The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
January 6, 2019 11:16 AM - Subscribe

A father and son, both coroners, are pulled into a complex mystery while attempting to identify the body of a young woman, who was apparently harboring dark secrets.
posted by larrybob (18 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Saw on Netflix last night. Found it very creepy, at times to the point of covering my eyes. Surprised it’s not better known, consider the hype that some other recent horror and suspense films have received that aren’t as good. This one has great acting, script, cinematography, and effects.

Yes, a real woman, Olwyn Kenny, plays the corpse.
posted by larrybob at 11:21 AM on January 6, 2019 [1 favorite]


We saw this in the theater and had a great discussion afterwards about the idea of consent. How every inch of her body was mutilated in some way without her permission, and how she turned it back on her attackers every time.

And how the idea of women getting justice for patriarchal violations will always be the scariest plot imaginable for some viewers. That it was a nice touch seeing the multigenerational patriarchal representation in a father/son duo working in the mortuary together, and how they reacted differently once both understood what made this corpse so different.

Finally, the idea that some patriarchal values (especially around dead nude young women) are so deeply ingrained in us, it's truly shocking when their influence on us becomes obvious. I dunno, that's some Deep ThoughtsTM about the movie and all, but it was scary as shit too. The lighting and editing made my shoulders tense up like I was about to teleport right into the film and die screaming.

Loved it!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 2:49 PM on January 6, 2019 [8 favorites]


Unicorn on the cob, if you haven’t already, the Faculty of Horror podcast did a great episode on this film (and Witch): http://www.facultyofhorror.com/tag/the-autopsy-of-jane-doe/

They get into similar themes of conversation.

I like the core father/son relationship (Cox is always a pleasure to watch) and agree that this was criminally overlooked, though it was much loved by people into horror in the year it came out.
posted by slimepuppy at 3:00 PM on January 6, 2019 [4 favorites]


I was going to watch this, but a review talked about a cat getting killed, which is something that I’m not sure I want to see...
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:11 PM on January 6, 2019


Yep, after the cat scene, my husband said “all the cat people just turned it off.”

Thanks so much for the analysis, Unicorn on the cob!
posted by larrybob at 8:45 AM on January 7, 2019 [3 favorites]


Thanks, which is a pity, since this sounds very much like my jam, but I just can’t.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:39 PM on January 7, 2019


This is easily my favorite horror movie of that year, and I try and recommend it to everyone who will listen. It's so tense!
posted by graventy at 9:47 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Watched this last night and it was indeed very tense, with lots of good scares.

I also appreciated how thoughtful it was, including the coroners discussing why the dead woman didn't just kill them outright.
posted by mordax at 10:15 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Loved this movie, quite unique when it comes to horror, I need to see it again, would heartily recommend.

Not to get spoilery, but in retrospect it made a kind of sense that Emile Hirsch stars.
posted by ejs at 12:32 AM on January 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


ok this was a really great movie. I love horror but I am rarely frightened, and often bored, by many horror movies...not this one!!

It was creepy and atmospheric right out of the gate (the building alone...) built and maintained great tension, did not rely on jump scares but used a few to good effect. it felt sustained to me and the ending was not a disappointment. there were things I saw coming, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment.
posted by supermedusa at 12:56 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Well, this delightfully layered movie was not playing around! Thank you slimepuppy for linking to the amazing “Faculty of Horror” podcast on this film. After listening to that episode (which also discussed another great horror film, The VVitch) I gained an even deeper appreciation for actor Olwyn Kenny, who played Jane Doe/the corpse. Having to lie down on a cold metal slab for 8-10 plus hours of filing per day is quite the amazing physical feat.
posted by edithkeeler at 5:41 PM on December 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


I just watched this last night because I found out that André Øvredal directed an upcoming movie that's just that chapter of Dracula where he kills a bunch of guys on a ship, something I have always wished existed but figured would be impossible to make work.

Having seen this movie, I am now totally confident in his ability to pull off a Nautical Dracula movie.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:29 PM on August 12, 2022


I just watched this because it was on that Shudder show. I'd been skipping it for years because it sounded like one of those horror movies where they didn't have any money so they shot it all on one set, and nothing happens (sorry, Pontypool). But actually, it turned out to be great until they walked away from that set! The last act is just really dire, in my opinion, and shows that they had no idea how to land this thing...which is too bad, but hey.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:10 PM on September 28, 2022


This is a truly great looking film for the budget/genre. Just excellent cinematography.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:07 PM on February 17


Watched this last night and had mixed feels. Lots about it works perfectly well, and the gender tensions at the heart of it (see above) feel like a good entry in the line of "screw your patriarchy!" horror films. At the same time, the supernatural mechanics were lazy, at times nonsensical. There was no real explanation that made sense, and it fit within none of the standard framings for such movies. It wasn't in art film country at all, so a non-literal approach to the physical, which could have worked, doesn't fly. At the end of the day, it's a fun movie that felt like a horror grab bag. Not art, not "elevated" horror, but... "popcorn plus," or something like that.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:06 AM on February 23


I wouldn't necessarily disagree. It also had a pretty egregious "But this must mean they..." scene where our protagonists figure out something well into the realm of the fantastic with only a fraction of the clues in a way that seems more about the screenwriter needing to move on than the characters legitimately having worked something out.

But I found it a good watch all the same. Orvedal (sp?) is a good horror director.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:04 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]


Gotcha. I wanted to like this film more and think about it less! As it is, this seems for me to falling into that category of interesting not-fully-successful films that are more useful for discussion than seamless gems. I haven't read any scholarship or serious criticism about it, but I will be interested to see if anyone talks about it in the context of Trump and Obama, or about mid-2010s race and gender concerns. It feels to me like an awful lot of "white people doing things in underground Virginia bunkers involving inexplicable women" that... hmm.

Good point on the director, and I should catch more from him. I watched and enjoyed Troll Hunter, which I thought did exactly what it was intending to do, and very well. I have not yet seen The Last Voyage of the Demeter, but the average comment from friends and colleagues has been that it's not good, but it is interesting and has good bits. (Curious contrasting views on it about the race and gender elements, with some feeling it's interesting and fantastical, with others calling it leaden and tokenizing.)
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:57 AM on February 23


Demeter is slight misfire, yeah.

For this one, you have to do a bit of hand waving on the plot, but the acting was good, the atmosphere was great, the cinematography was sharp, and it had actual scares. Solid B in my book.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:37 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]


« Older Humans: All Episodes...   |  Gotham: Year Zero... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments

poster