"Pathology," the 2008 film directed by Marc Schoelermann from a screenplay by Neveldine & Taylor (the writing team behind "Crank") is not a bad film, but is a fairly gripping and entertaining thriller once you get used to it. (At the very least, it makes great late-night TV fanfare.) Though you should be warned, the graphic autopsy sequences and disturbing subject matter may turn off some viewers not yet accustomed to extreme violence and gore and drug-induced, abhorrent sexual behavior.
Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia, of television's "Heroes") graduates at the top of his medical school class and soon finds himself enrolled at one of the nation's top pathology programs. He is noticed by Dr. Jake Gallo (Michael Weston), the leader of a group of brilliant and privileged but elite band of interns who are engaged in a rather dangerous and deadly anti-social past-time: they test each other to see who can commit the perfect murder. Ted is eventually seduced into the joining the group and participating in their shadowy extracurricular activities, but eventually comes to realize just how high the stakes really are and the extreme measures he must take to stay one step ahead of their game to keep from being their next victim.
Pathology, in case you don't know, is the "the science or the study of the origin, nature, and course of diseases" (source: Dictionary.com). So of course, such studies are taken to an illogical extreme in "Pathology," which is a rather worthwhile late-night medical thriller.
You shouldn't look for any Oscar-winning performances here, but the movie's shining light does just happen to be Milo Ventimiglia. Ventimiglia, who plays my favorite character Peter Petrelli from TV's "Heroes," is able to effectively show off a radically different side of his personality here that we have never seen from the actor before. "Pathology" is one example of how his pretty-boy looks can be overlooked because we can now concentrate on the character. He is no longer a pretty boy here, but is instead a dangerous, morally gray anti-hero who realizes how high the stakes really are and what he must do to survive.
"Pathology" is an all right thriller for the late-night movie crowd. It has its faults, yes, but Milo Ventimiglia and the disturbingly fascinating subject matter are able to make it slightly better-than-average late-night TV fanfare.
7/10
