Pathology

6:50am Saturday 9th August 2008

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Pathology (Cert 18, 93 mins, Entertainment In Video, Thriller) Starring: Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Weston, Lauren Lee Smith, Dan Callahan, Johnny Whitworth, Alyssa Milano, Keir O'Donnell.

Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia headlines this medical thriller from director Marc Schoelermann and screenwriting duo Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank). The prognosis is gloomy: the script takes a scalpel to in-depth characterisation and Ventimiglia struggles to get beneath the skin of his amoral (anti)-hero who gets his kicks by playing God. Brilliant student Ted Grey (Ventimiglia) is the wunderkid of his class at Harvard Medical School, earning himself a place on a pathology program at Philadelphia University Hospital alongside many of the best interns in the country. Befriended by creepy Jake Gallo (Weston) and his posse, Ted is invited to take part in a deadly game: to kill one of the degenerates in the local community and challenge other members of the gang to deduce the method of execution, avoiding detection by the police and the coroner. As the stakes are raised, Ted realises that his some of his classmates intend to make him the next victim and he will have to use all of his guile to avoid becoming another nametag on the mortuary slab. Pathology will appeal to fans of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its ilk, revelling in the dissections of nameless peripheral characters. The hospital is alarmingly dark and shadowy - do Philadelphia medical staff save lives wearing night vision goggles? Plot twists are predictable and performances are almost as lifeless as the cadavers, with a thankless supporting role for Alyssa Milano as Ted's fiancee who intends to bring out his caring, human side. Some hope.

DVD Extras: none stated.

Rating: **