Review | Film review: The Autopsy of Jane Doe – Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch in back-to-basics horror

Norwegian director Andre Øvredal makes his English language film debut with an atmospheric tale of two coroners who uncover a malevolent force during the autopsy of a young woman

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Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch play father and son, both coroners, in The Autopsy of Jane Doe (category IIB), directed by Andre Øvredal .

Published: 7:00am, 15 Aug 2017Updated: 11:42am, 28 Nov 2017

3/5 stars

Adopting a back-to-basics approach to the horror genre, the first English language film from Norwegian director Andre Øvredal (Trollhunter) is an effectively atmospheric tale, in which the body of an unidentified young woman reveals a series of dark secrets and supernatural surprises.

Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch play Tommy and Austin Tilden, small-town father-and-son coroners who are tasked with performing a last-minute autopsy on an unblemished body discovered at the scene of a grisly family massacre.

Olwen Catherine Kelly as the title character of The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

As the night wears on, and their investigation reveals more about Jane Doe’s true identity, the Tildens find themselves at the mercy of an increasingly malevolent and otherworldly force.

Citing recent successes including James Wan’s The Conjuring as his inspiration, Øvredal builds on a pair of strong performances to craft an unnerving chiller with a genuine sense of mystery. Credit must also be given to actress Olwen Catherine Kelly, whose inanimate turn as the eponymous corpse adds a tangible sense of realism and impending threat to the proceedings.