I love this movie so much

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Simply A Masterpiece

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Talented anatomy student Paula (Franka Potente) is delighted when she wins a place at a top medical school in Heidelberg, but is shocked to discover that the esteemed establishment is home to a secret society, The Anti-Hippocrates Lodge, who dissect live human subjects in order to advance medical science.Although German horror flick Anatomie occasionally strays a little too far into clichéd American scary movie territory for its own good, for the most part it is a refreshingly original effort that delivers a wonderfully sinister premise, plenty of suspense, a macabre atmosphere, stylish direction from Stefan Ruzowitsky, a morbid sense of humour, and solid performances from the largely unknown cast (only Potente has achieved much success outside of her home country).Despite the film's extremely gruesome subject matter, the level of gore is kept surprisingly low; plenty of nasty stuff happens to the characters, but careful framing and editing keeps it from being overly explicit. What gore there is, though, is very well handled (there's a great scene in which a victim stares down at his hand to find that parts of it have been stripped of skin and flesh to expose muscle and bone).One of the best things about this film are the dissected plastinated corpses on display in the university's gallery which were inspired by the work of creepy German doctor Gunther von Hagens, best known in the UK for performing a live televised autopsy on Channel 4. Not the 'real McCoy', but rather amazingly accurate plastic replicas created specifically for the film, they are quite fascinating—stunningly detailed, grotesquely surreal works of art.Also pretty damn eye-catching are the impressive curves of actress Anna Loos, who plays blonde nymphomaniac/brainiac Gretchen; unfortunately, despite playing a total slut, she never strips down past her undies, which is a crying shame. Had Loos gone the whole hog for the sake of her art, I'd have possibly given this an 8/10; as it stands, it gets a still very admirable 7/10.Oh, and if you enjoy this film, I also recommend Pathology (2008), which explores similar themes (and is much gorier).

Every horror fan should feel excited at the very least when they read the premise of this movie. It's something that seems fit for a "Saw" movie or an Eli Roth movie perhaps. It makes it all the more a shame that the film-makers seemed oblivious for the great material they were granted to work with. They all too obviously were not at ease within the horror genre and basically had no idea what they were doing.Not to make it sounds like the worst horror movie of all time but it's just such a shame to see how they waste all potential, by taking a completely wrong and stupid approach to its story.Problem is that this an horror movie, that has not idea how to handle or build up its tension or mystery. Or rather said; it doesn't seem to care about its mystery or tension at all. It's more busy with the soap series like developments and problems of the characters, that are more drama related than anything else really. I don't even think you could call this a thriller, since there is complete lack of the right required type of build-up.It causes you not to be grabbed by any of the movie its tension or mystery, which in return also makes you less interested in the overall movie and all of its characters. Another strange thing is that the main character, played by Franka Potente, disappears for too long out of the story a couple of times throughout the movie. All things that show how poorly told this movie is and how lacking its approach by director Stefan Ruzowitzky is.Of course the movie is not without its gore and it also has a pretty good atmosphere but the rest of the movie really brings it all down. As a genre lover I really wouldn't recommend this movie, despite its great (sounding) concept.If you are still looking for a movie to watch on Halloween...this is not the one.5/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

If you're looking for a horror story with plenty of gore, fright, shock cuts, helpless young women, pursuits through dark hospital corridors, conspiracies at high levels, and an innocent student (Franka Potente) who gradually becomes aware of and finally unravels the Anti-Hippocratic plot, this is your meat. The meat may be drained of all proteins and lipids and thoroughly plasticized, but it's still meat -- of a kind.I thought it was unworthy of the writers to victimize Franka Potente's roommate at this elite medical institution in Heidelberg. Not so much because she was a flamboyantly feminine nymphomaniac but because she had an IQ of 150. At the moment, the world needs all the geniuses it can find. (On the other hand, her taste in music was execrable, so maybe it evens out.) Franka Potente is the only thing I found worth watching in the film. She's very touching as a naive who goes about discovering evil. She's relatively chaste and vulnerable. And she's not drop-dead gorgeous by Hollywood standards either, looking as she does something like Lilly Taylor, but she's a fine actress. I can say that because she shown her aptitude elsewhere, as in "Lola Rennt" and "The Bourne Identity." You can't really judge her talent from this film because her voice is horribly dubbed, along with everyone else's. It's hard to imagine why, because she speaks perfect English.I didn't bother watching the end of the film but if you like this sort of thing -- it holds no surprises whatever -- you'll probably enjoy it.

Okay, I had reasonably high expectations for this. The controversial subject matter was a good concept. As a horror fan I admit I was fascinated and very excited about this.It turns out they had a great idea, but it was terribly executed. Let's see. This movie seems to run in 3 modes: Happy, Sex and Dark. The problem is that the movie never decides what it wants to be. The "Happy" parts I believe were meant to contrast with the "Dark" parts, but it doesn't work. The soundtrack is one of the reasons.The movie transitions between these 3 modes very badly, I can't even begin to say how much the directing and editing suck. There's sex in the most unappealing and unerotic way. I'm not complaining but even for Horror standards they were unnecessary and filler.The characters are all unlikeable with the exception of Paula (Potente). Her friend from Munich is a slut and possibly one of the most annoying characters in movies I've come across recently.There's a bit of plot which I won't go into detail... It's not stupid and in more talented hands would make a good movie. There's even a nice twist and a cool conspiracy going on. Don't try to understand everything because there are giant plot holes here.It's all so shoddily done that you don't care for the victims, the perpetrators, anyone. And to think this could have been great. I can say ONE good thing about it which is, the movie shed some light on today's unethical medical procedures. With genetics and controversial sciences advancing, this could have been a great philosophical film that raises and discusses these questions. But you won't find that here, just a series of scenes loosely pasted together with people and things that you don't care about.Skip this and go watch Flatliners instead, you're welcome.3/10