Embodiment of Evil (2008)

Director José Mojica Marins returns as his famous (at least if you are a big movie nerd like I am) character Coffin Joe in this 3rd entry into the series and the first in more then 40 years.  The movie opens with him being released from a prison psych ward after serving his sentence after being caught by the police.  And for those fans of the series that might be confused by this it is explained in the movie that the 2nd movie didn’t end where you thought it did.  So he is released and immediately begins his search for a woman to bear his perfect son.  This involves a lot of testing, which is pretty gruesome for the ladies.  Lucky for him he has a ready-made group waiting to pledge their allegiance to him the moment he walks out of jail.  All while this is happening the police and a priest with a personal vendetta against Joe are looking for him.  But will they catch him before he does even more damage to the locals or before he finally creates his son?

I’ve realized by talking to other fans that you either like or dislike Coffin Joe movies.  I’m a big fan of these movies, but I can understand why this doesn’t appeal to everyone.  This movie, like the others, is very stylized and can be confusing at times.  When you sit down to watch a Coffin Joe movie you need to realize that the story is being told from the perspective of the character and that he is insane.  So if you want to believe that what he is seeing is actually some supernatural events that’s cool.  But then again he might be imagining everything and since the other characters don’t see what he does that is entirely possible.  For me this sort of vague uncertainty is part of what makes these movies so cool.  I’ll repeat here what I’ve always told anyone that has asked me about these, “A Coffin Joe movie isn’t so much watched as it is experienced.”  I know that sounds a bit snobbish and I sound like one of those “film douche bags” but it actually fits with this movie. 

But don’t let the stylized story scare you away from Embodiment of Evil.  Horror fans are going to get a kick out of the gore in this movie.  We get to see all kinds of mayhem from Coffin Joe and his disciples as they test the various ladies and take care of some nosey police officers.  This includes some nasty bits with roaches, nails thru the wrists, being hung by the skin, a quick dip in a barrel of guts and other such fun.  But the most memorable stuff is a hungry rat and a woman eating her own butt.  Yeah I said that a woman is fed her own cheek and seems to enjoy it!  There is some delightfully twisted stuff and most of it looks to be practical effects. 

Included on the release (a DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack) from Synapse is a making of feature.  It is a pretty in-depth look at the filming of the new movie.  There is quite a bit of behind the scenes footage of them setting up and shooting the movie.  I found it pretty interesting.  Though it was kind of a bummer that they didn’t get the director on camera for an interview.  He is a pretty interesting guy.  Still this is worth checking out.  Also included on the DVD or Blu-Ray is some footage from the premier at the Fantasia film festival and the Theatrical trailer. 

Let me be honest for a minute.  When I first heard that this movie was getting made I was worried.  I mean returning to a character like Coffin Joe after 40 years is asking a bit much.  But I’ll be damned if José Mojica Marins did pull it off as both an actor and director.  This is a movie that is more then worthy of it’s predecessors.  If you guys are looking for something really different from the norm then you need to check out Embodiment of Evil, which I recommend.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer