The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) – A. Øvredal

With that title, you know exactly what you are going to get in this horror thriller -- and thanks to the acting of Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch (as father-son coroners) and the direction by André Øvredal, we actually get it.  In other words, this is a tight little chiller (at 87 minutes) that manages to keep its creepy sensations going all the way through.  Of course, if you are looking for something plausible or believable, then that isn’t what you’ll find here.  The film starts spooky (an autopsy of a mysterious young woman in a dark basement) and quickly moves to supernatural bumps in the night and then well, yeah, worse.  But apart from the autopsy itself (gruesome), this is more in the Val Lewton tradition of things that you don’t see (that could get you) rather than explicit (usually phony) monsters made with makeup, prosthetics, or special effects.  An amusement park ride for those escapist October moods.