Weekly Review -- Playing with life

Pathology (2008) -- A blend of clichés we have seen before and some new horror elements, this movie is often frightening, but in very poor taste for most of its running time. In a nutshell, it is a mutated, over-the-top descendant of Anatomy, The Skulls and Extreme Measures. Young, ambitious and unrealistically accomplished, Dr. Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) joins a prestigious pathology program, and soon discovers a cutesy little game other interns like to play; namely, killing people in order to find out how to commit that elusive perfect murder. Ethically challenged, to say the least, he joins them in their quest, but soon finds the game spiraling out of control... This movie contains some of the most violent, cynical and relentless examples of life and death exploitation this side of Saw. It is one thing for a movie to hang on to its tongue-in-cheek attitude while lining up philosophically inclined, possibly even morbid, jokes; this, kids, is what we call dark humor. It is quite another, however, for a movie to make an attempt to cover up its disrespect for human life using the same kind of quips, not to mention themes such as rape and incest. The buckets of blood do not help its cause, and the unnecessary sex is only there for titillation purposes. As far as the acting goes, the leads do a decent job. Ventimiglia walks a fine line between morality and ambiguity as Dr. Grey, and Michael Weston radiates disturbed temptation from every word as Dr. Jake Gallo, the alpha male of the interns. The screenplay tries in vain to ponder the value and meaning of existence, but only succeeds in intersecting the heaps of gore with quasi-profound diatribe. The most chilling aspect of the movie is how it portrays the medical profession -- as a domain of egotistical, homicidal maniacs, who enjoy playing with what they should hold sacred. You do not want to run into any of these so-called doctors, who most likely have never even learned to pronounce the name of the Hippocratic Oath, let alone adhere to its principles. I am not sure if there is some sort of background check for individuals who apply to medical schools, but Pathology shows that there should be, lest one should suffer from an incurable God complex. Diagnosis: D.O.A.

5/10