MovieChat Forums > The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) Discussion > Nice little horror mystery *MAJOR SPOILE...

Nice little horror mystery MAJOR SPOILERS

posted 8 years ago by tobridges
21 replies | jump to latest

Loved the build-up as they were discovering the clues in the body. Once they got to the end of the mystery and figured out she was a witch, it lost some steam and fell back on some tired supernatural ghost/monster tropes. But overall, very watchable.

My take on the events is this this:

The witch was not all that powerful. She was not making the dead walk, or smoke fill the morgue or any of those other things. She just made the father and son think those things were happening.

In the end, we see that none of the body drawers are open or empty, that all the lighting and morgue equipment is intact, and that there was no storm. It all happened in the minds of the two characters. The only damage we see -- such as the chopped door and the dead girlfriend -- is what they caused while under the witch's influence. I doubt the cat was even injured before the dad broke his neck...just another hallucination from the witch.

Not sure I buy into dad's theory that she was an innocent turned into a witch by the ritual. People with enough power to cut her internal organs and burn her lungs without actually touching her could probably figure out who is a real witch and who isn't one. My thinking is that she was actually a witch and the ritual just didn't work to end her.

Since the ritual failed, she has been lying in wait, trying to find a person to transfer the ritual onto so she can get back on her feet, so to speak. The way she accomplishes this is by playing with her victims' minds. She almost had the dad, but he gave up before the transfer was complete. She lashed out at the son in anger, making him see his father and fall through the railing to his death.

She will just keep manipulating people until she finally succeeds.

[–] dissolvedboy-92282 8 years ago

Wow Amazing theory!!! Now I love this movie even more!

[–] Wu_Tang_Clam 8 years ago

I don't think there was any sort of "transfer" with the father. In the book it said witches feed on the souls of the dead. Sounds like she tricks people into killing each other and feeds on it. The father was wrong thinking she was innocent.

All the weird paranormal stuff was all in their minds. It made the father snap his cats neck, put an axe into the kids girlfriend, and eventually the kid stabbed his own father and got scared into falling through the stair railing.

After consuming the souls of all of these people after being buried for so long she's getting stronger. At the end she's able to movie her toe--the first time she ever physically moved. Soon she'll be up and running again.

I think she was buried and had all those ritualistic things done to her to keep her buried and harmless hundreds of years ago. Someone in the original house must've dug her up unknowingly--I don't remember if that was ever explained but she was found partially unburied in the basement.

The one thing I didn't quite get was how she moved so far from Salem where that type of flower and peat is found. At the end of the movie the cop said to dump the body off on the next town over--just get it out of his town. Are we to believe this is how she got so far from the North East, dumped off from one town to the next? I dunno.

I really liked this movie. It reminded very much of Oculus, that movie with the haunted mirror that made everyone see things and kill each other.

[–] kobrakai-1 8 years ago

Nice to find that someone else was reminded of Oculus while watching this. That was the first thought that popped into my head as well.

Especially with the payoff the love interests had in both films.

[–] Dajefe70 8 years ago

Yep, that's pretty much how she would have moved so far over. Once Salem realized they couldn't kill her they took her wayyyy out of town and buried her 100 feet deep, thinking it was good enough, but eventually hundreds of years later she is unearthed.

got blunt?

[–] bigkabuto 8 years ago

Really good theory man and to be honest I had not figured all of that out myself. One thing though, who caused the harm to the father? He was on that room where he checked behind the curtain, thought there was nothing and then he was grabbed and badly hurt. And during the scene where they go through the hallway again this time with all the smoke and the father gets assaulted multiple times. And last but not least, the witch snapping his feet, hands etc.

[–] tobridges 8 years ago

Remember at the end when the cops show up? Dad has no injuries except the stab wound from the son. I don't think he was really injured in the bathroom and hallway, except in his and son's minds. If the ritual had been completed, he probably would have had the same injuries as the witch.

[–] tripper-09331 8 years ago

Remember at the end when the cops show up? Dad has no injuries except the stab wound from the son. I don't think he was really injured in the bathroom and hallway, except in his and son's minds. If the ritual had been completed, he probably would have had the same injuries as the witch.

I agree. I thought it was strange how during the smoke filled hallway seen you hear the sound of slashing and other injuries but the father appears unscathed. In fact his only injuries seem internal on his body. Something on the son can see and the father can see and feel. The battle in the bathroom with the father could of easily been him smashing his own head into the mirror as we see at the end that the mirror was in fact smashed. Which goes along with the theory that the only physical acts done in the movie were actually those performed by the father and son.

Additionally when it was mentioned earlier that the storm wasn't real: I believe this too as in the beginning of the movie the female cop says to the sheriff that it seemed like the dead family was trying to escape there house. Also at the end, when the son is alone, he can't open the door even when he hears that the "tree" has been removed. Yet we see at the end that there is no storm damage outside. Nor did they ever try to use, or see, a single window leading outside.

"Common sense is not so common"

[–] Miranda9877 8 years ago

Yes I didn't think the ritual was complete with the father either. He seemed to get all of her wounds aside from the tongue being cut and he may or may not have the symbols in his skin. I assumed once the transfer was complete then she would be able to revive herself completely.

[–] BrandonFrazier 8 years ago

>Not sure I buy into dad's theory that she was an innocent turned into a witch by the ritual. People with enough power to cut her internal organs and burn her lungs without actually touching her could probably figure out who is a real witch and who isn't one. My thinking is that she was actually a witch and the ritual just didn't work to end her.

My take on it was that she could only restore her beauty through the assimilation of energy from the people she killed. All of the injuries inside of her body were just attempts to stop her from killing. She has probably been lit on fire, turned to a crisp and restored herself. Tattooed with symbols to ward of her powers, healed herself. Stabbed in the heart multiple times, healed herself. Etc. They even hint that this has been an ongoing thing since her death in the 17th century.

[–] BrandonFrazier 8 years ago

Not sure I buy into dad's theory that she was an innocent turned into a witch by the ritual. People with enough power to cut her internal organs and burn her lungs without actually touching her could probably figure out who is a real witch and who isn't one. My thinking is that she was actually a witch and the ritual just didn't work to end her.

My take on it was that she could only restore her beauty through the assimilation of energy from the people she killed. All of the injuries inside of her body were just attempts to stop her from killing. She has probably been lit on fire, turned to a crisp and restored herself. Tattooed with symbols to ward of her powers, healed herself. Stabbed in the heart multiple times, healed herself. Etc. Hell, she has probably restored herself to full walking order multiple times. In her last death someone probably smashed her ankles and wrists so she couldn't follow them. They even hint that this has been an ongoing thing since her death in the 17th century.

[–] tobridges 8 years ago

You have a great point. I like the idea that they are the accumulation of injuries from over the centuries.

[–] Wu_Tang_Clam 8 years ago

That was my take on it as well. Cool movie!

[–] tripper-09331 8 years ago

Also one thing left out here was that she was most likely NOT A WITCH in the beginning. She was an innocent girl who was accused of being a witch. Due to this all these rituals were performed to try and kill her and the evil inside but inadvertently GAVE her the powers of a witch.

This is insinuated by the father after they decode what the cloth means inside her.

"Common sense is not so common"

[–] ryoko_the_spacepirate1 8 years ago

I think maybe she was either an innocent and the ritual they used they weren't all that familiar with and instead of completely getting rid of her she was just inadvertently offered as a sacrifice.

Those cuts we see on her internal organs are because she was stabbed repeatedly.The burnt lungs are because they tried to burn her many of those times.

The spell or power lies in the skin or symbols that were shown under her skin.This is why once her organs and blood got outside of her body it decayed rapidly.

And now to restore her someone else must take her place or endure her trauma so she can be restored.The father intended to do this ,maybe if they used anesthesia or something he could of but because the son killed him the full transfer wasn't complete.This is why we see her eyes go to brown and the dads gets cloudy but when he is killed her eyes revert back to their cloudy color despite the other wounds being healed.

"I think I liked it better when I thought Sylar ate brains." -Warriorrenegade

[–] Wu_Tang_Clam 8 years ago

See I didn't think there was any transfer taking place. The father seemed to pull that idea out of nowhere. I think his eyes clouding up was just part of the hallucination.

My take on it is she was absolutely a witch. People tried stabbing her, burning her, burying her, etc. It seems like the people finally paralyzed/poisoned her, broke her ankles, and then performed the ritual to keep her in a state of harmless stasis.

Somebody accidentally dug her up 100's of years later and inadvertently removed the spell during an initial autopsy. Now in a weakened state she has people kill each other and feeds on their souls.

At the end of the movie the Sheriff tells his people to just get the body out of his town and pass it to the next one. I'm guessing that's how her body traveled that great distance from her original location.

The same thing will happen in the next town, she'll have them kill each other to get stronger, and on it goes until she has enough souls to fully wake up. She must be almost there as her toe moved at the end which is the only time she actually physically moved.

I really liked how just about everything that happened was in their own minds. The cat was never injured, there were no walking corpses, no fallen tree on the basement doors trapping them, etc.

[–] IMDbGigalo 8 years ago

The transfer took place but wasn't completed. They cut her open. The findings from the fabric found and the plant they took out were on the chalkboard. At the end, she's pristine again.

[–] ryoko_the_spacepirate1 8 years ago

if his eyes clouding up was part of the hallucination then why would her eyes go clear because the son wasn't even looking at her at this point he was just focused on his dad but the camera went out of its way to show her eyes turning brown.

"I think I liked it better when I thought Sylar ate brains." -Warriorrenegade

[–] Wu_Tang_Clam 8 years ago

I'm not sure I'm following whats taking place. You guys are saying that she's "transferring" herself to another body? Like she wanted to possess the father? To me it seemed like the father pulled that theory out of nowhere at the end about giving himself to her, and what if shes innocent etc.--just seemed weird.

How many other people would be willing to give themselves to her voluntarily? I guess what I'm asking is what is it the witch needs to get stronger? I thought she was simply feeding off of their souls like it said in the book by making them kill each other.

I think I have to give it another watch.

[–] ryoko_the_spacepirate1 8 years ago

when we well when I say transference. I mean the transference of the previous injuries she obtained through torture, nature, ritual autopsy etc.

the dad volunteered himself because he was alone and still grieving for his wife and he doted on his son and was trying to protect him.

the dad pulled the theory from the clues obtained during the autopsy. And there was indeed some sort of transference because if you look at the injuries they made sure to detail. they zoomed in on her crushed joints being healed, then his joints were crushed. Evidenced by a cracking crunch sound and distortion at the wrist area them him falling down to the ground .her lungs were healed, then his was blackened. Evidenced by black smoke coming out his mouth on inhalation. Her autopsy scar had indeed healed, so I am assuming he obtained that injury as well even thought we don't see his bare chest.

"I think I liked it better when I thought Sylar ate brains." -Warriorrenegade

Nice little horror mystery *MAJOR SPOILERS*

Nice little horror mystery MAJOR SPOILERS