THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE: Doesn’t Live Up To Its Own Brilliant Premise

Sometimes an irresistible premise can be more of a curse than a pleasure. When you head into a film with a decent understanding of the narrative and the general direction it will take, a whole lot more expectations build up on top of that. We begin to craft scenes in our head, we start to toy with what we expect to happen. It allows us to create our own version of a great idea before watching the film that actually offered said idea in the first place – a great premise can be a dangerous thing.

And The Autopsy of Jane Doe has an absolute doozy of a premise. Father and son morticians Tommy and Austin Tilden (Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch) are forced to stay late one night examining the body of a woman. She was found buried in a house riddled with mutilated bodies, but she appears to be in pristine condition. As the autopsy progresses, though, Tommy and Austin start to discover even more abnormalities – scarring on her internal organs, the charred lungs of a third-degree burn victim, you don’t even want to know what they dig out of her stomach. Every answer poses a new question, and with every passing second, things start to get a little bit weirder in that examination room.

Close Quarters With A Corpse

For the most part Autopsy is a chamber piece, set predominantly inside one room and only expanding to other areas of the Tilden household. The film relies on atmosphere to get through its eerie first act, everything is slow paced, quiet and methodical – just like an autopsy. Austin’s unofficial “trainee” status works as a cheap but effective way to force Tommy to explain what he discovers so as not to alienate the viewer, a film tackling something as complicated as an autopsy needs to be wary of how much it assumes its audience knows and doesn’t know, but the balance is struck nicely.

Cox and Hirsch are terrific, too. Cox brings a heavy weight to the film, a wise and authoritative feel to the opening half especially. He comes across as a kind, old soul and someone we can feel safe around, yet the script hinds at something in Tommy’s past that he’s trying to repress. With this in mind, Cox is able to have some fun with the role – a few fake out jump scares early on are easily laughed off, but there’s something sinister about the way Cox plays them. Hirsch is given less depth to relish in, but he sells the escalating tension nicely. Austin is almost always the one to witness the spooky stuff taking place, and Hirsch handles these moments well – the pair form a believable father/son relationship.

Eye Rolls Rather Than Screams

It’s just a shame these escalating paranormal occurrences feel so mundane. Fake out jump scares come frequently in the first half, but whenever it isn’t Tommy at the helm they almost always fall flat. By the time dead bodies are reanimated and roaming the house, you’ll feel overwhelmed with a sense of familiarity – you just can’t shake the feeling that you’ve seen this all before. A frustratingly high number of the film’s scare tactics will be met with eye rolls rather than screams, and the script eventually loses any sense of subtlety in favour of an exposition heavy final act that is far too awkward to sell.

That said, there are a number of unsettling moments scattered throughout The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Cinematographer Roman Osin frames the titular body in endlessly fascinating ways, creating a handful of unnerving shots – the camera holds above the body, looking down on her as Tommy slices a blade through her naked body, opening her up.

The film almost hints at sexualising the Jane Doe, but wisely never overplays this idea – it would be unwelcome if ever fully brought up in the script. There’s also a nice touch early in the film where, through a series of cuts, we finally see that the examination room (and, in that, the corpses) are actually a part of Tommy’s home – just like the body at the centre of everything, something homely has a far more sinister environment hidden inside.

Well Crafted, But Lacking

It’s impossible to deny how well crafted The Autopsy of Jane Doe is. The film has a real sense of atmosphere for most of its lean 83 minutes and every twist and turn is believable. The performances are strong all round, an element so vital to the horror genre but one we so rarely get to praise. Indie horror can frequently come across as amateurish, but director André Øvredal is above and beyond this – in only his second major release, he demonstrates a clear talent for this kind of film making. The film we have before us is solidly made, that can’t be argued, but there just isn’t enough to chew on.

It’s a real shame Autopsy‘s script doesn’t have enough ideas for Øvredal to play with. The film’s premise is jaw-droppingly exciting, but it soon gives way to ticking off every horror cliche in the book and it’s tough not to feel disappointed by it all. Going back to the opening paragraph, when you know of The Autopsy of Jane Doe‘s premise, you can’t help but feel thrilled by it – “Yes!” I thought, “Another original, exciting horror film to sink my teeth into!”. Ultimately, despite its impressive craft, the film doesn’t break out of conventional and tired horror tactics effectively enough to live up to its irresistible premise.

What do you think? Does The Autopsy of Jane Doe suffer from such a compelling core premise, or did it live up to that for you? Tell us in the comments below!

The Autopsy of Jane Doe opened in the UK on EST on 19th June and on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD on 26th June.