THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE

RELEASED 26 JUNE (Blu-ray/DVD/ VOD) OUT NOW! (download) 2016 | 15 | Blu-ray/DVD/ download/ VOD Director André Øvredal Cast Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Ophelia Lovibond, Michael Mcelhatton It might surprise you that this indie effort isn’t rated 18: not for the squeamish, it features extensive scenes of a body being disassembled, in unflinching close-up.

A father/son coroner team are tasked with determining the cause of death of an unidentified female. Working through the night, they discover one impossibility after another: blackened lungs, scarred organs, mysterious sigils… Yet externally there’s barely a mark.

For two thirds of the duration it’s a captivating mystery. Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox are likeable as the central pairing, and the setting – a basement morgue in an old house – avoids an air of clinical sterility.

Sadly, it all goes awry once we get some answers. By rights, “Jane” should be sympathetic, but her vengeance is too indiscriminating. And while periodic appearances of ’50s tune “Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In)” are eerie, they have zero justification.

All the same, this remains an absorbing and traditional chiller – one which, for all its organ-slicing, achieves its most powerful effects via the simple tinkling of a bell tied to a corpse’s toe…

Extras A five-minute snatch of screening Q&A.