The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

Horror

Director: André Øvredal
Writers: Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Ophelia Lovibond, Michael McElhatton

"Every body has a secret."

An elegantly crafted indie horror set almost entirely in the confines of one morgue room.

Brian Cox (Red) and and Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Prince Avalanche) play a team of father-and-son coroners working in a gloomy basement morgue, tasked late one night with dissecting the body of an unidentified young woman mysteriously unearthed at the scene of an apparently unrelated multiple murder. The ensuing procedure turns up one bizarre finding after another.

Trollhunter director André Øvredal, in his first English language feature, does a great job at slowly and gradually building tension, mixing an old-fashioned ghost story with a forensic procedural thriller. Gruesome without being gory, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is one of those chillers that achieves real scares with a minimum of special effects.

Plot summary from IMDb: 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.

Awards: 4 wins & 1 nomination.
Runtime: 86 min
R