Pathology

Plot synopsis:
The intro shows a camera recording faces of corpses, with their mouths being moved by medical students.
Med school student Teddy Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) graduates top of his class from Harvard and joins one of the nation’s most prestigious pathology programs. There, a rivalry develops between a group of interns and Teddy. They invite him into their group, which entertains itself with a secret after-hours game at the morgue of who can commit the perfect undetectable murder. Eventually the group's leader, Jake Gallo, realizes that Teddy is sleeping with his girlfriend, Dr. Juliette Bath. When Teddy catches several members of the group in lies, he realizes that what initially seemed like vigilante killings are, in actuality, just innocent people murdered for sport.
Teddy's fiancée Gwen arrives to stay with him in his apartment. Gallo, angered by Juliette's infidelity, kills her for the next game. However, just as they are about to begin the autopsy on Bath (in the meantime plotting Teddy's death), Gallo realizes that the gas has been left on in the room, resulting in a massive explosion as one of the group lights a meth pipe, killing everyone but Teddy who was not in the room. Gallo realizes what is about to happen and survives. Teddy is seen walking away from the explosion.
Later, Gallo manages to kill Gwen in what he believes to be the "perfect murder". Upon completing his autopsy report on his murdered fiancée, Teddy is knocked out by Gallo and then is forced to trade verbal barbs with him. Teddy uses some of Gallo's own rhetoric against him in reverse psychology fashion, after which fellow pathologist Ben Stravinsky frees Teddy and together they kill Gallo in exactly the same way that he killed Teddy's fiancée. In the process, they vivisect Gallo.

Tags: dark, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
My final impressions were of the solid performances of the cast and how the film was able to accomplish making the outrageous and often twisted ways of its characters seem both natural and plausible given the context of the story.
This could be the result of scenes being cut from the movie, but this didn't bother me at all.Simply put, this movie was fun.The cast led by Milo Ventimiglia as Grey and Michael Weston as Gallo are all good.
On the surface PATHOLOGY seems like a fun, silly, popcorn movie (from the writers of CRANK) in the vein of FLATLINERS or ANATOMY  however, excellent direction, great photography, and solid performances really elevate this little horror/thriller and make it so much better than I (and I'm assume you) could expect.
You see: PATHOLOGY is kind of immoral, mean spirited, filled with sex, and features some great medical based gore  my (and I'm assuming your) kind of movie  but certainly not an easy sell.
I went to see this movie without any prior expectations (I hadn't seen the trailer).After a slow start the plot progressed steadily and managed to hold my attention despite Milo Ventimiglia's "smell the fart" acting.
(At the very least, it makes great late-night TV fanfare.) Though you should be warned, the graphic autopsy sequences and disturbing subject matter may turn off some viewers not yet accustomed to extreme violence and gore and drug-induced, abhorrent sexual behavior.Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia, of television's "Heroes") graduates at the top of his medical school class and soon finds himself enrolled at one of the nation's top pathology programs.
Ted is eventually seduced into the joining the group and participating in their shadowy extracurricular activities, but eventually comes to realize just how high the stakes really are and the extreme measures he must take to stay one step ahead of their game to keep from being their next victim.Pathology, in case you don't know, is the "the science or the study of the origin, nature, and course of diseases" (source: Dictionary.com).
So of course, such studies are taken to an illogical extreme in "Pathology," which is a rather worthwhile late-night medical thriller.You shouldn't look for any Oscar-winning performances here, but the movie's shining light does just happen to be Milo Ventimiglia.
He is no longer a pretty boy here, but is instead a dangerous, morally gray anti-hero who realizes how high the stakes really are and what he must do to survive."Pathology" is an all right thriller for the late-night movie crowd.
its disturbing shocking annoying its making you think of things that you never have,a dark side of human nature,the story is great actors great direction great twists unique dialogues ausome.after seeing a lot and i mean a lot of movies of this kind i can insure you that this one is excellent,surprising brilliant i do not understand why people here do not get it,or maybe i do they have absolutely no clue about cinema thats why.
When Gwen decides to move to Ted's apartment, he decides to leave the group, but he finds resistance."Patholog" is so imbecilic and absurd that becomes funny; unfortunately the intention of the writers and the director is not a black-humor movie, but a suspenseful thriller with elements of horror.
I did not expect Pathology with big expectations.But,when I finished watching this movie,I was surprised because I did not expect to like this movie pretty much.This is not a great horror film but it is a very competent film and clearly superior to the average from the horror genre.The main premise behind this movie (doctors who kill their patients for entertainment) is excellent and pretty original.The screenplay developed that premise pretty well.The scenes of violence are very well done.In this movie,the violence is shown on a brutal,cold and tremendously cruel way.In other words,the violence feels extremely real and there were moments in which it truly disturbed me,something that does not usually happen to me.Director Marc Schoelermann obtained a very good atmosphere.The fails I found on this movie are two.For one sight,Milo Ventimiglia did not fit with his character too well.I think it was needed an actor with more intensity for his role.And,for the other sight,some elements from the screenplay are very forced.But,in spite of that,I liked Pathology pretty much.It is not an excellent horror movie but it kept me a little bit disturbed and very entertained.I think this film deserves a recommendation,at least you are a sensitive person..
While the movie is definitely not for children, nor for those adverse to blood/gore, nor for those disturbed by scenes of kinky sex; for the rest of us this is an entertaining movie with lots of morbidly amusing moments.After a freakish opening scene Alyssa Milano kicks off the movie moaning "F*$% Me..." The story then quickly progresses to the mortuary where several morbid scenes of pathologists ripping open bodies while cracking jokes and playing with body parts occurs.
Alyssa Milano also provides nice backdrop as Gwen, Ted's sweet-natured long-distance girlfriend.This film is NOT for the light-hearted as it frequently shows autopsies, dissections and violence, as well as a few somewhat graphic sex scenes.
The fast-paced build up of the film works perfectly with the final few scenes which play out slowly to emphasise Ted's heartbreak.Overall, this movie leaves you a little confused, somewhat disturbed but mostly, you get the feeling you just watched a damn good film..
Milo Ventimiglia plays Ted Grey, a cocksure young doctor who joins a group of brilliant medical students at a university path lab where he immediately locks horns with the equally arrogant Doctor Jake Gallo (Michael Weston).
Grey soon proves his mettle in the autopsy room, successfully pinpointing the cause of several mysterious deaths; impressed by the newcomer, Gallo and his lackeys invite Ted to join them in their twisted extra-curricular activities, which include playing a sick game that sees each player takes it in turn to murder a low-life so that the others can figure out how they died.Pathology could be one of the most preposterous horrors I have seen, but although any sign of plausibility flat-lines early on, I have to admire the film for its extreme sense of perversity; with a cast headed by Ventimiglia of TV Series Heroes, I fully expected this to be a teen friendly piece of crud, but it actually turns out to be a surprisingly sick puppy!Written by the guys who gave us outrageous actioner Crank, this movie is absolutely demented from start to finish: between the opening credit sequence (the disrespectful treatment of a pair of stiffs by the 'psycho-paths') and the very gruesome ending, we witness a visit by Ted and Jake to a knocking shop (where the proprietor is pimping his own grandmother), crack fuelled orgies amidst autopsy patients, S&M sex between Jake and his sexy girlfriend Juliette Bath (Lauren Lee Smith), more sex between Ted and Jake's sexy girlfriend, lots of grim, gory and gross goings-on in the path lab, plus we also hear Alyssa Milano talk dirty and get to see her dirty pillows!I don't care how asinine a film's plot gets, with that level of deviancy going on (and Alyssa's boobs), you can colour me entertained!.
The fact I'm even mentioning that is surprising to me, because, as I said, acting never really makes much of an impact on me unless it's stunning or putrid.As far as the gore everyone is talking about: sadly, for a desensitized horror fan like me, it's just average if not a little below average.
The "true nature of man is to kill" pessimistic view of humanity is a very tired, boring subject that gets used in so many movies it makes me want to shoot my ears out every time I hear it, yet Pathology pulled it off.
Those who believe his acting to be wooden in Heroes will be interested to see how his character of Ted Grey is portrayed as a blank, vacant anti-hero which works well being played by a good but not particularly memorable actor.Whether I am simply desensitised by all the gore of recent scarefests or it simply wasn't as gruesome as others have made out I don't quite know but I think the amount blood and flesh on show was the right amount for a bloody thriller set in a pathology lab.The main problem I have with this film is the believability of the characters.
I think Pathology is a good movie, I enjoyed watching it even though the plot is really sick.
Just like life though nobody is perfect and to protect a way of life or an image some will go to extreme lengths."Pathology" is not a good movie but it has a bunch of sexy people doing sexy things with a dash of gore.
Pathology has an intriguing concept: can you commit the perfect murder?When an exceptional medical student, Ted Grey, and a seemingly good guy joins a prestigious Pathology team this is exactly what he finds out a group of them do.
Ted, the 'hero' of the story, has no character development, no motivation; he starts off being a loving fiancée and the type who didn't seem interested in his other bonehead colleagues, and yet he is won over by one beer and suddenly he is doing drugs, killing people and sleeping with the enemies girlfriend!
If you keep track of any medical dramas such as House, you're not in for much of a surprise as it isn't much gorier than any of the shows surgeries (until possibly the end, but by this time it's too late and too ridiculous!) It's a shame though as it had two promising leads: Milo Ventimiglia of "Heroes" as Ted Grey and Michael Western, who has appeared in a few high-regarded TV shows, as his enemy Jake Gallo.
Sure, it was a tired formula, but they injected a touch of new blood and came out with a movie that while not great, still ended up being memorable, if only for the totally wacky, psychopathic, charismatic bad ass Jason Statham becomes within minutes of the film beginning.So after hearing of Pathology, I became rather intrigued by the near plethora of ideas these two could have used in their writing (as they were not directing this film too).
But sadly, it looks like lightening does not strike twice.Dr. Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) is a well established student, living the good life, and getting ready to be married to the very beautiful and well off Gwen Williamson (Alyssa Milano).
It seems that they play a game, where they kill someone, and then bring him for the rest of the group attempts to guess how.I really wanted to like this movie.
Yes, there are gratuitous sex scenes and unnecessary gore, but the film explores some interesting themes, primarily the danger of genius.Dr. Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) is a young, hot-shot medic, arriving in Washington DC from being top of his class at Harvard.
Of course Grey eventually grows disillusioned by Gallo and his cronies, which in turn causes his girlfriend (Alyssa Milano) to become the damsel in distress.While Pathology relies a little too heavily on the disgusting murders and sexual scenes, Weston's performance as the crazy genius does raise some relevant questions: How do very intelligent people respond to monotony in their lives?
From the West with the latest Saw installment or the indie Unrest, to the Asian counterpart in Body #19, dead bodies/cadavers continue to be milked for cinematic horror, not that you'd expect them to turn into zombies and start craving for human flesh, but for the amount of gore that an autopsy can provide when it's shown in your face, with skin and fat pulled back using tools of the trade, coupled with internal organs on display to challenge your stomach.Pathology provides a narrative reason, using forensic science in allowing bodies to be piled on screen for the working pleasure of pathologists in training to hone their craft in determining causes of death.
Besides involving some one-upmanship amongst themselves in proving their worth in class, something also seemed to be brewing beyond the confines of the classroom, and geek pride coupled with loneliness away from fiancée Gwen Williamson (Alyssa Milano) makes Ted vulnerable to the seduction of power play from chief rival Jake (Michael Weston) and from the opposite sex courtesy of Juliette Bath (Lauren Lee Smith of Lie with Me fame).Now from the onset, I thought this would be your usual frat-boy falling into the doldrums and then crawling his way back up again kind of story.
All this while, the cops have no idea what's going on, but that's only because of the lack of a cast member playing characters upholding the law.It was interesting though to follow Ted's fall from grace and succumbing into the world of sex, drugs, and the thrill of putting their medical knowledge to use in becoming murderers.
This is not the same kind of film, If you like one you'll hate the other.The story goes that Pathologist Ted Grey is brought into a secret society who all believe that there should be more dead bodies and less human beings.
Only by murdering in a fashion that the other pathologists cannot detect allows you to win this sick and twisted game.Pathology isn't afraid to play dirty stealing ideas from torture porn such as Saw and Hostel but one thing it does bring to the table is morality.
Without tension or climax to excite us, full of graphic sex scenes (like an amateur porn movie of high level), very laughable at times (the hero drinks a beer and this is the beginning of killings, drugs etc.), a pointless, predictable and annoying gore rubbish.
The script is awful, the story itself is eh, the music is pretty good but I don't know if it was appropriate or not for this genre as I rarely (if ever) watch movies in the horror/suspense/thriller/slight porn genre.
The acting was mostly horrible, except the two main characters.Milo Ventimiglia is a great lead actor in this film, who plays a doctor (forensic pathologist) who is manipulated/conned into becoming a part of a series of crimes involving drugs, sex, and other such things.
He played the crazy druggie doctor who gets Milo into this mess in the first place.The highlights of the movie is watching Milo Ventimiglia in a role other than Peter "The Keanu Reeves of Heroes" Petrelli, seeing Alyssa Milano's boobs (not really my style), and laughing at the script.
The rest of the film is a bunch of forgettable actors playing one- dimensional characters, in this case resident doctors in pathology who are involved in a murder game.
Obviously this group has a god complex and a serious lack of morals, not to mention completely ignoring the Hypocratic Oath.Milo Ventimiglia, from the TV series "Heros" plays the lead character Ted Grey, a promising medical student that seems to be at the top of his class.
In fact all the actors in this movie were pretty good, but at times I felt the script lacked a little depth of character.
Then it smoothly descends into something more disturbing still - a comment on the arrogance of doctors and the living in general.The acting here really is pretty good, especially from Michael Weston and it has to be to make any of these totally repellent, morally void human beings(or morally hypocritical in the case of Ted) charming or likableIt succeeds in that I was carried along by the film but by the end I felt a bit dirty.There is just little light or moral centre in this film and whilst that isn't necessarily a drawback, in the sense that the characters seemed a little bit more real in this than they might have otherwise it makes the whole experience heavy going because there is no one at all to root for..
In the beginning i was like "Hey man, this could really be a good movie" A group of pathology students with some nasty thoughts!
This further strengthens the argument that the quality of TV shows has greatly increased since the 2000's, with people who can actually act taking the main roles.Pathology was one of the best thrillers I've ever seen and it's well worth your time if you're a lover of the horror genre or just plain interested in medical proceedings.
About the views of guilt, and why they play this game.I do not genre it a horror film, except the last scene which I think was the perfect part and frame of the movie.
A major character emerges we aren't aware will have such an impact until the very end, Grey's friend, student, Ben Stravinsky(Keir O'Donnell), often the object of ridicule thanks to Gallo and his clan's bullying ways.I think what ultimately makes PATHOLOGY work is the fact that who better to be the perfect serial killers than forensic pathologists who understand the human anatomy so well.
"Pathology" is indeed a nightmarish excursion into the dark side of medicine.Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) is a brilliant doctor starting his job as a pathologist (someone who performs autopsies, in case you didn't know) at a renowned hospital in D.C. His first few days don't go well.
Supposing pathology studies are at least something similar, I don't think these people have time for extra-curricular activities like drinking and adultery, let alone the carefully planning, executing and solving of perfect murders.Oh well, a certain absence of logic and reason is forgivable in a horror movie, I guess, especially when most of the other crucial aspects are above the average quality level.
So, Milo Ventimiglia's character, Ted Grey, a brilliant doctor gets a job at the morgue, under the supervision of Dr. Jake Gallo (Michael Weston).Although he has no real reason to, Dr. Grey quickly enters this obscure group that tries to commit the perfect murder.