Emile Hirsch Brian Cox Ophelia Lovibond Olwen Catherine Kelly
This thriller gets into the supernatural, along
with the standard thunderstorm, bumps, and other strange happenings during the
night. Tommy (Cox) is the town’s
coroner and has a mortuary business, employing his son Austin (Hirsch) as a
medical technician. They seem to
be getting along reasonably well after the death of Austin’s mother, but Tommy
is itching to venture out into the world.
He hasn’t had the nerve to tell Tommy yet, because he feels an
obligation to stay and help his father.
He has a girlfriend, Emma (Lovibond), who is pressuring him to tell his
father and follow through with their plan to relocate.
The men have just received four bodies from a
burning house, and already find some puzzling signs. On top of that, the sheriff brings in another body that was
half buried in peat in the basement.
This is even more puzzling, and it gets weirder as they proceed to do an
autopsy. For starters, there are
no outwardly visible signs of trauma, despite broken bones and internal
injuries. They decide to work
through the night because the sheriff needs answers by the next morning.
The beginning of the story written by Ian B.
Goldberg and Richard Naing takes time in developing the characters and setting
up the mystery and alarming events that are to follow. As Tommy is conducting the autopsy,
we’re privy to his findings and the questions that arise. This is very interesting to observe;
however, he does seem to be going through the steps of an actual autopsy, so
the squeamish might consider whether he/she is up to the film.
Norwegian Director Andre Ovredal and his staff
know how to put together a horror film in terms of pacing, sound effects,
camera action, and maintaining suspense, sprinkling in just enough
reality-based effects to make the story more plausible. Hirsch and Cox have good rapport,
convincing as a father-son duo, and showing sheer terror when it looks like
they’re trapped and being pursued by supernatural forces. With virtually all of the scenes taking
place in the confines of the morgue, the claustrophobic sense enhances the
horror. As the corpse, actress Kelly
maintains utter stillness (a function of yoga practice) in her body staring
blankly ahead with gray eyes.
The movie should keep horror fans happy and
scared within its well-crafted story telling, sound effects, camera action, and
solid performances.
A creepy thriller that captures your
interest as you learn about autopsies, even while you wish to escape the
claustrophobic atmosphere.
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