Embodiment of Evil
AKA. Encarncao do Demonio
Year: 2011
Director: Jose Mojica Marins
Stars: Jose Mojica Marins, Jece Valadad, Milhem Cortaz
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Synapse Films
Running Time: 94 Mintues
“Embodiment of Evil” is the third film in the Coffin Joe trilogy that started back in 1963 with “At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul”. It’s been over forty-three years, since Coffin Joe terrorized America with “This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse”. Now the famous Brazilian horror icon back with the final film of the Coffin Joe trilogy.
The film takes places forty year after the last film, where Coffin Joe is being released from prison. Now released from prison, he roams the streets and unleashed new terrors upon the community. Accompanied by his faithful servant and his new followers, Joe sets out to find the perfect woman to bear his child. As he leaves his trail of terror, he is haunted by visions of his past victim and is on the run from the military police that are out to kill him at all cost.
Film Review:
Going into this film, I wasn’t expecting much with this film, as I haven’t seen the two previous installments of the Coffin Joe series. By the end of the film, I rushed to my Netflix quere and tried to seek out the first two installments, because this film is just very good.
“Embodiment of Evil” is one twisted and deranged horror film that makes most torture porn horror films look like PG-13 horror films. Actor/Co-Writer/Director Jose Mojica Marins does a very good job creating the violent imagery that’s needed to make this film horrifying. He and his effects team do a very good job handling the gore effects. This film is very gory, but the blood and gore is used to create horrifying images instead of splattering blood just to create an effect for the audience. That makes the scenes very bizarre and sometimes horrifying to watch. It also serves a purpose, as it helps create some of the film’s horrifying sequences. I rather have a gory film that use buckets of blood to create horrifying imagery than see a film that uses blood mindlessly to please a fan base. Marins also makes this film look very gothic to likes that it’s not seen in American horror films. Those scenes were done in a way that it makes you feel like your watching a hellish scenario, which makes some of the scenes dark and very hard to watch.
Marins also does a really good job as Coffin Joe. He makes the character very menacing and sadistic by tone of his voice and the way he stares with his eyes. That’s what a horror villain should be, when your watching one of these genre films. It makes the character so devilish that it draws your attention to the screen.
The screenplay written by Marins and Dennison Ramalho does a good job making the film accessible to those who haven’t seen the first two films. One of the things that I liked about it, the way the writers incorporated footage from the first two films into this film. Every time you see a sprit haunting the main character, you’d see old footage from the past two Coffin Joe films. It makes it easier for someone who is watching Coffin Joe for the first time to know why he is being haunted by that person, instead of sitting there and feeling like that he‘s being haunted by random characters. It gives an understanding of what has happened in the past films. Another thing that the writers do well, I liked how some of the death scenes were well thought out. Ever though they are some of the most deranged scenes that you‘ll ever see, at least there was thought to them and it accomplishes to shock the average horror film buff. That’s what kind of horror that you want, when your seeing a film of this caliber.
Blu- Ray Extras:
First on the disc in the thirty plus minute documentary “”Making of Embodiment of Evil”. This documentary pretty much composed of behind the scenes footage and interviews on the set. What was lacking in this featurette and blu-ray is an in depth interview with the film’s star and director Joes Mojica Marins. It would have been nice for the director talk about the film and the trilogy. It would have added something to the disc.
Next on the disc is the fourteen minute featurette “Footage from the Fantasia Film Festival Premiere” This featurette is pretty much highlights from the film’s introduction at the Fantasia Film Festival and Jose Mojica Marins accepting his career achievement award from the festival’s organizers.
Rounding out the package is a DVD copy of the film and the film’s theatrical trailer.
Overall, I wished this package had a documentary on The Coffin Joe Trilogy and an interview with the creator and star Joes Mojica Marins. It would have made more worth while for the package.
Even though the features weren‘t as good as one would hope, the film makes up from the lack of extras on this disc. This is definitely worth a look for fans and non fans of Coffin Joe. “Embodiment of Evil” is a film that visually horrifying and will make you have nightmares in your sleep.
Film Review Rating: Five Stars.
DVD Extras: Two Stars
