On their way home after a stimulating journey to Mardi Gras, Emily (Jessica Lowndes) and her group of friends suffer a nasty car crash, and happen to maul an errant hospital patient in the process. Despite the fact that cell phone reception is completely devoid in these parts, an ambulance mysteriously arrives without summons. The orderlies aren’t to cautious with their patient, but they’re friendly, and offer to escort the group back to Mercy Hospital for a check up.
Once back at the hospital, the group is one by one lead to rooms in preparation for examination. But things aren’t quite as kosher as they seem, and Emily, the brains of the bunch discerns trouble immediately. It turns out these “orderlies” are convicts, and the creepy Doctor David (Robert Patrick) Benway has his own motives for running this hospital, and “helping” the injured in such unorthodox fashion. Benway’s motives are heartfelt, and honestly a little touching, but Benway himself is cold as death, and menacing in a perfectly sociopathic way which manufactures a palpable tension nearly every time the good Doc blesses the screen.
By the time Emily’s come to the precise conclusion that her life is in considerable jeopardy, and understands the fact that nearly all of her friends are dead – she decides to fight back. One by one the films antagonists are disposed of, in monstrous ways by a now borderline deranged heroine. In the end we’re treated to a face off between Emily and Benway, and while the finale is slightly anticlimactic, there’s a fair twist thrown in for compensation value.
The cast itself deserves considerable praise. Robert Patrick is at perfect ease in the role of Dr. David Benway. The man seems to thrive on dark, sadistic characters, and this may be one of his best performances to date. Jessica Lowndes is great as Emily, the obvious heroine of the film. She’s believable, beautiful, intelligent and strong – and she transfers those attributes to film flawlessly. There’s a nice handful of genre veterans to round out the ensemble, including Jenette Goldstien (who just so happened to work with Robert Patrick in TERMINATOR 2), Michael Bowen (who’s character meets the cruelest fate of the feature), and Robert Lasardo who was blessed with a handful of great one-liners. The best element of this sturdy assembly of performers is the fact that they work wonderfully together; this is one sadistic, disturbed medical staff – and viewers will detect that immediately.
The gore factor is an absolute blast. There’s a slew of entertaining death scenes which, admittedly borrow from such previous works as TURISTAS, FRIDAY THE 13TH and even DAWN OF THE DEAD – but there’s some creativity sprinkled in here and there (there’s something strangely entertaining about severed limbs and hand sanders) that really helps to give AUTOPSY it’s own identity. Be prepared for gallons of blood, countless surgical utensils, and worst (or shall I say best?) of all, those hefty nitrous tanks, that could definitely serve some nasty purposes.
To close this first installment of BLOOD SOAKED out, I’ll say this: AUTOPSY was a pretty damn good flick. I tend to be a little hesitant when approaching an AFTER DARK HORRORFEST picture, but I’m pleased to say this one delivered the goods. Here’s hoping the rest of the series can meet some strong standards, because this one in particular was bloody good fun.
KEY CHARACTERS:
EMILY – The attractive heroine, who, for a change of pace isn’t a complete airhead.
JUDE – Big points for the Rancid T shirt, and kudos for surviving so long, after consuming so many drugs, and still having the balls to make a sacrifice!
TRAVIS – The orderly from hell. Watch out for karma Travis – it’s nasty, and yes – it’s real.
DR. BENWAY – The freakiest Doc you’d never want to meet…but there sure is something charming about him!
OVERALL SUMMARY
Despite a slew of negative reviews, this film is actually quite a bit of fun. Memorable characters and a fairly unique twist make this one a must watch for true horror fans.
