Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch in The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Image via Umbrella Entertainment.
A coroner takes bodies apart to discover the cause of their demise; however, in making a movie about two men charged with that task, The Autopsy of Jane Doe prefers the opposite approach. The English-language debut of Trollhunter director André Øvredal may dismantle its titular unidentified female in gory detail, but it builds the suspense and mystery surrounding her death – and the frightening antics that follow when she’s placed on a mortuary slab – piece by piece.
Jane Doe (Olwen Catherine Kelly, TV’s Why Life Sucks When You’re in Your 20s) proves a source of intrigue from the moment she’s first found, dead and partially buried but looking as though she’s merely sleeping, in a Grantham, Virginia house alongside other known casualties. She’s then transported to the local morticians, where father-and-son duo Tommy (Brian Cox, Penny Dreadful) and Austen Tilden (Emile Hirsch, Vincent N Roxxy) set to work. The latter abandons a date with his girlfriend Emma (Ophelia Lovibond, Man Up) to lend a hand, but when a storm starts raging, noises go bump in the night and their internal examination reveals strange findings, he begins to regret his choice.
A creepy setting many people would feel wary setting foot in, a century-old building, a squirm-inducing profession, dead bodies aplenty, wild weather: working with a script by writers Ian B. Goldberg and Richard Naing (Dead of Summer), Øvredal’s third feature initially appears to paint by the numbers, and happily so. And yet, there’s unsettling thrills and pleasing genre joy to be found in watching The Autopsy of Jane Doe construct its atmosphere of unease from the usual parts in a controlled, confident, and clearly informed and adoring manner. From the lingering shots of the Tilden’s tools of the trade to the penchant for peering on from a clinical distance, and including the viscera-filled visuals and the frequently shadowy sights too, the film understands that the best scare-inducing efforts spring from simplicity, such as fears of death, frights from sudden noises and finding the characters in whatever happens to be their version of a nightmare.
Each remains tried and tested in eliciting a reaction – and they’re tried and tested for a reason, though little ever feels routine. It might be easy to predict where the narrative is headed, but the ability to surprise through storytelling is less pivotal than immersing the audience in the requisite mood. With the help of cinematographer Roman Osin (Labyrinth of Lies), editors Peter Gvozdas (Scream: The TV Series) and Patrick Larsgaard (an assistant on Kon-Tiki), and composers Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans (The OA), Øvredal masters several shades of anxiety, spanning the unease of warming to protagonists that are swiftly terrorised as well as the primal response to darkness, danger, claustrophobia and jump-inspiring moments that horror movies typically endeavour to cultivate. And, within what originally seems to be a male-dominated offering with a non-descript female victim, it twists expectations and layers in history and mythology to make a statement.
Here, the methods the film employs are straightforward, but the end result is entertainingly well put-together and engagingly restrained yet complex – the standard final-act theatrics notwithstanding. Aesthetic command and formal composure aside, it also benefits from stellar casting, with Cox and Hirsch infusing depth into their at-first comfortable, soon thoroughly discomforted father-son duo. Again, easily guessing their fate comes second to appreciating their rapport as they navigate tension-dripping surroundings, and as the two actors impart their roles with both naturalistic solemnity and cautious playfulness. Indeed, there’s much that proves expected in The Autopsy of Jane Doe, but just how successfully it utilises customary horror components to assemble an enjoyable, assured genre effort isn’t one of them.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Director: André Øvredal
UK, 2016, 99 mins
Release date: Event screenings around Australia from December 12
Distributor: Umbrella
Rated: MA
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