Monthly Archives: November 2025

THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (2016)

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THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (2016)

The cover to the UK release of the film

I need to start the review with a caveat: I’m not really a fan of this type of supernatural film. The Conjuring universe may be the highest grossing horror franchise of all times… but I don’t rate it. I’m not someone who enjoys a supernatural ‘ghostly’ tale. I like my horror more grounded in a physicality of reality rather than a metaphysical one. I like my slashers and my zombies and my monsters but tales about ghosts, well, I’m not one to actively seek them out unless they are well made, or with actors that I like.

That being said, however, and sadly I’m burying the lead here, I think this film is an absolute, top-level, corker of a supernatural ghostly film. Ten out of ten, nothing else to write, amazing flick, everyone must watch.

…

… oh, you’re still here? You want a ‘proper’ review of a film I’m obviously going to gush all over. Ok then…

‘Jane Doe’ (Olwen Catherine Kelly) is found

The Autopsy of Jane Doe was written by Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing who wrote the screenplay for Eli and The Nun II, but do not judge this film by those credentials. It was directed by André Øvredal, who blasted out of the gates with the well-regarded Trollhunter (2010), and also gave us the wonderful Scary Tales to Tell in the Dark (2019). Øvredal had seen The (aforementioned) Conjuring and asked his manger to find him a script with a similar old school supernatural feel, and this amazing horror film was born.

Emile Hirsch as Austin

The Autopsy of Jane Doe tells of father and son morticians, Tommy (Brian Cox) and Austin (Emile Hirsch) Tilden who have finished their grisly but necessary work for the day, and Austin is about to head out with his date, Emma (Ophelia Lovibond) when the town sheriff, Burke (Michael McElhatten) turns up with a late emergency autopsy.

On a gurney is the corpse of Jane Doe (Olwen Catherine Kelly), found half-buried in the basement of a house that had other corpses in it, but her body has no signed of any trauma, until the two start the autopsy, and find many mysteries surrounding her.

Emma (Ophelia Lovibond) and Tommy (Brian Cox)

What’s stranger though, is the unusual happenings around them: mysterious figures, the weather suddenly changing… but what is going on?

Watch it and find out!

The relationship between Cox and Hirsch’s characters really make this film. They really do feel like a father and son team, and it’s not just saying the word ‘Dad’, it’s subtle motions and expressions that really feel real.

Øvredal’s direction is magnificent. The mystery of Jane Doe’s corpse is so slowly revealed, and is so preposterous but somehow it never becomes ridiculous. The whole thing is played so strictly straight that at no time are you inclined to find any of it amusing. Throughout it bucks trends and tortures us with expectations that either don’t pay off, or pay off differently than you expect.

One can’t talk about this film without mentioning Kelly’s performances as the corpse as well. Kelly is a stunning woman and is naked and immobile through the entire thing, but also is in no way alluring. The dichotomy of this exposure to appealing nudity that has no appeal due to whatever it is that stops it… we know she’s not a corpse, right, so that can’t be it! Øvredal talks about how impressed he was with her performances, and the courage any woman would have being naked every day for 5 weeks amongst all the people required to make a film.

The only other time I’ve seen something like this in a film was Mathilda May in Lifeforce.

Basically, I can’t recommend this film enough. I think it’s not just one of the best post-millenium horror films, but it’s also one of the best horror films ever, and when you consider I don’t rate supernatural ghostly films, that’s the highest praise I can offer.

The menu screen for the UK release

Extras: This UK Bluray release of the film only has one extra and it only goes for 5 minutes but that’s far and away ahead of Umbrella Entertainment’s bareass DVD release here in Australia. We have here on this disc is an interview by Alan Jones (no, not Australia’s Alan Jones, the good one from the UK) with André Øvredal, where they discuss casting and all of that sort of stuff… well, as much as 5 minutes allows, anyway.

Film: 10/10

Extras: 3/10

Rewatchability: 10/10

The corpse of Jane Doe

This Bluray was purchased from an EBay reseller.

Girls Nite Out aka The Scaremaker (1982)

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Girls Nite Out aka The Scaremaker (1982)

The cover to Arrow Video’s bluray release

When you watch a lot of horror… too much? No, never… but a LOT of horror, especially stuff from back in the 80s, when you get to my age, the memory gets fuzzy and you can’t quite remember if you have seen stuff or not.

Now I am sure I saw a cover of a VHS of The Scaremaker, and the villain of the piece looks VERY familiar, but I’m just not sure if I have ACTUALLY seen this or not. I don’t think I saw the VHS cover in person though, it may have been in a magazine or something.

This film was directed by Robert Duebel who other than some American Playhouse stuff, didn’t seem to stay in genre filmmaking which honestly, and I’m burying the lead here some what, is probably for the best.

Lynn (Julia Montgomery) looks on in amusement

Every year at Dewitt College (played by Upsala College in New Jersey which closed in 1995… probably out of embarrassment), the sorority houses engage in a scavenger hunt the night after the basketball team win their championship game, and this year is no different!

The girls are looking forward to a lot of fun, and our tale follows Lynn (Julia Montgomery), Dawn (Suzanne Barnes), Sheila (Lauren-Marie Taylor), Jane (Laura Summer) and Kathy (Carrick Glenn), amongst others on the hunt but what they don’t realise is that they are being stalked by a manic who is dressed in a modified version of the school mascot, a bear… with knives installed in its paws.

Who will survive? Is it gory? Is nudity involved? Will we be entertained?

Carrick Glenn: what happened to you?

Ok, so I won’t answer the first question for spoiler reasons, but the answer to the last three questions is n not really, no and probably not.

This film does have a bit of blood in it and the killers costume, whilst clunky, is a standout, though probably impractical. It’s does not have the 80s slasher trope of nudity, which is unusual, and made even more weird by the slutty behaviour of some of the characters: you know what I mean, those female characters who usually flash, put out and then become victims. Right or wrong is not what I’m judging here, I’m just saying it’s an odd trend buck for the period of slasher films.

The janitor is going to be disappointed with the state of the locker room

Now the Bluray does make reference to the multiple sources to make this ‘complete’ version but whether it was the filmmaking or Arrow Videos sources, I found the film to be FAR to dark and some points. I also have to say it took me several goes to get through the film as I found myself getting bored through it. Actually, I did have fun spotting actors from other films that didn’t go on to become big names, and I was constantly saying stuff like ‘that’s the guy from Creepshow 2!

Girls Nite Out is strange in that it feels like a slasher made for or by Christian Television; there is this weird ‘nice’ vibe about it. Now I understand that ‘nice’ isn’t an insult in general, but it is meant as one here. This film commits the biggest crime a film can make; it’s just boring.

At least it had Carrick Glenn in it who I loved in The Burning.

The Arrow Video Bluray menu screen

Extras: It’s Arrow Video so of course there is a fine bunch of extras on this disc.

Commentary by Justin Karswell and Amanda Reyes

Staying Alive is an interview with actress Julie Montgomery who played Lynn Conners. She talks about her acting and modelling history and is delightfully animated and really engaging. A great interview.

A Savage Mauling is an interview with Laura Summer who played Jane. More fun recollections of the making of the film.

Alone in the Dark is another interview, this time with Lois Robbin’s who played Leslie Peterson. As above, so below.

It Was A Party! is yet another interview but this time with Paul Christie, who played Dancer, still more recollections and career reviews.

Love & Death is yet ANOTHER interview but with Lauren-Marie Taylor and John Didrichson, who played Sheila and Ralph respectively.

These interviews were great but the absence of Carrick Glenn, my favourite of this film and of the film The Burning, was disappointing!

Archival Interview is another interview with Julie Montgomery but from several years ago. More of the same, really.

Alternate Title Card shows the beginning but with The Scaremaker title card instead.

Original trailers gives us both a Girls Nite Out and a The Scaremaker trailer. The Girls Nite Out trailer is a bizarre thing as it features someone not in the film, talking about being scared.

Film: 3/10

Extras: 8/10

Rewatchability: 1/10, unless like me you couldn’t get through it in one go.

The man versus bear debate was never more real

This Bluray was purchased from Metal Movies

MADHOUSE aka THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL (1981)

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MADHOUSE (1981)

The cover to Arrow Video’s release of Madhouse

There was a little girl who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very, very good,

And when she was bad, she was horrid.

This is the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that Ovidio G. Assonitis (Man from Deep River) developed into a script, initially with Roberto Gandus (Macabre) until creative differences split them and it went to Stephen Blakely (his only credit according to IMDB) to finish. Assonitis also took on the role of director for this film.

Patricia Mickey as Julie Sullivan

Madhouse, aka There was A little Girl, is probably better known as one of the films on the 39 notorious prosecuted Video Nasty films in the UK in 1984, along with better known films as I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left. There’s an amazing documentary about these films by Jake West called Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape from 2010 which really digs into the nitty gritty of the whole time which I can’t recommend enough! There’s also a sequel which furthers the history called Video Nasties: Draconian Days, also worth a watch.

Madhouse tells the tale of Julia Sullivan (Patricia Mickey) is a young and successful schoolteacher at a school for the deaf, living in Savannah, Georgia. As her birthday approaches, she’s haunted by the traumatic memories of her childhood and her violent, disturbed twin sister, Mary (Allison Biggers). The two were inseparable as children until Mary’s increasingly erratic behavior, included cruel violence and resentment towards her sister, led to her being institutionalised.

Enter porno-stached male lead, Sam (Michael MacRae)

Years later, Julia learns that Mary has escaped from the asylum.

Suddenly, people close to Julia begin turning up dead in brutal ways. As Julia’s sanity begins to unravel, she’s drawn into a terrifying game of cat and mouse, where family secrets, religious guilt, and deep psychological scars collide in a house filled with darkness.

In the final, twisted confrontation, Julia must face not only her deranged sister but the truth about her past—and survive a birthday she’ll never forget…

My first question is… how the heck have I never seen this film? It reminds me of The Burning in so much as it ignores the standard tropes of the slasher films that, at the time of release, were becoming popular and did something a little different. The story is engaging and interesting and the cast are great.

Seriously, don’t trust a dog in a horror movie

I understand why it was a video nasty as it has come violence against children and some animal cruelty, even though the animal is obviously fake, so be warned if that sort of stuff effects your enjoyment.

Not me though, I loved it. I’m sure it’s going to become a regular on my movie rewatch rotation!

The menu screen for the Madhouse Bluray

Extras: Arrow Video consistently provide good extras and this disc is no exception!

Audio Commentary with The Hysteria Continues

Running the Madhouse is an interview with Edith Ivey, who played Amantha (come on, is it Samantha or Amanda: pick a lane), the landlord in the film. There is some very nice recollections on the making of the film and the language issues between cast and crew.

Framing Fear is an interview with cinematographer Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli and he goes through his career and the making of Madhouse.

Ovidio Nasty talks about the film and the response in the UK in 1984.

Alternate Opening Titles and Original Trailer are nice additions.

Film: 8/10

Extras: 7/10

Rewatchability: 8/10

Worst black eye I’ve ever seen!

Purchased from Metal Movies on eBay