#134 -- "A" Challenge: Autopsy (2008)

Director: Adam Gierasch
Rating: 4/5

This week, I'm going to try to watch only movies starting with the letter A. I'm weird about some things, and I chose to do this because in The Trailer Park, there are certain letter categories that are kind of empty. I feel bad for them, so I want to fill them up. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a week for each letter, so I can get those lonely ones some friends. Yeah, it might be a little weird. But it takes away some of the decision making I have to do when choosing a movie, and I'm lazy so it works for me. Anyways, today is a movie called Autopsy. You can probably figure out basically what the movie's about just by the title, but I'll give you a little bit more. The synopsis tells you that a group of friends gets into a car accident, on their way home from Mardi Gras, and is transported to a strange hospital. The hospital is indeed strange, because it's actually been closed for years. What the synopsis doesn't tell you is that the kids run over a man who was trying to escape the hospital. It's obvious that he doesn't want to go back, to the viewers at least. We know then that something terrible is happening at Mercy Hospital. A doctor, Dr. Benway, his nurse, and two ex-cons turned orderlies lure injured people into this hospital so that they can perform surgery on them. Apparently, they move around from hospital to hospital so they don't cause too much suspicion. They're doing all of this to get organs and such for Dr. Benway's terminally ill wife. He calls it an experimental treatment. They didn't account for badass Emily to ruin everything. After many deaths, much bloodshed, and self-sacrifice, Emily is able to cause a little mayhem of her own. She is an ex-medical student, so she knows her way around hospital equipment as well, which leaves the good doctor in a bit of a pickle. Plus, she lost all her friends and her boyfriend, so she's beyond pissed and looking for some serious revenge.

Each of the friends are called back to be examined, with the claims that the car accident could have caused serious injury. Only one of them is seriously injured at all; they're mostly just worried about the guy they found underneath the car. Bobby, Emily's boyfriend, ended up with a giant sliver of glass lodged in his abdomen, which could have possibly punctured his lung. But a punctured lung is the least of his worries, because he becomes the main component of Mrs. Benway's recovery. Jude is given some experimental hallucinatory drugs, so he stumbles around the hospital witnessing some scary shit. We've also got Dimitri, a Russian student they picked up back in New Orleans, and Claire. They are subjected to unorthodox autopsies; we also see brain drills, amputation, downright savage attacks for no apparent reason, and lots of other things. There's not a shortage of blood in this one, that's for sure.

This one is pretty gruesome, and if you've got a weak stomach you should probably just pass on it. The gore is well done and had me cringing a little bit. There's also some pretty spooky parts (not involving the doctors, but the other patients). Everything was really well done, and the characters were great. I liked all of them, and I didn't want any of them to be harmed. But of course, it wouldn't be much of a horror movie if no one got hurt. I've been doing a good job choosing movies lately, and I've picked some pretty good ones. I really enjoyed this, even though the story has been done quite a lot. There's just something about hospitals. Doctors are supposed to be there to help you. So when they go crazy and decide to kill you...that idea is terrifying. They've got all sorts of equipment, and the knowledge of how to use it. If they lock you up in the hospital so you've got no way to escape, and they're hell-bent on causing excruciating pain...I can't even imagine. But there's something terrifying about it. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. So check it out if your stomach can handle it.