Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

The Autopsy of Jane Doe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson May 7, 2017

During its first half, The Autopsy of Jane Doe sets up to be a most effective and creepy little horror film to such a degree that it's disappointing it can't sustain that level for the rest of the picture. An audience favorite at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal's (TrollHunter) second feature opens in the bucolic town of Grantham, Virginia where a police unit is entering an abandoned house full of mass carnage. A grisly slaughter has taken place and as the camera roves downstairs, Sheriff Burke (Michael McElhatton) and his team uncover the gaunt but pristine nude body of a woman that they can't place within the scene of the crime. After the bodies are taken out, we are led into the underground lair of the Tilden Morgue & Crematorium. Coroner Tommy Tilden (Brian Cox) and his son Austin (Emile Hirsch), the Assistant Medical Technician, are conducting an autopsy on an incinerated corpse. Øvredal delivers a master class on autopsying analysis in this first section. In concert with cinematographer Roman Osin, the filmmakers examine in fine detail and excruciating minutiae the life of a coroner. Øvredal and Osin employ a variety of shots and angles of framing that establish the pro-filmic space of the morgue and the supine bodies on the slab. (For some odd reason, the scene with the charred body made me think of the scene in Jason Goes to Hell where the coroner examines the master slasher's severed body. But no, neither Tommy nor Austin take a bite out of the dead man's heart in this film!) Øvredal also introduces us to Austin's girlfriend, Emma (Ophelia Lovibond), who takes a surprising curiosity in peaking at one of the corpses. Austin is immediately apprehensive about opening one of the storage doors and lifting up the white sheet to reveal a deceased specimen but his father accommodates Emma's request. Austin has long-term aspirations to leave the morgue (perhaps start a life with Emma) and not follow in his father's footsteps.

As Austin and Emma are about to go out on a date, Burke comes with the late-night arrival of "Jane Doe," the mysterious figure found in the basement earlier. The sheriff notifies Tommy that the autopsy must be completed by morning so he can file his report. This spoils Austin's evening as he goes back to work with his father. Tommy and Austin discover several extraordinarily unusual things about Doe's body. She suffered wrist and ankle fractures yet there are no visible bruises or scars on the outside. Even more unusual are the burns inside of her that would go undetected if one takes a glimpse at her perfectly normal chest. The coroner also extracts a white cloth from within her containing an ancient symbol and the Roman numerals for a Bible verse. Also, strange happenings begin occurring in the morgue. A large retro radio box repeatedly plays the fifties pop song "Open Up Your Heart" by The Hamblens. The doors to the refrigeration units start popping out. Before father and son can get a handle on the predicament, the electricity in the building goes out.

Open up and say "ah" Jane Doe!

It is at the juncture in which Tommy and Austin try to seek outside help that I think The Autopsy of Jane Doe takes too many detours and succumbs to genre trappings. For example, there is the scene where they board the old-fashioned elevator and Tommy senses someone is there to attack them. Audiences have seen this red herring play out better in other films and the end result is neither convincing nor satisfying. Part of the blame goes to co-writers Ian B. Goldberg and Richard Naing, who craft dubious and highly questionable motives for their two protagonists. For instance, although Tommy initially recalls that part of Jane Doe's condition also occurred in someone else that he performed an autopsy, he realizes that her case is way outside he and his son's realm. Why didn't they call Sheriff Burke's office earlier to inquire about the availability of a CSI team that would be better trained to handle these exceptional cases? Øvredal needed to open up the story more. The director had a tight budget to work with and wanted to make the most of a confined, claustrophobic setting. However, some scene changes could have improved the story's fidelity while still retaining the supernatural elements. Moreover, there are underdeveloped relationships and subplots left hanging. Tommy recounts a solemn backstory to Austin about his late wife suffering from a form of manic depression but Øvredal tries unsuccessfully to connect it with the spiritual history of Jane Doe. The father/son dynamic is well-constructed for the first hour or so but then gets lost in the maelstrom of thriller clichés and plot conveniences.

Øvredal and Osin probably studied John Carpenter's use of off-screen space in The Fog (1980) and Prince of Darkness (1987). Indeed, there is a dark scene in a long hallway where there may be the walking dead and this will remind one of the roaming shipwrecked lepers in The Fog. But The Autopsy of Jane Doe is more derivative of Carpenter's works than it is a faithful homage to them. Aesthetically in design and composition Øvredal's film is analogous to Carpenter's underrated and superior The Ward (2010).

Despite these criticisms and shortcomings, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is still pretty good thanks to solid chemistry between Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch. Hirsch's off-screen troubles have been well-documented but when he finds a project suitable to his talents, he can be quite good as he is here. Cox is virtually flawless as the coroner. I can only wish that Goldberg and Naing had made the material seem as fresh in the second half as they do in the first.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Autopsy of Jane Doe arrives on US Blu-ray in a BD/DVD combo along with a slipcover courtesy of Shout! Factory's subsidiary, Scream Factory. Øvredal's movie appears in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1 which approximates the framing of its exhibition on the festival circuit. The label has given the main feature a MPEG-4 AVC-encoded transfer on a BD-25 with video streams that average 25981 kbps. The disc's total bitrate is encoded at 32.38 Mbps. The picture is free of blemishes and compression artifacts. The exteriors of The Autopsy of Jane Doe were shot during overcast days so brightness levels are kept to a minimum. Interiors within the Tilden Morgue & Crematorium are dark and low-lit except for the overhead lights that illuminate details on corpses, especially the alabaster skin on Jane Doe, whose portrayed by Olwen Kelly. Detail and clarity are very solid. Darker hues have a thick and dense texture.

Scream Factory has divided the feature into twelve scene selections.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream Factory has provided two uncompressed tracks on the Blu-ray: a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (2745 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1699 kbps, 24-bit). On the 5.1 mix, dialogue, music, and f/x during the first act is largely confined to the center and front channels (especially the right one). The surround channels open up once Tommy and Austin begin work on Jane Doe. Sound designer Christian Conrad and sound mixer Ian Maclagan deserve a lot of credit for creating a creepy and immersive soundscape within the morgue. Scream Factory's reproduction of the soundscape during dialogue scenes, however, tends to drown out the characters' words. Tommy's murmurings to Austin in the elevator, for example, are hard to make out. Spoken words could have been better amplified on the center channel. Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans's score is given supple treatment but the music sometimes overwhelms the characters' exchanges.

Scream Factory gives viewers the options for English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• TV Spots (1:04, 1080p) - two spots for The Autopsy of Jane Doe presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with DTS-HD MA 2.0 sound.

• Teasers (2:20, 1080p) - two teaser trailers presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with DTS-HD MA 2.0 sound.

• (2:12, 1080p) - official theatrical trailer for The Autopsy of Jane Doe presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with DTS-HD MA 2.0 sound.

• Bonus Trailers (5:37, 1080p) - trailers for other Shout/IFC Midnight productions, which play after the disc loads.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

After a strong first half, The Autopsy of Jane Doe loses its focus by relying too much on formulaic genre tropes. It's still a fairly solid film and fans of Cox and Hirsch will want to give it a look. We also recommend The Babadook and The Witch. Scream Factory delivers an excellent transfer but the audio encoding on the lossless 5.1 track could have been bolstered and also given a maxed out bitrate. The disc only has trailers and TV spots to offer in the way of extras. Give the movie a RENTAL first before considering a purchase.