Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
AUTOPSY WITH A BLUNT SCALPEL, August 26, 2001
this so-so "giallo" was directed by ARMANDO CRISPINO, not Josè Marìa Forquè. Set during a sizzling Roman summer, "Autopsy" opens with a grim montage sequence depicting various people committing suicide/homicide. Straight after this we are plunged into a startling episode at the central morgue: as overwrought heroine Mimsy Farmer looks round, grotesquely leering corpses seem to come to life and get up from the slabs. Powerful stuff, but unfortunately the rest of the movie doesn't come up with anything to top it. What follows is an involved, but not very interesting murder mystery, fleshed out with exclusively unlikeable characters - Farmer included - and occasional touches of cruelty. Certain scenes - the deadly trap in the crime museum, for example - are effectively suspenseful, but the tricksy narrative outstays it's welcome long before the 100 minute running time is up. Picture quality, however, is excellent and the DVD includes a trailer for the film under it's official export title, "The Victim". If you're new to the "giallo" and are looking to build up a good collection on DVD, invest your money in films like "The Girl Who Knew Too Much", "Blood and Black Lace", "The Bird With The Crystal Plumage", "Deep Red" and "Torso". "Autopsy" is passable entertainment, but hardly essential.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Murder Mystery Marketed as Horror Film, August 7, 2000
"Autopsy - A Chilling Slab of Unspeakable Horror"Or so we read on the box of this DVD. Of Italian origin and first released in 1973 as "Macchie Solari", Autopsy has not aged well as a horror movie. Interestingly, I believe the original title referred to suns spots, which are a recurring theme in the movie. Autopsy starts brilliantly depicting a number of suicides that invariably end up in the autopsy room, where we meet the protagonist played by Mimsy Farmer. Mimsy is studying forensic medicine and writing a thesis on how to distinguish between real and fake suicides. Something happens and Mimsy begins to see the cadavers moving around. After this promising opening, the movie strays away from the moving cadavers and turns into a murder mystery. A young woman that Mimsy briefly meets in her apartment is found dead in what appears to be a suicide. However, dead woman's brother (played by Barry Primus) is convinced that it was murder. Eventually, Mimsy realizes that the dead woman's brother, who is also a priest, is correct. By then, other suicides/murders start occurring around her, and even she becomes the target of one attempt. Suddenly, she doesn't know if she can trust the priest, her father, her father's business associate, her boyfriend (who also is a target of a murder attempt) or even herself. By now, this movie is no longer a horror film. Instead, it has become a classic who-dunnit film, with occasional sunspot flare- ups depicted a certain intervals. Surprisingly, the mystery is actually well-done. Agatha Christie couldn't have written a better murder mystery. Why the movie was titled Autopsy in English is beyond me. Scully and Mulder (X-Files) spend more time in the morgue than do Mimsy and Barry. Furthermore, the autopsies in the X-Files are sometimes even more graphic than in this movie. I can only speculate that the studios felt that "Autopsy" would draw more movie-goers than "Sun Spots". On the subject of sun spots, the movie tries to suggest a relationship between sun spots and suicides, which doesn't really fit into the murder mystery. Overall, it is an excellent movie-if you like mysteries. But a horror movie it is not, certainly not one of "unspeakable horror".
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, but not great either; 2.5 stars, June 5, 2000
"Autopsy" has a few things going for it that sets it apart from the many other giallos competing for audience attention in the 70's: first, it has a great score by the equally great Ennio Morricone. Second, it has an intriguing element of natural phenomena woven into the plot (the heat of the Italian summer supposedly driving citizens to commit suicide, in fact, the film's Italian title is "Sunspots"). But the natural phenomena element is not explored enough to be satisfying and refreshing, and it actually seems like it was an afterthought. Adding to the faults of the film is the flat and innefectual performance by Mimsy Farmer. Her performance recalls Deneuve's role in REPULSION- cold and sexually repressed. The problem with the performance is that her bland aura simply doesn't allow her to convincingly reach the emotional plateus that the script demands. As a result, her sudden changes of heart and her motivations seem ludicrous, even absurd (for example, she suddenly becomes infatuated with a priest whom is a prime suspect in a murder case). Unfortunately her bland performance affects the rest of the film. The plot of the film is depressingly susceptible to common giallo trappings (red herrings, confused dialogue and nonsensical characters, not to mention poor dubbing). Perhaps the true problem with the film is the opening sequence: we are treated to a stunning (and disturbing) montage of suicides of various citizens of Rome, juxtaposed against footage of the burning sun. This opening effortlessly pulls the viewer in and tantalizes with its promises for the remainder of its 100min running time. But the result is far more pedestrian. The film unfortunately peaks during the opening. Most frustrating of all is that the angle of the "sunspots" as the motivator for the suicides IS NEVER EXPLAINED, and the real motive for the killings is depressingly derivitave. On the plus side though, Morricone's ecclectic score does add atmosphere to the sometimes dull goings-on, and the photography and direction does take advantage of Rome's splendor, and thankfully there is not a tremendous amount of zooming (a common giallo affliction). But even these tasteful technicalities cannot overcome Crispino and Battistrada's bland and unremarkable script coupled with Farmer's uncompelling performance. "Autopsy" is never quite a bore, and it does dabble in a handful of fascinating ideas, but the real tragedy is they are never fully developed, and the film remains a mere shell of what it could have been. OFFICIAL RATING: 2 1/2 stars
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