Autopsy

"Autopsy" is a really strange movie that takes pretty obvious elements from other movies but still manages to have some identify. The movie starts with some bad clichés, like a car full of kids having a crash and standing around the scene like in "I know what you did last summer", but then the movie turns and they get taken to a creepy hospital with some strange docs and nurses where they get counted down in a "Crazy doc needs living patients in sick experiments to keep is beloved wife alive" plot. The movie is carried from the strange suspense of an abandoned hospital with crazy lit endless floors (the visuals are pretty different from your average horror/slasher movie) and the crazy hospital staff that mixes utter weirdness with black humor and some rather disturbing elements. Its often hard to tell if "Autopsy" takes itself serious because it stumbles from comedic strangeness to extreme violence and grossness in a second. Scenes like the head bashing remind of Irreversible in their rawness and there was really times I wonder "WTF was that supposed to mean" up to the strange ending. To keep it short... "Autopsy" has many things going for it in the shock and visual department as well in strange characters. Problem is that these elements appear very disjointed in the plot and are pretty much leading nowhere. The movie is often described as a comedy which made me expect something like "Brain Dead" but where "Braindead" clearly doesn't take itself serious "Autopsy" comes across dead serious more often than it makes you smile (and you won't smile if your humor is not pitch-black, believe me), so don't expect a comedy here.

This deserves a much higher score than it currently has, 5/10 is a joke! Horror comes in many guises and as long as you head into this with thoughts of, for example Re-Animator or Society (I.e Body horror), then you should have a blast. From a presentation point of view the colour scheme is top notch. The use of coloured lighting is very much inspired by the great Dario Argento, when Dario was a true master of the craft think Suspiria, Cat o' Nine tales etc. The lighting is truly stunning with red & green bathing many scenes giving a dream like quality. A weird thing I found about Autopsy is the truly strange 1990s Canadian horror vibe it gives off. I persistently felt like I was watching a film from that era filmed in Canada like Hemaglobin or Habitat. Can't put my finger on why this is but I remember the same vibe coming over me on my 1st viewing quite a few years back. As others have said Autopsy plays out like a mad scientist horror with loads of believable practical effect gore, top notch acting and superb atmosphere. And who doesn't love a hospital based horror film especially in a facility that is abandoned and filled with lunatics. I've watched this twice now, once 5 to 10 years ago and again tonight and my score of 8/10 still stands, solid old school vibes in a nasty modern setting.

For some reason I was really looking forward to this movie - the description, the poster, something just made it good. And I may be a bit harsh because I felt let down. It had some good parts, and gore if you like that.

The plot, pretty basic, reminded me of Night of the Dead: Leben Tod for the most part. It is pretty straight-forward and predictable, and I think about 3 good jump scenes. I was worried at first with the Mardi Gras footage that it was going to be another "handheld" style, but that was just for the credits thankfully.

A couple of rewrites could have made this work a lot better. The main problem is you really don't care. You don't care about the kids, you don't care why the bad guys are doing anything - there is just nothing. Robert Patrick's Doctor could have had some real depth to him if they tried. The nurse is so stereotypical it's not worth it. The lead actress did deliver a good scene, but that was an exception to the script.

All in all, it had some memorable moments for those into the Saw/Hostel style gore, but mostly it was forgettable.

All that I knew about "Autopsy" when I sat down to watch it was that it was a horror movie and that it involved a hospital setting, and that was it. So it was my love for the horror genre that called me to the movie.

"Autopsy" is by no means a milestone in the horror genre in any possible way. In fact, it is a very mediocre and monotone movie. It is entertaining enough for what it turned out to be, just don't expect anything breathtaking or spectacular.

The storyline is also a fairly generic one, revolving around the horrible and macabre events in an old hospital. Yep, it is one of those types of movies. So don't expect an innovating storyline. It should be said that the storyline is adequately paced, although it is very linear and generic, and thus also quite predictable.

Now, the acting in the movie is adequate, taking into consideration what kind of movie it is, its budget and the genre. However, there were some casting choices which does raise some questions as to why they opted for those individuals. A matter of personal preference, of course.

As for the horror factor of the movie, well it is a diminutive one at best. There are no shocks, no thrills, no scares and such throughout the course of the movie. Which left me with a very mediocre feeling once the movie had run its course and came to an end.

If you enjoy horror movies that take place in a hospital setting, then there are some more impressive movies available, and so much more entertaining movies for sure. I managed to sit through "Autopsy" to the very end, but I can with all honesty say that this is not a movie that I will be watching a second time.

I literally watched this on a rainy afternoon with my cat. We didn't really expect much since this is one of those After Dark Horrorfest movies (which are usually pretty lame), but this wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it while it was on, but I know I will soon forget I even watched it. My cat wasn't very impressed, though. That might just be because he's a cat. Who knows.