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Released by: MGM
Released on: 9/23/2008
Director: Marc Schoelermann
Cast: Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Weston, Alyssa Milano, Lauren Lee Smith, John de Lancie
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
Pathology follows a medical student named Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) who seems to have it all - a great career ahead of him once he finishes school and a wealthy, hot fiancé named Gwen (Alyssa Milano) - all he has to do is finish his pathology studies and his soon to be father in law will get him a sweet gig working in Washington. Everything looks like it's going to fall into place nicely, Ted even gets along with his teacher, Dr. Quentin Morris (John de Lancie).
And then Ted meets his chief competitor for top student - a smart ass named Jake Gallo (Michael Weston) who, along with his girlfriend Juliette (Lauren Lee Smith) and her lesbian lover Catherine (Mei Melancon) and a couple of other miscreants, has created a sick game. The premise? Each of the students kills someone and then when they take the body to the old abandoned part of the hospital, the others dissect the corpse and try to figure out how the murder was carried out. Jake's a pretty misanthropic type and to say he holds little respect for human life would be an understatement. Regardless, for reasons that are never really explained, Ted foolishly falls in with this crowd and when he's not smoking meth and screwing around with Juliette in the morgue or at a murder scene, he's soon letting his studies slip and paying as little attention to Gwen as possible. When Ted heads back to his in-law's for Thanksgiving and finds out that Gwen's going to move to Los Angeles to live with him while he finishes his studies, the game takes on a much more personal slant for Ted and, unbeknownst to her, for Gwen as well.
Pathology has its share of flaws, the first of which is Ted's all too easy transition from loyal fiancé and superstar med student to rough sex loving, meth smoking murderer. He slides into Jake's twisted world all too easily, there's no real conflict going on in his mind or with his conscience, he simply does a complete 180 degree turn that's simply too convenient. As such, when the finale comes around, it's pretty hard to feel sorry for him. Ted turned into a dick and more or less got what was coming to him. While sure, Jake is the more twisted of the two that never redeems what Ted does. On top of that, the ending is pretty predictable not only in how it plays out but in who takes care of business at the end. Without wanting to spoil things, there's one character in the film who appears continuously throughout the film without any development or real motive only to play an integral part in the film's big finish. The problem there is that because this character has no reason for popping up when he does, you know when the ending comes around who is going to do what.
That said, the film is entertaining enough. Michael Weston makes for an enjoyably over the top villain and the picture doesn't shy away from on screen gore or trashy sex. The film is surprisingly exploitative considering that it's a major studio production and it moves along at a good pace. Despite tendency to set the film in a very greenish tinted medicinal setting (making you think of Saw more often than you might want to), the picture is well shot and while it's hard to take the film as seriously as it takes itself, it is never the less an enjoyable schlock/horror picture.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Pathology is presented in anamorphic 2.35.1 widescreen. Judging by the 'Property of 20th Century Fox' bug visible in the lower right corner of the image and the severe compression artifacts visible, we'll assume that this is not representative of final product and therefore no grade will be given to the transfer.
The primary audio mix on this release is an English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix though a Spanish language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is also included as are optional subtitles in English and Spanish. While the rear channels aren't used quite as often as they could have been there is some nice surround activity in a couple of key scenes that helps to build tension and suspense. Dialogue remains clear from start to finish and there aren't any issues with hiss or distortion to complain about. All in all, the audio is fine.
First up is a commentary track courtesy of director Marc Schoelermann and writers Mark Neveldine and Ben Taylor. There's a bit of dead air here and there but for the most part this is an interesting discussion that covers the inspiration for the film, where some of the twisted ideas came from and what went into researching this picture before going ahead with casting, shooting and post production work.
From there, check out Creating The Perfect Murder (14:57), which is a look at the making of the film that features interviews with the cast and crew and that puts a fair bit of emphasis on the grisly effects work used in the film and the attention to detail that made them as effective as they are. Somewhat related is Cause Of Death (8:04) which is an interview with LA County's chief coroner, Craig Harvey, who talks about what pathologists do and why they are needed. He then explains what forensic pathology is and how those very specialized doctors work to solve crimes.
Rounding out the extras is a music video (2:20) by a band called The Legion Of Doom, an extended autopsy scene (3:04, non-anamorphic widescreen with timecode) and a trailer for AVP: Aliens Vs. Predator - Requiem. Animated menus and chapter selection are also included.
The Final Word:
Despite the predictable ending and shaky character development and logic, Pathology is at least an entertaining thriller with enough sex and gore to keep trash fans happy. Hopefully final product looks better than the uber-compressed test disc sent for review, but the audio and the extras are decent enough.