A woman's body is discovered in the cellar of a house where a crime scene has occurred. Unlike the other two victims, the third body seems unrelated to the scene—she is unidentifiable, undamaged, and half-buried...but is it possible the other victims died because they discovered her?
Later, coroners Tommy Tilden and his son Austin examine the Jane Doe corpse. The details they discover about the body seem to be impossible, particularly with one glaring fact that lingers over the entire autopsy—for the things they've found to have happened to her internally, Jane should look far, far more injured and dead than she does. Things get worse when haunting-style events occur. The Jane Doe doesn't seem too keen on being autopsied, and she's willing to trap the coroners and raise the other bodies to stop them.
The center of the film is an autopsy and a question, and I like that that's truly the bulk of the film—a procedural mystery depicted with the ring of authenticity. It's not really much of a character drama or even an artistic metaphor. It's just one of those films that's a compelling spooky scenario that exists for an interesting ride. There are a few notes of character as pertains to Jane—there's a bit of a theme about listening to women and noticing their pain, and the word "sunshine" appears a lot in a mocking fashion, as if to illustrate an idea of a veneer of calm that has to be probed and cut through to find somebody's issues (Jane is a perfect corpse with a whole lot of messed-up shit under the skin). Still, the majority of the story is devoted to autopsy and hauntings in a good mix. The ultimate revelation of the story was a pleasant surprise because it was a wild answer totally apart from the wild answers I was already brewing in my head.
There are some startles I didn't love, but I was impressed by the autopsy scenes. While the conceptual horror is built on the familiar, it's not cliche. During the narrative, Jane herself never springs to life, speaks, teleports, or even makes subtle movements, which would be the first impulses of a less interesting film. The movie knows Jane doesn't need to move to anchor the film around her and be an active supernatural presence. She's also played by an actor the whole time, and it's truly impressive. Olwen Kelly deserves laurels for portraying a wholly inert autopsied corpse entirely convincingly all the way through, while still being a dynamic screen presence. I've heard CGI augmented her presence to some degree, but it clearly didn't have to do much of the work.
This is a fun horror scenario with intriguing twists on spooky morgues and malicious spirits, and offers a strong direct focus on the scares and mystery it promises.
Film A film that knows how to give what you want.
A woman's body is discovered in the cellar of a house where a crime scene has occurred. Unlike the other two victims, the third body seems unrelated to the scene—she is unidentifiable, undamaged, and half-buried...but is it possible the other victims died because they discovered her?
Later, coroners Tommy Tilden and his son Austin examine the Jane Doe corpse. The details they discover about the body seem to be impossible, particularly with one glaring fact that lingers over the entire autopsy—for the things they've found to have happened to her internally, Jane should look far, far more injured and dead than she does. Things get worse when haunting-style events occur. The Jane Doe doesn't seem too keen on being autopsied, and she's willing to trap the coroners and raise the other bodies to stop them.
The center of the film is an autopsy and a question, and I like that that's truly the bulk of the film—a procedural mystery depicted with the ring of authenticity. It's not really much of a character drama or even an artistic metaphor. It's just one of those films that's a compelling spooky scenario that exists for an interesting ride. There are a few notes of character as pertains to Jane—there's a bit of a theme about listening to women and noticing their pain, and the word "sunshine" appears a lot in a mocking fashion, as if to illustrate an idea of a veneer of calm that has to be probed and cut through to find somebody's issues (Jane is a perfect corpse with a whole lot of messed-up shit under the skin). Still, the majority of the story is devoted to autopsy and hauntings in a good mix. The ultimate revelation of the story was a pleasant surprise because it was a wild answer totally apart from the wild answers I was already brewing in my head.
There are some startles I didn't love, but I was impressed by the autopsy scenes. While the conceptual horror is built on the familiar, it's not cliche. During the narrative, Jane herself never springs to life, speaks, teleports, or even makes subtle movements, which would be the first impulses of a less interesting film. The movie knows Jane doesn't need to move to anchor the film around her and be an active supernatural presence. She's also played by an actor the whole time, and it's truly impressive. Olwen Kelly deserves laurels for portraying a wholly inert autopsied corpse entirely convincingly all the way through, while still being a dynamic screen presence. I've heard CGI augmented her presence to some degree, but it clearly didn't have to do much of the work.
This is a fun horror scenario with intriguing twists on spooky morgues and malicious spirits, and offers a strong direct focus on the scares and mystery it promises.