Anatomie

I have to confess, I had actually been putting off checking out Stefan Ruzowitzky's 'Anatomie' for a while as reports elsewhere on the net had been somewhat lukewarm to say the least. As I was quickly to discover though, others opinions aren't always to be taken as read...

'Anatomie' follows a young medical student Paula (played by the lovely Franka Potente) as she heads off to the finest school of medical science, that specialises in autopsies and prides itself in its work in the cadaver carving scene. Paula soon discovers everythings not as it seems at the school and unwittingly uncovers some less than acceptable practices on the undead which leads to the discovery of a horrifying scenario on a scale beyond what poor Paula's possible comprehension ever could have been.

Whilst there are sections of genre movie fans decrying that the horror scene is dying, 'Anatomie' comes along as an exciting slice of genre cinema to prove any doubters wrong, showing that the horror scene is in fact alive and well. Sure mainstream Hollywood horror may be on the decline, but it would be a very narrowminded genre fan that chose not to look at all the great new movies coming from Germany, Spain, Asia and so on - 'Anatomie' is one of those great movies.

Director Ruzowitzky obviously had some cash to play with - from the big boys at Columbia pictures and put it too good use. His direction is solid throughout and he is obviously conscious of pacing as the film grabs you nicely from the word go and hooks you along for a gripping ride until the edge of the seat finale. Stylish shot and high on atmosphere, 'Anatomie' is the type of straight horror film that we haven't seen from our US counterparts in quite some time. Also reminscent of old school horror are the excellent gore effects that, whilst are only used when essential to the plot, are very effective indeed and took me back to the golden days of Savini at his best.

I was very impressed indeed with this production, the cast throughout put on a great performance and look to be enjoying being part of the proceedings immensely. And I felt the background scenario of the storys set piece to be a brave move for this German production (you'll know what I mean when you see it!) If you enjoyed the original version of 'Night Watch', then this the next step up on the chain.

The disc is a delight to view, with stacks of great extras that must be pushing the capacity of this dual layered DVD to the limits. The detail also on the disc is very impressive indeed. It's one of those rare occasions when I actually would mention that even the animated menu screen impressed me no end! As well as the expected movie trailer, there's (deep breath) a music video, a 'making of' piece, stills, an effects short, storyboards, interviews, audio commentary and so much more. Now some of you may be thinking 'so what', lots of discs carry this sort of stuff. Yeah sure, but few of them have the great detail that this one does. The anarmorphic film print itself is gorgeous, with not only the option of either a German or English 5.1 Surround audio track but various options of directors audio commentary (including an english subtitled directors commentary!) I would recommend watching the film in its original German audio with English subtitles for maximum veiwing pleasure. This variety of options keeps up throughout the extras on the disc, with subtitle options on all the bonus footage. Whilst some discs are happy with at the most a 'behind the scenes' segment, there's a tresure trove of additional 'behind the scenes', production material and interview segments to found all over this disc. We've been told that the UK disc is identical to this German one, so there's no excuse not to pick this cracker up!

So, a thoroughly enjoyable horror romp and a stunning disc to boot. Grab the popcorn and snuggle up with a date (and watch them jump like the good old days!) Check it out!