The Autopsy of Jane Doe

It might be advisable not to watch this before or during TV-dinner… that said, you may not wish to watch this movie after dinner either… Yes, it’s a refreshing supernatural horror that could just as well work as a Grand Guignol-style stage play but those of an overtly squeamish nature might find themselves in shock over one too autopsy procedures – graphically executed for our ‘viewing pleasure’.

Local Sheriff Burke (Michael McElhatton) and his colleagues are left baffled when a sinister and bizarre homicide in an American small town leads to the discovery of an additional corpse buried in the basement: a young and naked woman who doesn’t bear any visible signs of violence on her body, nor does she seem to be connected to the other victims in the house. Burke concludes that it appears as if all the dead tried to get out of the house rather than a killer intruding the building - and decides to get the unidentified corpse to local mortician Tommy Tilden (Brian Cox) who, together with his son/assistant Austin (Emile Hirsch) usually delivers accurate and speedy reports. Because no one has any idea as to the identity of the mysterious corpse they refer to her as ‘Jane Doe’ – a name given to female corpses whose identity cannot be (immediately) established. Before Jane’s body arrives at the morgue we see father and son dissecting a heavily disfigured burns victim – fascinating for all those interested in anatomy and pathology but pretty gruesome for the more sensitive souls among us. However, worse (a lot worse in fact) is yet to come once pretty Jane Doe (Olwen Kelly) lies exposed on the slab. What begins as a routine autopsy soon turns into something very macabre indeed when Austin discovers that Jane’s eyes are grey and cloudy, indicating that the girl must have been dead for several days… but her body indicates that Austin and Tommy are dealing with a fresh corpse bleeding heavily when cut into the flesh. Also her ankles and wrist bones appear to be broken but no outward signs of injury can be detected. It gets weirder still when it transpires that her tongue has been crudely removed, and that’s just before our astonished morticians discover truly weird things INSIDE Jane’s body…

Meanwhile, Austin’s long suffering girlfriend Emma (Ophelia Lovibond) comes to visit Austin in the morgue, curious to take a peep at some of the corpses stored in the cooler room – a decision she soon regrets. Later that evening Austin once again promises her to stop working for his dad and find a ‘proper’ job instead, so he and Emma can move together and start a new life. In the light of unfolding events, however, he decides to assist his dad one more time before breaking the news to him that he wishes to quit. Meanwhile, Tommy discovers ever more bizarre artefacts inside Jane’s body, for example a tooth belonging to her wrapped inside a piece of cloth on which passages from the Bible and Roman numbers are scribbled. At the same time, the radio transmission keeps breaking up and instead a male voice warns of bad weather to come, while a female singer performs an old ditty about “letting sunshine into your life”. The lights and lamps in the autopsy room explode, and a sample of Jane’s extracted blood spills over in the fridge while the remaining corpses in the cooler storage go missing… Austin discovers family cat Stanley found badly wounded in an airshaft and with a heavy heart Tommy takes the animal out of its misery. Father and son rightly conclude that there is something very evil about the corpse of Jane Doe and decide to burn her but the only thing burning is the ceiling of the autopsy room. After Tommy manages to extinguish the flames he discovers to his horror that the body of Jane Doe has not been burnt at all! In utter disbelief he now takes samples from her brain tissue and is even more horrified to learn that the corpse seems very much alive, well, at least her brain is!
Yes, it’s high time to leave the building but suddenly the elevator is jammed and Tommy and Austin hear strange sounds from the hallway… Assuming the dead have come to live Tommy hacks into a what he thinks is a walking corpse but the figure turns out to be Emma who has returned to confront Austin as to why he hadn’t turned up for their promised date. Both men break down when they realise the fatal mistake but there isn’t much time to mourn the terrible and unfortunate death of Emma because by now, Jane Doe really lets rip… and I won’t be revealing the shocking secret nor if Tommy and Austin will make it out alive…

THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE is fantastically acted and despite the fact that for the most of the film’s running time we are talking a two-hander the tension never lets up for even one second! And yes, it is a very brave part for Olwen Kelly as the corpse from hell. Can you see Jane Doe 2 coming up? Well, I can…