Anatomy
2.5/4
Starring: Franka Potente, Anna Loos, Sebastian Blomberg, Benno Furmann, Traugott Buhre, Arndt Schwerig-Sohnrey
Rated R for Terror Violence/Gore, Some Sexuality and Language\
Although I call "Anatomy" a guilty pleasure, there are two reasons this gorefest won't be well appreciated by most of my readers: it's not that good and more importantly, it's not in English. While there are plenty of shocks and gore, and just as much sex, the film is sloppily made. Still, there are some truly cool special effects (they were based off of BodyWorlds).
Paula Henning (Potente) is a brilliant medical student who has just been accepted into an exclusive medical school program. She's beyond excited and it rooming with Gretchen (Loos), another student in the program who, like Paula, is from Munich. On the train, she saves the life of David (Schwerig-Sohnrey) whose heart has stopped. But when his body ends up on her operating table a few days later, she thinks something fishy is going on. It turns out that the school has a nasty past: it was home to the Anti-Hippocratics, who thought that research was more important than the care of patients. Now someone is turning some of the medical students into not-so-living sculptures, and Paula may be next.
The acting is okay, although as history has proven to us, that has never been one of the trademarks of the horror genre. Franka Potente hit the big time when she starred in Tom Tykwer's art house smash "Run Lola Run," and this was made two years later. Potente is good in a underwritten part, although for someone who's supposed to be a brilliant medical student, she has an alarming amount of brain cramps. Anna Loos is also good as her oversexed roommate; she's boffing all the guys in the program one by one (usually it's the guys who get to do this in movies). Sebastian Blomberg (looking like a less twisted version of Ian Somerhalder) is okay as the obligatory hunk, but he can't match his cast members for screen presence. And Traugott Buhre radiates creepiness and power as their instructor.
Ordinarily, I think that Hollywood remakes of foreign films are just easy ripoffs. With the case of "Anatomy," I think that a remake could be an improvement if done right. The film has all the requisite elements, but it's not well made. The pacing is haphazard and the script is pretty thin. It's also too long; Gretchen has too much screen time for someone of what amounts to very little importance.
"Anatomy" isn't a bad movie per se. I just don't think that it's worth the time of anyone who doesn't mind mixing subtitles with gore.
Starring: Franka Potente, Anna Loos, Sebastian Blomberg, Benno Furmann, Traugott Buhre, Arndt Schwerig-Sohnrey
Rated R for Terror Violence/Gore, Some Sexuality and Language\
Although I call "Anatomy" a guilty pleasure, there are two reasons this gorefest won't be well appreciated by most of my readers: it's not that good and more importantly, it's not in English. While there are plenty of shocks and gore, and just as much sex, the film is sloppily made. Still, there are some truly cool special effects (they were based off of BodyWorlds).
Paula Henning (Potente) is a brilliant medical student who has just been accepted into an exclusive medical school program. She's beyond excited and it rooming with Gretchen (Loos), another student in the program who, like Paula, is from Munich. On the train, she saves the life of David (Schwerig-Sohnrey) whose heart has stopped. But when his body ends up on her operating table a few days later, she thinks something fishy is going on. It turns out that the school has a nasty past: it was home to the Anti-Hippocratics, who thought that research was more important than the care of patients. Now someone is turning some of the medical students into not-so-living sculptures, and Paula may be next.
The acting is okay, although as history has proven to us, that has never been one of the trademarks of the horror genre. Franka Potente hit the big time when she starred in Tom Tykwer's art house smash "Run Lola Run," and this was made two years later. Potente is good in a underwritten part, although for someone who's supposed to be a brilliant medical student, she has an alarming amount of brain cramps. Anna Loos is also good as her oversexed roommate; she's boffing all the guys in the program one by one (usually it's the guys who get to do this in movies). Sebastian Blomberg (looking like a less twisted version of Ian Somerhalder) is okay as the obligatory hunk, but he can't match his cast members for screen presence. And Traugott Buhre radiates creepiness and power as their instructor.
Ordinarily, I think that Hollywood remakes of foreign films are just easy ripoffs. With the case of "Anatomy," I think that a remake could be an improvement if done right. The film has all the requisite elements, but it's not well made. The pacing is haphazard and the script is pretty thin. It's also too long; Gretchen has too much screen time for someone of what amounts to very little importance.
"Anatomy" isn't a bad movie per se. I just don't think that it's worth the time of anyone who doesn't mind mixing subtitles with gore.
Comments
Post a Comment