Customer Reviews

Embodiment of Evil - Encarnacao Do Demonio [Import]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jose Mojica Marins is a truly and pure genius. His mythology is fantastic and Coffin Joe is one of the best horror's characters of all times.

I can assure you this is one of the best horror movie made untill these days.If you already know the work of Coffin Joe,you will love,and if you still haven't watched any of his movies,this is the great one!You better have guts,this is not for the weak ones.

Let me say upfront, to really like this film, you HAVE to already be a fan of the 2 prior "Coffin Joe" films from the 60's. Don't purchase it untill you can check those out. Either you'll join the lovers of Coffin Joe's cult film status, or not. If not, then you will be unsatisfied with this final part of the trilogy. It takes a real time approach, and when we last left Joe it was in the late 60's. Turns out he survived (and plausibly explained in this film) and was sent to the nut-ward of prison for life. They decide to release him 40 years later (present day), despite the clear indication that he has not "repented" (since they state he killed over 30 men in prison). He gets back into his obsession of the ultimate woman to carry his blood to a son and torture, murder, and mayhem along with a pretty cool vision of Purgatory follow. This is a modern day "Joe" and the film is graphic along the lines of the SAW films. I really liked the ending, which is also, a begining. Being a HUGE fan of the first two Coffin Joe character films made in the 60's, I clued into the groove with this one and for me it flowed like a trilogy should and did a good job of preserving the Joe persona, so I am giving it full stars. But I repeat, watch the first two and decide if you like the Coffin Joe story(s) and if so, you should be very happy purchasing this to complete the 3-part story line. If you did not like them, then you won't enjoy this film.

''Well, at least it wasn't a remake'' were all the comments I could muster as I ejected this latest direct to video horror flick from my player. To be fair, I had high hopes for this latest Coffin Joe adventure, but after sitting through 90 minutes of what seemed to be nothing more than a little old man run around the city of São Paulo as if he had taken a wrong turn on his way to an old folks' home halloween party, I hope you can forgive my sarcasm towards the material.

Anyway, onto the story: Released from incarceration after serving a 40 year prison sentence, Coffin Joe (a sadistic undertaker) is back to his evil old ways and hellbent on impregnating a young lovely with his very own demon child. This is purely so he can carry on his devlish bloodline - which I believe has been his intent since the series began way back in the 60s. I know it's hard to find the right woman, but I'm thinking he could have found someone in 40 years - surely?

As the movie progresses, we meet Joe's hunchback servant Bruno (I didn't know if he was supposed to be a cliche. But, he was) and a bevvy of beautiful young women who seem to fall at our anti-hero's feet at the ... er, drop of his hat. With this much luck with the opposite sex, I couldn't figure out his problem with the ''lack of demon baby'' situation? Thrown into the mix are a vgilante cop and a crazy priest who are both obsessed with bringing Joe down and they seem equally as unhinged as he - the sequence where the priest is introduced has to be one of the best ''what the..?'' moments in recent horror cinema.

Hobbling towards the finish line, ''Embodiment of Evil'' throws up old man/young woman sex with blood gushing down from some old witches hanging off a washing line, a drugged lady forced to eat her own buttocks, a penis eating orgy in a 'Doctor Who' style quarry and a man of the cloth who has taken to electrocuting his own nipples - this latest Coffin Joe entry does on the surface offer goofy and splatter happy thrills, however this is all undone as the script seems to have been written by a 13 year old boy and the acting leaves a lot to be desired thus taking you out of the action on a regular minute by minute basis.

José Mojica Marins returns as Coffin Joe, but as with most cases in life - age hasn't been kind and what seemed like a creepy character 40 years ago now comes across as if your grandad had accidently smelled some glue. Granted, he does infuse the character with all he can, but ultimately all you see if an old man trying to get it on with young ladies with a silly hat.

As always, Anchor Bay's presentation is flawless (this review is from the UK Region 2 release). I only saw this on DVD, but I wager the Blu ray is very excellent as the dvd has superb sound and picture quality - the blacks are midnight blacks and the blood is bright red. The extras are minimal and only include a standard 'making of' and trailer. All in all, not the 40 year comeback fight I was hoping for, but if you are in the mood for some bonkers old man leering over young woman and moaning about how everything has changed since the 60s - then, this could be for you. Think Victor Meldrew crossed with Freddy Krueger in a Dario Argento film and you may be near what you can expect. Worth a rental, proceed with caution before purchase.

If you don't know who Coffin Joe is, take some time to do your homework, the character is legendary in Brazilian horror cinema. It's a bit hard to compare him to anybody in American horror cinema but if you can imagine a perverted, bloodthirsty Elvira with the philosophical leanings of Aleister Crowley, you've pretty much got an idea of who Coffin Joe is.

As for Embodiment of Evil, well, how can I break this down without sounding like I hated everything about this film?

I fully expected to see sleaze, nudity and outrageous gore/violence sequences and indeed I did but what I hadn't expected was what appeared to me to be unintentional cheese of the super stinky variety. José Mojica Marins's Coffin Joe delivered so much over-the-top ham and horribly dated cheese that I found myself wondering if it was all a joke. Honestly I can't be sure; what I can be sure of though is that the film felt choppy, unfinished and badly edited. I did enjoy seeing some of the original Coffin Joe film clips and reenactments integrated into the film as well as some of the undead characters haunting him but it all felt so cluttered lacking some much needed focus.

I enjoyed the gore, violence and sex but Embodiment of Evil just doesn't bode well for future Coffin Joe outings. The over-the-top performance may have worked well in the 60s but these days it just comes off a bit cringe-worthy.