Autopsy

Hospitals are great locations for horror films when their creators possess a shred of creativity.

This hospital set horror movie wastes little time in getting five high school pupils away from the Mardi Gras festivities and into a gore fest. Five young people are shown having the time of their lives in New Orleans. As the pre-credit sequence ends they are involved in a car crash. It is clear to everyone except the youngsters that something is wrong when they are taken to a hospital where they are the only patients. Hospitals are the perfect setting for eerie suspense, but Autopsy consistently fails to make use of the building and instead creates scares using the hospital staff, who look like the patients from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The main doctor (Patrick) is a classic mad scientist. The action mainly consists of beautiful young Emily (Lowndes) running around trying to save her pals before they find themselves on the operating table. The film's main flaw is the lack of character development and plot. In the end credits, Gierasch thanks horror master Dario Argento. He should have paid more attention to the way the Italian director builds up suspense at the start of his films and waits for us to feel affinity with his characters before he mutilates them.