Cast overview: | |||
Emile Hirsch | ... |
Austin Tilden
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Brian Cox | ... |
Tommy Tilden
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Ophelia Lovibond | ... |
Emma
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Michael McElhatton | ... |
Sheriff Sheldon
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Olwen Catherine Kelly | ... |
Jane Doe
(as Olwen Kelly)
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Parker Sawyers | ... |
Officer Cole
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Jane Perry | ... |
Lieutenant Wade
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Cox and Hirsch play father and son coroners who receive a mysterious homicide victim with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to identify the beautiful young "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.
Not for the squeamish. Wanna make sure this is RESOLUTELY understood now. I said, not, not, not, NOT! for the squeamish! Oh, boy howdy, can I tell ya? This father and son coroner tandem pull everything out of this mysteriously well-preserved and curiously comely cadaver but the proverbial kitchen sink! And in so doing these guys leave NOTHING to the imagination. Eeeeeeeewwwwwww!!!!
As for the rest of the new film "The Autopsy of Jane Doe", I'm going' a notch above standard supernatural demonic horror fare with my assessment on this one, based pretty much solely on the caliber of acting we get here. Brian Cox is a natural treasure among the pantheon of rock solid dependable veteran actors. The venerable old pro certainly does not disappoint as Tommy Tilden, even when the massively chaotic circumstances around him start to go a bit, hell, a LOT, around the bend. And Emile Hirsch (so superb in one of my favorites, 2007's "Into the Wild") is an abundantly worthy foil to Cox's anchoring performance as Austin Tilden, a kid who does all he can to save the only parent he's got left from the ghastly forces neither one of these men can even begin to comprehend.
If I have a bitch about "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" it is with the lighting in an inordinate number of the scenes. Granted the story takes place primarily in an underground morgue so naturally it is gonna be pretty dang dim. However, far too often it is nearly impossible to tell what is happening because what is being presented to us is so pervasively dark and indistinguishable. But I probably should give Director André Øvredal (the wonderfully weird Norwegian fantasy/horror trip-out "Trollhunter") and Cinematographer Roman Osin (2005's "Pride & Prejudice") a bit of a break in this regard when I pause to consider it. After all, it does serve to underscore the driving message that these two ill-fated fellows in "Autopsy" couldn't process what in the (nether)world was going on most of the time, either.