Pathology (2008) | REVIEW

In my previous review I stated that Doomsday was gory beyond belief, which I now humbly take back. Pathology makes Doomsday's level of gore look somewhat mediocre and puts the word 'nauseating' on an all-new level. I decided to watch Pathology after hearing a positive word or two about it, saying the movie was chilling and a 'real thriller'. In my opinion whoever said it was 'chilling' clearly didn't understand the meaning of the word because 'disgusting' or 'repulsive' or 'vomit-inducing' would be all the more befitting. I've stated this before and I'll state it again; I like horror movies that respect the genre as an art, but I don't like movies that merely use blood and severed limbs to cause a scare or two during the course of the film. It's relatively easy to affect a person using excessive amounts of blood. Real horror isn't easy.

This Flick Is About...
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A group of medical residents studying pathology devise a deadly game: to see which one of them can commit the perfect murder. When med school student Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) graduates top of his class he joins one of the nation’s most prestigious Pathology programs. With talent and determination, Ted is quickly noticed by the program’s privileged and elite band of pathology interns who invite him into their crowd. Intrigued by his new friends he begins to uncover secrets he never expected and finds that he has unknowingly become a pawn in their dangerous and secret after-hours game at the morgue of who can commit the perfect undetectable murder. As Ted becomes seduced into their wild extracurricular activities the danger becomes real and he must stay one step ahead of the game before he is the next victim.
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As always, it's a pretty decent plot that just doesn't form well on screen. I'm not sure what director Marc Schoelermann was trying to achieve when he made Pathology but it sure as hell wasn't intended to get people more accustomed with doctors or anyone remotely involved with the med business. What disappointed me was the fact that I expected something innovative from this film. I liked the plot and the fact that it didn't involve an army of undead people hunting down innocent med students in a locked-up facility. That would be the norm. I admired the fact that in this rare case, the bodies stay dead and the students are the ones who are up to no good. Unfortunately for me though, I started hating the film halfway into it. I hated the direction the story was taking and the overdose of dead bodies that were being gruesomely dissected for no apparent reason. A large chunk of the movie merely incorporates useless scenes of mashed internal organs and bloated brains that ooze out of half-naked people on a table. No, it's not funny and it's not amusing. Pathology sets a sense of discomfort within you and one main cause for that is the fact that you just can't bring yourself to eat or drink anything during the course of the movie. And that sucks, seriously! Popcorn, snacks, and drinks are a part of the moviegoing experience. *sigh* Maybe I should've anticipated stuff like this...seeing as it is called Pathology for a reason, right?

Another thing this movie goes a lil' overboard with is the sex. Yes, sex is a part of Hollywood and nearly all movies have some part of it embedded in them. This one has a lil' too much of it, and though I'm no boyscout myself, I know when a movie is trying to push itself via an overload of nudity. And this one has a boatload! But are they all hot? Nope. Just to clear things up; corpses are not hot or sexy no matter how nude they are. Severed people are not hot either. Alyssa Milano and Lauren Lee Smith are hot, yes, but the amount of scenes of them having sex with their respective partners were enough to lengthen the flick by a bit. Like I said, I'm no boyscout to complain about the purity of film but when there's obviously way more nudity than is needed it gets annoying. Making a good horror film is difficult to do. Making an ordinary horror show with lots of barenaked ladies is easy to do and puts money in the bank. It works, but it's not something I'd like to admire.

I think the only aspect of Pathology that got my attention is Michael Weston who plays Dr. Jake Gallo, the main villain in this movie. Then again, there really isn't a good guy in Pathology which is also a downside because you don't actually root for anyone; which is boring and messes with your sense of direction during a film. You always need someone to root for; be it a bad guy, a good guy, or an anti-hero. Back to Michael Weston. He does a good job at being bad so I guess kudos should go to him. The guy comes off as a mentally-f***ed psycho really well. And yeah, the soundtrack's pretty decent since it helps with getting the depressing mood of the film going. That's plus-point number two.

Put the whole picture together and I'd say you're better off skipping Pathology. And yes, for those of you who are easily nauseated by blood, take a step back and go watch something else. I'm not against gore in a movie but when there's way too much of it even though the scene doesn't require such a thing then it gets irritating. Sure, it's called Pathology and bodies are what make the title possible but c'mon...there are more creative ways to make a horror movie about pathology-related stuff than to show the audience one too many scenes of internal organs being brutalized! The flick is highly disturbing and will haunt your memory for some time...these aren't easy scenes to forget.
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Wrap : Pathology gets a 1.2 out of 5.0 because to me, it's a story that could've been finished in less than an hour yet it drags itself longer by adding sex and unnecessary gore. There's very little story and I still don't understand what the movie was trying to prove, making it something I find ineffective and downright boring. Not to mention I can't get a bunch of these images outta' my head! Damnit! So my advice is if you haven't watched this flick, there's no real need to do so at all.