The Autopsy Files

The Autopsy Files (1994)
HBO Home Video
Cast: Michael Baden
Extras:
Rating:

In 1994 HBO took the daring step to introduce a series to television that was revolving around a real medical examiner, Dr. Michael Baden. But instead of following the path of ’Quincy’ this show took oddities from history and tried to solve them based on forensic science. This DVD from HBO Video features the first two episodes from the show for viewers to behold.

’Autopsy: Confessions Of A Medical Examiner’ is trying to uncover the facts around an ancient body discovered in the ice of the Italian Alps in 1992. With fascinating methods tries to uncover more about the man, how he died, how he had lived, to find out who this man really was.

In ’Autopsy 2: Voices From The Dead’ Baden takes a look at the corpse of a man who was shot 80 years ago and then ended up in a California fun house. Again he tries to find out the circumstances of the man’s life and death.

HBO is presenting the episodes in fullscreen on this DVD in a transfer that is free of problems or defects. Colors are strong and saturated and the picture offers very good contrast with deep, solid blacks and balanced highlights. No edge-enhancement is evident and the compression is without flaws.

The audio on the release is also very good and without problems, making sure all elements are clear and without distortion.

It is easy to throw ’The Autopsy Files’ in the same category as Reality TV, but the fact of the matter is, that it is actually documentary in nature, which implies it is based on reality, whereas Reality TV is a complete fabrication despite its luring name.

It is fascinating to see how pathology and forensics are able to read even the most subtle cues and information from a dead body, and the presentation of the material is masterfully done. For anyone interested in the field, ’The autopsy Files’ is a great release that makes me hope HBO will soon release the remaining episodes form the series on DVD as well.