From Amazon.com
The German thriller
Anatomy is a Grand Guignol display of medical horror, dwelling on dissected flesh and body organs in jars. Paula (Franka Potente, the star of
Run Lola Run) is a smart young medical student with a lot of family history: her grandfather is a celebrated surgeon and her father runs a low-income medical clinic. An award-winning essay gets her into a prestigious university, known for a strict but brilliant professor of anatomy. On the train to school, Paula saves the life of a punk rocker with a heart problem--only to find this same young man on her dissecting table a few weeks later in anatomy class. Her investigations into this coincidence lead her to discover an underground society of doctors who pursue medical research at all costs, and who sometimes give interesting medical specimens a little nudge on their way to death. Despite a clunky script,
Anatomy has a slick look and some gruesome moments. Potente has an engaging presence and is surrounded by a good-looking young cast. This is pretty much a German version of movies like
Final Destination,
Urban Legend, and
I Know What You Did Last Summer, and anyone who's a fan of those flicks will find much to enjoy here as well.
--Bret Fetzer
Review
Although it features spooky production design, solid acting and plenty of great set-pieces, this German suspense film wears its Coma lineage on its sleeve and finds itself reduced to medical-thriller cliches by the end. Things start off promisingly enough with the low-key performance of Franka Potente and the smartly detailed establishing scenes of Stefan Ruzowitzky's script. Anna Loos subverts bimbo stereotypes with her supporting role as a brilliant but carnal med student, while Traugott Buhre embodies an enjoyably archetypal crusty old prof. But once we're past the ominous set-up and the first few scenes of stomach-churning involuntary dissection, Anatomie settles into familiar conventions: sex scenes punctuated by murder; not-so-startling character revelations; and what seem like miles and miles of institutional corridor whose florescent lights invariably flicker as various characters run down them. By the time Potente's character wakes up, disoriented and strapped to an examination table, the waft of mothballs has become overpowering. Ruzowitzky may exhume bits of earlier movies with clinical precision, but his Frankenstein's monster of a horror flick is novel only for its German accent. ~ Brian Dillard, All Movie Guide
