THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (2016) (Blu-ray Review)

THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (2016)

Label: IFC Midnight / Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 87 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: André Øvredal 
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Michael McElhatton, Olwen Kelly, Ophelia Lovibond

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) is the follow-up to director André Øvredal's wonderful found-footage fantasy film Troll Hunter (2010) wherein trolls turned out to be real, it's been a few years since that one and let me set you straight right up front - it is worth the wait. In this tense tale shrouded in weirdness we have a father and son mortician team, the gruff father Tommy Tilden (Brian Cox, Trick ’r Treat) and his son Austin (Emile Hirsch, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) who are called upon by the local sheriff (Michael McElhatton, The Hallow) to perform an autopsy on a jane doe victim, a young woman found buried in the basement of a local home which was the scene of multiple grisly murders, and the jane doe they found in the basement is just one of numerous weird things about the unnerving crime scene, so much so that the sheriff is visibly shaken and confounded by the whole thing.

With the jane doe now at the basement mortuary of the Tilden's the father and son go about methodically examining the corpse for a proper cause of death. The victim is a young woman in her twenties, and very quickly the pair begin to note irregularities that defy easy explanation and an accurate cause of death, beginning with that her body look nearly pristine, the skin it smooth, unbroken and not discolored, there are no signs of rigor mortis, her wrists and ankles are brutally broken, her tong has been removed, her internal organs shows signs of scarring and burning... and that's not even the weirder stuff. As the postmortem continues the older Tilden mentors his son, correcting him, challenging him to draw the right conclusions based on the evidence the corpse presents, but this corpse is shrouded in mystery and is  presenting all manner of creepy and contradictory findings, that even the seasoned medical examiner finds himself struggling to understand. 

The movie started winning me over right away with it's craftsmanship, I love a well crafted movie, and this has a nice pace, it strings you along with moments of tension, and I loved the visual nuance and precise cinematography of Roman Osin (Pride & Prejudice)with the moody and atmospheric lighting of the basement mortuary set, but it is the father and son dynamic that glued it all together for me. The team-up of Hirsch and Cox is key, along with a rather good scene with the son's girlfriend Emma (Ophelia Lovibond, Guardians of the Galaxy), who is indulged her morbid curiosity by Tommy to peak at a corpse in one of the cadaver fridges, only to throw in a fun fright involving a bell strapped to the ankle of a corpse, it's good stuff. The character-bonds certainly help to make the weirder stuff more real, and there's some real gut-punch moments peppered throughout this one, which kept me on my toes, and plugged-in through to the end. Going into this one I had some preconceived notions about what the movie would be, though I had avoided all the trailers before viewing it, and while I was not completely surprised by what it turned out to be, I think the brooding and tense execution left we totally satisfied. I found it affecting and consistently creepy, this was one of my best home viewings experiences in quite a while, and by far my favorite of the IFC Midnight releases this year. 

Audio/Video: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) arrives on Blu-ray/DVD Combo courtesy of another IFC Midnight/Scream Factory team-up, looking very nice all the way through. Blacks are deep and inky, colors are vivid and nicely saturated, and the fine detail is robust, some of those autopsy dissection scenes with Cox slicing into the corpse are uncomfortable to watch, good stuff. Audio on the Blu-ray includes choice of DTS-HD MA English 2.0 and surround 5.1, the track exports the creepy and atmospheric score crisply with some nice punch when the more visceral stuff begins. Optional English subtitles are included. 

The extras are slim with just a selection of TV spots, teasers and a theatrical trailer, but I wanted more, this is a movie I wanted to dive into the extras, and there were none. The DVD/BD combo pack, and includes a standard definition DVD with the same extras and lossy audio. The release comes in a standard blue keepcase with a slipcover (O-ring) featuring the same artwork as the sleeve. I also like that the DVD and Blu-ray discs have different artwork. 

Special Features: 
- TV Spots (1 min) HD 
- Teasers (2 min) HD 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 

The Autopsy of Jane Doe(2016) is tense and claustrophobic with some icky and visceral body horror elements, the two leads are wonderful as the father/son mortician team, and the movie is well-crafted and keenly executed, I love this movie, this comes highly recommended, must-see fright cinema. Looking forward to what comes next from director André Øvredal, which according to IMDB is a project titled Mortal, about a young man who discovers he has God-like powers based on ancient Norwegian mythology, I'm down. The Autopsy of Jane Doe will be available as a WalMart exclusive on May 2nd and available everywhere June 27th, it is also currently streaming on numerous VOD platforms. 4.5/5

THE HALLOW (2015) (Blu-ray Review)

THE HALLOW (2015)

Label: Scream Factory I IFC Midnight
release Date: April 5th 2016 
Region Code: A
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1, DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Corin Hardy
Cast: Michael Smiley, Stuart Graham, Bojana Novakovic, Gary Lydon, Joseph Mawle, Michael McElhatton

Adam (Joseph Mawle, Game of Thrones) is a London-based conservationist, who along with his wife Clare (Bojana Novakovic, Drag Me To Hell) and infant son Finn, travel to a remote village in Ireland where Adam has been assigned to survey the area before the deeply wooded area is opened up to logging. The decision to open up the area to the logging industry has upset the ocals in the area, particularly a neighbor named Colm (Michael McElhatton), who warns Adam to avoid venturing into the woods with his infant son, warning that his own daughter Clara disappeared year earlier after having wandered into the woods alone. The locals believe malevolent  woodland spirits they call The Hallow live in the woods and that Adam's excursion into the lush forests will disturb them, which is exactly what happens.

Adam being from the city doesn't pay much heed to speak of evil woodland spirits, and when a window in his son's room is broken out one night he believes it is just an angry Colm trying to scare him away, but as the story continues it becomes much harder to turn a blind eye to the demonic creatures who seem to be out to steal away his infant son from him and his wife.  

The movie comes to us from first time director Corin Hardy and it is quite a debut, a dark fairytale along the lines of Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth or Don't Be afraid of the Dark, the movie features a gorgeous Irish wooded backdrop, some palpable atmosphere and some very cool creatures which are damn creepy. All good stuff, but the movie does start off with a bit of a slow build, taking nearly forty minutes before it gets a proper head of steam going, and during that phase the woodland spirits are only hinted, but once they do make themselves known things get underway with some proper scares, though the movie  not very terrifying, instead offering some good suspense filled tension and drama. 

Where the movie excels is the Irish folklore angle of the story, far too often we as horror fans are inundated with sun-shy blood drinkers and the hungry undead, woodland spirits are found far and few between and I think it makes a ripe subject. Hardin does a good job of bringing some Irish folk horror to the small screen, and is largely successful. Adding a scientific element to the story along the way, when Adam discovers a strange black slime that can infect a person and transform them, which plays out during the final third of the movie, leaving our young parents not just under attack from woodland spirits but also trying to evade the malicious black slime which seems to a mind of its own, which was a  nice touch, this part of the story brought o mind the unsung indie horror Splinter from 2008, which is worth seeking out f you have not come across it on your own. 

Both Mawle and Novakovic do good work as parents desperately trying to protect their infant son from the demonic horde of woodland creatures with an appropriate amount of concern and dread, though Mawle as Adam does take a bit of while o come around to the idea that there's more going on than just an angry neighbor out to give them a fright, but I am not sure woodland spirits would be the first thing that would come to my mind either, but even just thinking an angry neighbor was causing a fuss would have scared me off early on.

While the scares are a bit thin the movie does not want for suspense and tension, plus those creature make-up f/x are fantastic, Hardin largely forgoes digital in favor of old school performers in rubber suits with some digital enhancement, and it totally worked for me, this is creepy stuff, and there's just not enough folk horror out there these days, so this is a welcome addition. 

Audio/Video: The Hollow arrives on Blu-ray from IFC Midnight and Scream Factory presented in the scope 2.35 aspect ratio looking nice and sharp in HD. The movie has a lot of dark scenes so that the shadow detail is so nice was much appreciated. The English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 was a nice treat, plenty of use of the surrounds to put across the creepy creature sounds and atmospheric score, optional English and Spanish subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras we have an informative audio commentary from Director Corin Hardy who covers a lot of ground about the making of the creature feature, plus a nearly hour long making of doc, and seven smaller 2-3 minute behind-the-scenes featurettes covering the story, influences, F/X and galleries of sketch drawings and storyboards for the movie, which seem to be smaller bite-size chunks straight from the making-of doc. Aside from a  theatrical trailer for the movie we also get a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the cool original poster artwork and a slipcover for the standard issue blue keep case

Special Features
- Audio Commentary With Director Corin Hardy
- Surviving The Fairytale: The Making Of The Hallow (51 Mins) HD 
- Behind-The-Scenes: The Story (3 Mins) HD 
- Behind-The-Scenes: Influence (2 Mins) HD 
- Behind-The-Scenes: Practical F/X (2 Mins) HD 
- Director's Storyboards Gallery (2 Mins) HD 
- Director's Sketchbook Gallery (3 Mins) HD 
- The Book Of Invasions – Original Illustrations Gallery (3 Mins) HD 
- Creature Concepts Gallery (1 Mins) HD 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) HD 
- Reversible Sleeve of Artwork 

The Hollow (2015) is an engaging folk horror entry that has a wonderful dark fairytale atmosphere about it, for a first time director I would say this was a knockout minus a few pacing issues early on, but it makes up for with an engaging story and Irish folklore premise, highly recommended. 4/5