What actually happens
A body with no wounds and a very interesting stomach
In Grantham County, Virginia, the sheriff's department finds a corpse, intact and half-buried, in the basement of a house where a bunch of people were killed in a way no one can explain. There was no forced entry, and the victims seem to have been trying to get out. The body goes to the morgue run by coroner Tommy Tilden and his son Austin. Austin has plans with his girlfriend, Emma, but he delays them to help his father with the autopsy and promises to catch up with her later. The two find that the woman's waist has been shaped by a corset worn for years. They cannot tell when she died, since her blood still flows but her eyes are cloudy. She has no outer wounds, yet her wrists and ankles are shattered, her tongue is gone, a molar is missing, her lungs are black and her organs have been stabbed many times. Her stomach holds jimsonweed, a paralyzing plant.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
The cat in the vents and the radio with its own plans
The radio starts changing stations by itself, and Austin sees people in the hallway, goes to look and finds Stanley, the family cat, mortally wounded. This is the scene animal lovers dread, and it happens early in the night. Tommy mercifully kills the cat, then burns the body, and the death is shown on screen. The autopsy goes on. Tommy finds the missing tooth in Jane's stomach, wrapped in cloth marked with Roman numerals, letters and a strange diagram, and matching marks have been cut into her skin from the underside. The lights burst, and the other bodies in the morgue are gone. The elevator is broken, a fallen tree blocks the only way out and neither Austin's phone nor the office line has a signal. Then something unseen attacks Tommy in the bathroom.
They set fire to her, and it goes about as well as you would expect
Tommy and Austin blame Jane and decide to cremate her. The door locks itself, Austin chops at it with an emergency axe, and through the gap they glimpse a mangled face that belongs to one of the missing bodies and looks reanimated. They cannot reach the furnace, so they pour fuel on Jane and light her. Tommy puts the fire out, and her body is still intact. The elevator starts working again but will not close, and a dark figure comes toward them. Tommy swings the axe, believing it is one of the reanimated corpses, and finds he has killed Emma, who had come back to meet Austin. Back in the examination room they see that Jane's neurons are still active, so she is alive. The cloth points to Leviticus 20:27, a verse about witches, and to 1693, the year of the Salem witch trials. Tommy works out that she was tortured as a supposed witch and her murder made her a real one, immortal and able to feel everything done to her body.
The ending, explained
Tommy decides Jane is keeping them alive so they can suffer as she did, and he offers himself in Austin's place. Wounds like hers appear on Tommy while hers heal and her eyes return to normal. Tommy lies in agony, reaching for a scalpel, and he begs Austin to finish the ritual by cutting out his tongue. Austin takes it as a plea to end the suffering and stabs him. Austin hears the sheriff outside, goes toward the voice and realizes it is another illusion. A vision of Tommy's walking body startles him, and he trips over the stair railing and falls to his death. Police arrive the next morning and find another crime scene they cannot explain. Jane has no trauma, so she is taken to Virginia Commonwealth University. In the ambulance the radio turns on by itself, and Jane's toe twitches.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies, but the cat does not make it.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Autopsy of Jane Doe scary?
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a 6.5 out of 10 with moderate dread. It has jump scares and graphic autopsy detail, and the fear comes from being trapped in a morgue with a body that is not dead.
How does The Autopsy of Jane Doe end?
Jane's ritual leaves both Tommy and Austin dead, Tommy by Austin's hand and Austin in a fall. In the morning the police take Jane to a university, and on the ambulance ride the radio turns on and her toe twitches.
Does the dog die in The Autopsy of Jane Doe?
No dog dies in The Autopsy of Jane Doe. The animal that dies is the family's cat, Stanley, who is found badly hurt and put down by Tommy on screen.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Autopsy of Jane Doe?
No. The Autopsy of Jane Doe has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is Jane Doe in The Autopsy of Jane Doe?
She is a woman tortured to death in 1693 as a supposed witch. Her murder made her a real witch who cannot die and feels whatever her body suffers, and she puts Tommy through what she suffered.
