Anatomy
Oh, those wacky Germans
Guten Tag, alle. Today's review comes
from the land of chocolate, beer, schnitzel, and genocide. A German
horror movie about murderous medical students seems like a
no-brainer. Just about everyone is afraid of doctors and hospitals.
Whether it's blood or needles or just hearing bad health news, going
to the doctor is rarely a pleasant experience. While there have been
a few medical-based horror movies, it's an oft-ignored subgenre
despite having a built-in scare factor. Perhaps the Germans can bring
the medical horror.
Anatomy is a 2000 German horror movie
starring Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity, Run Lola Run) as
medical student Paula Henning. Paula wins a spot in the prestigious
University of Heidelberg Medical School which was once run by her
grandfather. Paula us joined by another girl from Munich named
Gretchen. On their train ride, a young man named David, suffering
from an enlarged heart, collapses and Paula gives him CPR, saving his
life. At the school, they are taught by the strict Professor Grombel
(Traugott Buhre) who lays out their difficult and extensive syllabus.
All the students go out for drinks on the first night and Paula meets
a young man named Caspar (Sebastian Blomberg) while Gretchen meets a
student named Hein. David is in the same bar and is attached by an
unknown assailant. When he awakens, David is on a dissecting room
table at the medical school. He tries to escape, but is killed by two
doctors. Paula is shocked to see David on the dissecting table the
next day. She secretly sends a tissue sample to her lab friend back
home in order to get a cause of death. She also notices that David
has a brand on his leg with the label “AAA”. Paula keeps her
relationship with Caspar at arm's length while Gretchen eventually
leaves Hein, breaking his heart. Paula get's David's results back,
explaining that his blood had an outlawed drug called Primodal in it,
which plasticized his blood, thus preserving his entire body. She
begins doing research on the “AAA” brand and discovers that it
was used by a secret society of medical investigators called the
Anti-Hippocratic Society. The society performs gruesome medical
experiments in the name of science, regardless of hurting or killing
people. At the same time, Gretchen begins seeing another boy at
school. Enraged, Hein kills the boy and tortures Gretchen. It is
revealed that he is part of the Anti-Hippocratic Society and he turns
her into one of the cadavers on display at the school. When Paula
confronts Hein, he begins to terrorize her. While fleeing, she
discover's the society's secret lodge with Professor Grombek inside.
He reveals that Paula's grandfather was a member and experimented on
prisoners in concentration camps. When the society tries to punish
Hein for killing people out of jealousy, Hein kills Grombek and goes
after Paula. How will she survive and is Caspar really who he says he
is?
That's not sanitary. THAT'S NOT SANITARY!!!
Medical-based horror movies are nothing
new, but for whatever reason, they never reach their potential. I was
expecting Anatomy to have high amounts of blood and gore, but it
never got to that point. In the beginning, I was actually concerned
that there would be too much torture in the movie since one of the
first scenes is a man waking up in the middle of an autopsy. There
are various scenes of body parts and the inner workings of the human
bodies which will certainly give some people with weak stomachs cause
for concern. Despite this, the movie's horror comes more from Hein's
stalking than medical torture. Part of me is glad since I don't like
torture, but I feel that more blood and gore would have created a
greater sense of danger. There is a good amount of action with some
solid chase scenes towards the end, but the violence is pretty tame
compared to what I was expecting.
The movie has a pretty good story, far
better than other medical horror movies like The Surgeon or The
Dentist. The characters are established early and their development
progresses well. The pacing is a little slow in certain parts and
could have used a few more action scenes to keep things moving along.
The mystery and conspiracy are interesting, but things were revealed
a little too easily. Hein is not a big part of the first half of the
movie, so it was a little odd when he became the main villain. The
inclusion of Nazi experimentation had crossed my mind early in the
film and I'm glad they touched on it, giving the film a feeling of
authenticity. The acting is pretty good all around and the direction
captures a fair amount of thrills. The film was thankfully in German,
though there are dubbed versions out there. I much prefer subtitles
as dubs tend to be distracting and make it impossible to enjoy the
acting.
Are they doctors from the future?
Anatomy is a good horror movie for a
wide audience, but lacked the blood and guts I was expecting. When
you have doctors torturing people, there is a certain amount of gore
to be expected, but for whatever reason, Anatomy doesn't go that
route. I think have more of that would have created a scarier
atmosphere. More effort is put into the story, which is actually
pretty good thanks to solid acting and directing. The movie has some
good thrills and a scary scene or two. If you're looking for a good
movie first, and a decent horror movie second, you might enjoy
Anatomy. Auf Wiedersehen!
7/10
