Of all the films I could have watched on Halloween, I chose
The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I watched it for the first time earlier this year and intended to write about it, but I got distracted with other films and life. So I wanted to refresh my memory and see if it was actually as good as I remembered. Let me tell you, it is. This film is now ten years old and it remains something of a sleeper, like a corpse on a table, just waiting for the cause of death TO BE DISCOVERED. So what's it all about? It stars Brian Cox (Tommy) and Emile Hirsch (Austin) as a father and son autopsy duo, master and apprentice. They are about to close up shop for the night, and Austin is going to go on a date, when the sheriff brings in Jane Doe. Jane is a body found at the scene of a multiple homicide with no apparent cause of death. The sheriff needs one tonight. Tommy goes back to work and Austin, the dutiful son, postpones his date to help his father. How could this be exciting or entertaining you ask? Maybe that's why I never watched it until recently, because it sounds like a drag. It's not. Far from dead. It's kind of like a Hitchcockian thriller, but make no mistake, this is a full on horror movie. The setting is a morgue in the basement of an old building on a stormy night - perfect. Cox and Hirsch are both fabulous in this. I was even more impressed with it on a second viewing. If you are looking for a fantastic horror thriller that just doesn't lay there dead, then check out
The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Catch it on streaming or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff.
