You can preview the entire SPECTACULAR! soundtrack now at MTV’s The Leak. Check it out!

Mon., Jan. 12, 2009, 6:13pm PT

Autopsy
By DENNIS HARVEY

An After Dark Films release of a Seven Arts Pictures presentation of a Parallel Media, A-Mark Entertainment, Voodoo production. Produced by Jessica Horowitz, Steve Markoff, Bruce McNall, Warren Zide. Executive producers, Olga Mirimskaya, Raymond J. Markovich, Mike Marvin, Darrel Casalino, Michael Arata, Jerry Daigle, Harmon Kaslow, John Martin. Directed by Adam Gierasch. Screenplay, Jace Anderson, Gierasch, E.L. Katz.

With: Robert Patrick, Jessica Lowndes, Jenette Goldstein, Michael Bowen, Robert LaSardo, Ross Kohn, Ashley Schneider, Arcadiy Golubovich, Ross McCall, Janine Venable, Eric F. Adams.

Willfully crass shocker “Autopsy” checks the requisite hapless hotties into a rural Louisiana hospital where nobody ever checks out. Directorial debut by Adam Gierasch (co-scenarist with Jace Anderson of Dario Argento’s “Mother of Tears” and Tobe Hooper’s “Mortuary” and “Toolbox Murders”) takes a somewhat campy approach to lurid genre tropes via ridiculously over-the-top villains and gore. Still, it’s less sendup than homage to retro horror trash. Certain fanboys will be all over this After Dark Fest item once it hits DVD shelves in March.

Post-Mardi Gras partying, five twentysomethings suffer a car crash occasioned by an apparently escaped mental patient. The ambulance arrives without being called; alas, suspiciously underpopulated Mercy Hospital is more in the biz of ensnaring than caring. While her friends suffer serious breaches of medical ethics, Emily (Jessica Lowndes) proves most resilient at combating malevolent Dr. Benway (Robert Patrick) and his equally homicidal staff. A la Argento at his ’70s peak (he’s thanked in the end credits), corridors are lit in atmospherically incongruous rainbow colors. “Autopsy” is as gratuitously stylish as its no-brainer content is gleefully crude. Dull it ain’t, despite brief mayhem lulls.

Camera (color, HD-to-35mm), Anthony B. Richmond; editor, Andrew Cohen; music, Joseph Bishara; production designer, Dorian Vernacchio. Reviewed at Century 20, Daly City, Calif., Jan. 10, 2009. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 84 MIN.

The long wait is almost over… SPECTACULAR! is coming on Presidents’ Day. Tune in Monday, Feb. 16 (8-10 p.m. ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. Starring Nolan Gerard Funk, Tammin Sursok, Victoria Justice, Simon Curtis and Greg Germann, the Movie Features 10 Original Songs.

PRESS RELEASE:

Nickelodeon’s original primetime TV movie Spectacular! rocks Presidents’ Day as it follows charismatic Nikko (Nolan Gerard Funk, Smallville) on an offbeat road to rock stardom that takes swift, sudden twists and turns. Unwavering, after he’s kicked out of his band and dumped by his girlfriend, the talented teenage rebel pulls out all the stops on and offstage, using dynamic new music to achieve his dream while facing fierce competition and learning some hard lessons in life and love along the way.

“Spectacular! is a riveting story with heart, great music and tons of tween appeal,” said Marjorie Cohn, Executive Vice President, Development and Original Programming. “It’s uniquely Nickelodeon because it stays true to our tradition of great characters driving the story, but the edgy music gives it a contemporary twist.”

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