similar symbols on the inside of her skin. All the lights in the room suddenly explode. During the confusion, they see that the storage chambers are empty, and that the three corpses inside them are missing. They decide to leave, but the elevator does not work and something is blocking the exit door. Tommy tries to call the sheriff using a landline, but the connection is disrupted. They hear a bell in the hallway, presumably from the movement of now living corpses, and the office door violently starts to bang, only to suddenly stop.
Austin says that everything is caused by the mysterious body. Tommy is attacked in the bathroom by an unseen figure. He has bruises on his body but only saw the attacker's grey eyes. They decide to burn Jane Doe's body in the cremation furnace, but the door to the autopsy room locks on its own, trapping them inside. Austin breaks a hole in it with an axe and, through the hole, sees one of the living corpses. They then choose to burn her in the examination room, but the fire spreads wildly and burns the camera that was recording the autopsy. They manage to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher, but the body is not burned at all. The elevator turns back on and they rush to get in; however, the door does not close completely. In the ensuing chaos, Tommy uses an axe to attack the living corpse that appeared to be chasing them, but it turns out to be Emma. Emma's death from the injury devastates Austin and leaves Tommy ridden with guilt.
Austin says that the corpse has been stopping them finding out the truth, and as they decide to go back into the examination room the cremation furnace produces smoke which makes them unable to see. Tommy is violently attacked in the smoke. However, they eventually make it into the examination room, and Austin opens her skull. The brain tissue cells turn out to still be active, to the surprise of both of them. Tommy deduces that some mysterious force is keeping her alive. Austin folds the piece of cloth and discovers the name of a passage from the Bible and that the Roman numerals read 1693. Tommy finds the corresponding passage in the Bible, Leviticus 20:27, that condemns witches. Austin concludes that she must be a witch who died during the Salem trials, since all of the evidence adds up. Tommy rebuts this by stating that those women were not actually witches, it was only a case of mass hysteria, and that her injuries are not similar to the methods used during the trials. He then says that probably the very things that were done to her made her a witch instead and that now she wants revenge. Tommy then sacrifices himself to the witch, in the hope that she will not harm Austin. The witch's body begins to heal as Tommy suffers the same horrific injuries she suffered. Austin is forced to kill his father in order to end his misery. The lights and radio promptly come back on. Austin hears the sheriff calling to him from outside the building, and runs up the stairs to meet him. The voice turns out to be another hallucination. Austin turns around to see his dead father standing next to him. Startled, he falls backward over the railing and dies from his injuries.
The police arrive the next morning. The radio announces the fourth sunny day in a row, indicating that the previous night's storm and all of the incidents only happened in Tommy and Austin's imagination, controlled by the witch. A police officer notices no signs of forced entry and is again confused by another inexplicable crime scene. The Jane Doe body is then transported to another county. The last glimpse of her reveals a twitch of her big toe, her very first movement, accompanied by the sound of a bell.

Tags: dark, cruelty, murder, paranormal, violence, sadist

Review:
And a simply wonderful throwback to the 1970s when horror was, well, horror -- and not based on gimmicks like "found footage" but rather genuine scene-setting, story building, audience engagement, and full-tilt creepiness.Probably destined to become a classic.Brian Cox is this generation's Donald Pleasence, that is to say, a character actor who could not give a bad performance if he tried yet is destined to never actually stand out in any single production because that is his style.Director André Øvredal is one of those rare finds -- an auteur with (so far) a small body of work who is producing better and better films.
From director André Øvredal (Trollhunter) comes one of the best horror movies of 2016, The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Suspenseful, clever and creepy from start to finish this horror movie follows the story of father and son (played by Brain Cox and Emile Hirsch), both coroners, as they experience unexplained and paranormal events while examining the body of an unidentified woman (played by Olwen Kelly).
Movie also features some fine acting, most notably from Brian Cox (no surprise there) There is not a single moment where I felt bored, tension is always present and creepy atmosphere makes it very enjoyable.
Since wishi washi pseudo horror films ala insidious and co dominate the genre at the moment i never expect much when watching a new entry.And much to my surprise Jane Doe is a REAL horror film in finest John Carpenter b-movie tradition.
Much of this is due to the moody music which probably made half the film!Sure there is the occasional i-already-know-whats-coming-next/ clichéd shock scene, but such sins are easily forgiven within seconds since the intense atmosphere of this film pulls the viewer back in mercilessly.If you appreciate classic oldschool flicks like John Carpenters 'The Fog', Jane Doe will not disappoint.
One particular moment in the film allows the actors to reflect and truly shine in their respected roles.André Øvredal (Trollhunter) directs this close quartered film with limited room for our actors to breathe once the tension unfolds - He makes great use of this tension by placing the camera in dark areas allowing us to truly feel the weight of the actors.Screenwriters Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing craft a smart and well paced story with a few false scares, and flat third act leaving us yearning for more.Overall, this is a movie that deserves and requires your time :).
This time, he opted for conventional filmmaking instead of the found-footage style he so deftly utilized in Trollhunter, giving us time to take in the brilliantly directed scenes which immediately thrusts the audience into the unsettling premise of a Jane Doe being autopsied by a father-and-son coroner duo.
But after seeing some good reviews here and there about it, i thought i'd give it a try and watch it with an open mind.Turns out to be one of the best horror films to come out this year (Along with Lights Out, Under The Shadow and Don't Breathe)Just consider that this movie is not for the faint heart at all as it contains very graphic scenes that aren't suitable for everyone, but the title says it anyway it's an Autopsy.What I liked the most about this film is that it has everything horror fans would like to see in a movie, it has very disturbing scenes, top- notch suspense , good scares , an atmosphere that will suck you in and a creepy enough story that'll probably keep you up at night thinking about dead bodiesThe film starts slow with the horror but it never keeps you bored, it's always interesting and you always wanna know how things will go, and as you watch you'll notice it's getting weirder and weirder and then you'll feel so uncomfortable watching it until you reach the top speed of the horror and then it will come to an end.The ending could've been better (thought its a bit cheesy) but it hasn't ruined the experience for me, it's still a good watch for fans of the genre.Conclusion: If you're a true horror fan you can't miss this one, pretty sure it has many in it that will give you some good scares..
First of all, I will say that this is not really a horror film to me ( in its entirety) but rather the first half and bit more is kind of a thriller / suspense movie and the last 20 minutes is a mild horror.But even if it is a real horror ( as many would say - though maybe my definition of horror is rather narrow as I can not be scared easily) it does bring something new.This is why I am rating this as an eight!That new element to the horror is what makes it good: a beauty, a dead beauty that looks like a doll outside but hell inside...
For this movie I will post my first review:The films in the horror genre have become monotonous and tiring of late.We are usually offered two types of horror films: the R rated ones with a lot of blood and gore which doesn't make it scary, it makes it gross and disgusting;or the PG-13 ones that can't show too much blood and gore so they will resort to bombarding the audience with jump scares, cheap thrills, and every predictable clichés you can think of borrowed from every other horror film ever made.Then you have the characters.
You will always have a group of superfluous paper thin characters in a horror movie which you know right from the beginning they are just there to get slashed, mutilated, beheaded, burned, cut up, sliced up, diced and killed a 1000 different ways.The Autopsy Of Jane Doe is different.
Atmospherically scary and tense and it's able to achieve that with only 3 main characters in the film, one of them a corpse.The story is simple: at a bloody and violent multiple murders crime scene, the police discover the body of a young woman half buried in the basement.They sent the body to the local funeral home and morgue for the father and son coroner to perform an autopsy on her and find the cause of her death.That's where the horror begins and to say more will be to give the movie away.I think the reason this movie works so well is because it's not a cookie cutter Hollywood production.It's a British production and the director is Norwegian, famous for the 2010 movie horror film Trolljegeren (Trollhunter).James Wan and James Wong!
This is how a scary horror movie should be!By the way, that's a real flesh and blood live actress that plays Jane Doe, not a mannequin, and she does a damn great job playing a corpse..
I've seen a lot of bad reviews on this film some even going to lengths to call it a "one star movie", i assume these people are just over-pretentious losers looking for an over-complicated plot.
It draws you in with great cinematography, good acting, and clever foreshadowing.personally im not usually a fan of the paranormal horror genre, but this film kept my interest and has been an exception.
The runtime is short.Pros: Grisly, graphic, and gory story, a great ending, the autopsy part of the film was great, amazing acting by Brain Cox, good overall acting, fast pacing, and a short runtimeCons: The story losses some power in the middle, Emile Hirsch was overpowered by Brain Cox in some scenes, and some parts of the story are left unansweredOverall Rating: 8.3P.S. This is a very good horror film.
Jane Doe is an excellent example that good horror movies are still being made.
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.
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.
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.
The autopsy of Jane Doe was a very good surprise : even if it is for sure a low budget movie, it is well acted, with a script finally different from the usual horror movies and...well it is as well scaring (at least a bit).
The autopsy of Jane DoeThe movie starts with the grisly discovery of a murder scene in a residential home which leaves the local sheriff wondering what happened as it appears that there's no sign of forced entry into the property but instead it appears the occupants were actually trying to escape..Next the body of a young woman is uncovered in the basement half buried but with no injuries at all.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is an interesting horror movie; it's a drama set in a morgue shared by a father and son working together on the same cases.
However, things take a turn for the worst when an unknown woman, whom they simply referred to as 'Jane Doe', is delivered to the morgue; and this corpse is unlike anything else they've ever seen before.For a horror movie that's come out against a back-drop including the likes of The Conjuring 1 & 2, The Cabin in the Woods and The Babadook, Jane Doe is surprisingly competent in spite of the occasional cliches that are in the movie: like a character going into a room, false alarm and then *boom* jump-scare.
Greetings from Lithuania."The Autopsy of Jane Doe" (2016) is a highly involving, scary, creepy and chilling horror / mystery movie.
Directing and script were very solid - at running time 1 20 min "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" never dragged and was perfectly paced.Overall, this is a very good and effective horror movie with some mystery.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is an indie horror movie that had it's debut at the Toronto Film Festival last year before supposedly coming out in December, even though on the movie release schedule is says it came out May 2nd.
Ovredal couldn't do a better job in these scenes and the original idea for a horror film and slowly building mystery of the thing does the rest.Taking place at a mortuary where an unidentified woman has been brought in, the father- son team of morticians played by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch work toward establishing cause of death but find a bunch of internal abnormalities, and that's before things really get weird.There's a lot here that fits into the horror clichés category- from the storm going on outside to the radio switching stations on it's own and the freezer and body drawers suddenly going on the fritz.
His brings practicality, good sense, touching regret and even more miraculously, keeps letting us take this all seriously, especially during the last half hour when the script turns to contrivance and cheesy B-movie material.Then there's Emile Hirsch, a promising young actorwhen not in Speed Racer, and I do feel he's underrated a lot of the time.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe. It's convenient not to know too much about The Autopsy of Jane Doe before watching it; I will just say that the film is based on a fascinating mystery, whose logical development takes us through unexpected roads which end up being more disturbing than any cliché of contemporary horror.
As for the autopsy scenes, they are undoubtedly raw and realistic, but they don't feel like the casual gore we usually see in horror cinema, but as a melancholic glimpse to the organic mechanism keeping us alive, and which we normally prefer to ignore; fortunately, Øvredal knows that what we do NOT see is more important (and more shocking) than any physical illusion created by special effects.
The film follows a father and son who work together in a morgue, after the body of an unidentified young woman is dropped off the pair begin an autopsy on her, but from the second they cut into her they start to discover strange things about the body and strange events start to occur.
The set up is quite good and the tensity of gets fairly high, but then things kind of just start to fizzle out mid way through, at this point the film is still entertaining but it just started to feel like another cliché ridden horror flick.
"The Autopsy Of Jane Doe" had a lot going for it, a good quality cast, a fresh concept, and what looked like a decent budget since nothing ever appeared cheap or poorly done in the film.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a great original horror movie with franchise potential..
these 2 horror movies are 2 of the best in the last decade in my opinion...i gave both movies 8 stars but...i had to turn on all the lights 1/2 way through "the autopsy of jane doe", yah..it creep me out that much.
but i also had a grin on my face big time too.2 great horrors but " the girl " didn't have the feeling of dread like " jane doe " even though it was a great movie also.
What kind of sick girl would want to see dead bodies?), up until the stupid bells attacked to the corpses ringing without any sense whatsoever (The rings weren't even synced to the footsteps, for real.)So anyways, I really loved the idea itself, and without giving too many spoilers, you will love the idea behind the story.This could have been an amazing film, if it wasn't for the director's intentions of making this into another horror flick that will make you start laughing by the end of the movie.I seriously wish the Japanese could make something like this, THEN it would be scary as hell.6/10 Watch it to pass the time, nothing else..
As they delve deeper and deeper, they discover a series of bizarre clues that point to a bone-chilling conclusion.In a genre saturated with mediocre movies, supernatural horror The Autopsy of Jane Doe stands out as a superbly crafted creepfest that delivers nerve-jangling shivers, while providing enough graphic gruesomeness for those who enjoy more visceral thrills.The film starts out as a fascinating study of a rather revolting vocation, as Tommy and Austin systematically dissect the 'Jane Doe' looking for answers, with director André Øvredal lovingly capturing every sloppy detail of the process.
Things start to get seriously creepy once the pair start to reveal the truth about the woman's past, all the evidence pointing to the unthinkable, the action ultimately entering the realms of the fantastic.Øvredal expertly cranks up the suspense, using his shadowy morgue setting to great effect, gradually introducing more and more unsettling elements guaranteed to leave the viewer with sweaty palms and on the edge of their seat (there's something about a reanimated corpse with its eyes and mouth sewn shut that really gets the heart a-pounding, although its the simple sound of a ringing bell that generates maximum tension).Best watched alone at night with the lights out and the doors open, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a good old-fashioned scary horror that rarely puts a foot wrong, and in these days, that's something to be celebrated..
Was not expecting it to be so good.This movie is silent but gruesome.It's about a father and son autopsy team that get a slab that makes ghostly things happen in the office.One of those bump in the night type stories, but it starts out this kinda crazy CSI like joint with Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox as father and son Tilden doing the family biz of cutting open dead bodies like they've been doing for three generations.
The son decides to stay and help the father on the autopsy.Well this one is different , is a good story, and creepy enough to keep you alert during all the movie.
Yeah the movie has a dozen obvious clichés other horrors have, but it also tried something different enough to set it apart.you'll know whats happening and what is about to happen before it does as all the 'strange' things start to happen, but the underlying story of who their Jane Doe is, is enough to keep you interested, and is different.
The Autopsy Of Jane Doe is the perfect example you don't need a ton of actors to make a good movie.
If you want to spend an hour and a half in a horror movie that actually turns out to be one of the best of it's year then this film is what you need!.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a definite must see for horror and movie fans looking to catch up on the best of what 2016 offered.
Overall, though it is not the best horror film, but there are certain elements in the movie that are so much strikingly novel and creepy.The corpse, the dead body and the eyes, and the sound when camera zooms the eyes really is a creepy thing.I did not like the ending though.
The Autopsy Of Jane Doe is a masterful little movie that asks its viewer to truly be immersed in its horror and atmosphere.