The Autopsy of Jane DoeHit or miss horror entry. Featured a fine cast including a barely used Roose Bolton, Emile Hirsch and the underrated Brian Cox. Film also introduces Olwen Catherine Kelly as Jane Doe. More on her later.
Nude girl is found partially buried in a house where a couple of brutal murders are discovered. No ID, no obvious trauma, just dead in a hole. Sheriff transports her to the small town morgue where Cox and Hirsch are a father/son team running the funeral home/crematory.
Unraveling the mystery of what killed Jane Doe piece by autopsied piece leads to a morass of psychological terror that engulfs the pair. The major "terror" points come in figuring out what's actually happening and what's only occurring in their minds. The movie had a languid pace that was intended to slowly build tension and confusion until it reached the final act.
The mumbo jumbo is strong. There are some logical leaps that no sane person would make. "It's her, she's making us do this.." The final denouement is sort of idiotic -- as in what in the world did he think doing THAT would solve?
As was said to me when the movie was over... "I hate watching a movie that has some good ideas, and builds it up well but ends up not making any sense..." When you sit there after it's over and list ten or fifteen things that lacked sense or purpose? When you can't figure out the whys and wherefores? The movie clearly lost its way. Like why were the other bodies supposedly up and moving around? Did they move actually or are we supposed to assume that was all a mirage planted in the minds of the two. How did the murders where the body was discovered tie in? And how did those tattoos get there?
It did a good job of creating a puzzle as each discovery inside and outside the body was revealed. Neither of us had any idea what direction it would take as the pieces of the puzzle were laid out. Sort of disappointed in the way they figured it out (too convenient) -- and also disappointed in what/who Jane Doe supposedly turned out to be (sort of ridiculous, actually).
The one thing that was (unfortunately?) intriguing? Olwen C. Kelly. She played the dead girl and her entire performance in the movie involved lying completely still. With one last second minor exception, she never once moved. Never blinked. Never twitched. She just laid there on the table completely nude. For the entire movie. In every scene she was in.
Her stillness was such a part of the film that we actually looked it up after the fact.
http://www.clattoverata.com/2016/12/19/playing-dead-olwen-catherine-kelly-talks-autopsy-of-jane-doe/Six week shoot and she just lay there sometimes for eight hours or more a day. There was something impressive about it.
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