Unsettling ‘Autopsy of Jane Doe’ is a horror masterpiece – St. George Daily Spectrum

I enjoy reviewing the tentpole movies the big-budget blockbusters everyone goes to see and everyone talks about for weeks afterward.

But every now and then, it's fun to explore the films that flew under the radar and perhaps didn't get the attention they deserved while they were in theaters.

For whatever reason, some very well-made movies don't get wide theatrical releases, showing only in art houses or in the biggest cities across America. They may be independent, or they might not have A-list actors tied to the story. Perhaps their budgets were spent on the film and not on promotion.

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Every so often, there is a movie that excels at its purpose, and sometimes it doesn't get the proper recognition until it becomes available to everyone through streaming and Blu-ray.

"The Autopsy of Jane Doe" is one of those movies.

Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox star in The Autopsy of Jane Doe.(Photo: IFC)

It's a mystery as to what happened at the grisly murder scene in a house in asmall Eastern town especially since authorities found the body of an unidentified woman, half-buried in the basement. There are no signs of how she died, and her body is completely intact.

The sheriff brings the body, "Jane Doe,"to the local, family-ownedmorgue, where the father-and-son coroners (Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch) are tasked with finding out how she died.

The two begin the autopsy process and discover the young lady on the table is not a normal cadaver.

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I can't say much else without giving away crucial plot elements.

"The Autopsy of Jane Doe" is the nitty-gritty of horror filmmaking. It's a nail-biting mystery that executes plot and scares effortlessly without a giant budget and 101 characters. It's spooky and at times claustrophobic. And most importantly, it gets the job done.

With the exception of one or twomoments, "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" doesn't rely on heavy effects or tons of gore (outside what you'd expect from a medical autopsy) to get the scares across. It reliesinstead on the audience's own imagination to fill in the imagery hidden in the shadows of a basement morgue in the middle of the night.

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And buddy, nothing is scarier than the things I envision in my own mind.

Cox and Hirsch carry the plot beautifully, forming an endearing father-son bond that makes the audience root for their survival.

The loudest character, though, was Jane Doe, brought to life (figuratively speaking, of course) by Olwen Kelly. She does nothing but lie on a table for the entire film. But man, those closeups of her face are disturbing. Without moving a muscle or saying a word, Jane Doe is the character we're paying attention to most.

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I loved this movie. It was something new in the horror genre, a premise I'd never seen before. And yes, it scared me.

My hat goes off to writers Ian B. Goldberg and Richard Naing and directorAndr vredal (who also directed the amazing "Troll Hunter"). They've created a horror movie that will stand the test of time, and I'm excited to show "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" to anyone who wants to sit down and have a good scare with me.

Sadly, when a low-budget film comes to Blu-ray, it usually means there aren't a lot of bonus features. This is the case with "The Autopsy of Jane Doe." In fact, the only extras on the Blu-ray are a collection of TV and theatrical trailers.

"The Autopsy of Jane Doe" is one of those films that you don't need to watch multiple times, so you could get away with renting it from a streaming service. However, you might be like me if I find a scary movie that made me jump, I enjoy watching it again with new people. If that's the case, then you'll definitely want to own a copy of this film to show your friends and family.

And hey, it's a great movie to pull out around Halloween especially if you're getting tired of the same old selection of scares.

Follow Matthew onTwitterandInstagram, @MatthewJGeek; email him at MJacobson@TheSpectrum.com; call him at 435-674-6234.

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Unsettling 'Autopsy of Jane Doe' is a horror masterpiece - St. George Daily Spectrum