The Daily Dig: Autopsy (1975)

A giallo ghost story with an ample amount of gore and nudity fails to break the mold thanks to a wimpy ending.

A morgue doctor investigates peculiar suicides. Let’s dig into 1975’s AUTOPSY, directed by Armando Crispino!

As I See It

Alternatively titled The Victim and Corpse, this Italian crime thriller breaks down some boundaries of the genre I was previously conditioned to function within.

There is much more of a supernatural twang to this film than most films categorized as giallo. Normally, those elements are strictly the red herring of the film. But here, they act completely independent of the plot and motive of the killer or suspected killer.

Getting past the opening sequence is a stress test.

They waste no time throwing some heavy boulders as we’re treated to a suicide montage culminating with a murder-suicide as a father blows his own brains out, and one of his young daughter’s ghastly death expressions will haunt your parental nightmares.

The beach scene gore is splendid, if not a bit unrealistic, in the gunshots devastation.

There are way too many gratuitous sex scenes. Couldn’t they think of another way to convey that Simona was fantasizing about the priest? The creepy, r*pey morgue assistant stayed true to his carnal, deplorable character.

The final reveal of the killer and their motivation is yawn-inducing but not nearly as egregious as the atrocious “body double” doll that was used in the final scene.

Famous Faces

Mimsy Farmer (Simona) played Jill Trevers in Lucio Fulci’s 1981 telling of an Edgar Allan Poe tale: The Black Cat. She also starred in Ruggero Deodato’s 1986 demonic film Body Count.

Ray Lovelock (Riccardo) starred in a Fulci film and is a Dig alum for Murder-Rock: Dancing Death.

Of Gratuitous Nature

They use every chance they get to show off some breasts. Dead breasts. Doctor breasts. Ghost breasts. No discrimination. Just show the breasts. Throw on top of that a dream Simona has of her father having sex, and you’ve got some textbook Freudian shit going on here.

Heartthrob

The odd, macabre wax museum is a thing of beauty and feels so accessible that I wish more of the film were centered around it. I don’t know what the point of it was, but I loved it.

Ripe for a Remake

Serial killer films are done to death.

Spawns

No progeny to report.

Where to Watch

Vinegar Syndrome released a Blu-Ray in 2021. You can stream it on AMC+, Tubi, Pluto TV, and Shudder.