José Mojica Marins, in full Coffin Joe regalia and accompanied by a brood of costumed minions, accepted a lifetime achievement award at Fantasia following the presentation of Embodiment of Evil. Judging from the enthusiastic reaction of the crowd to the film and to Marins himself, this true third installment in the Coffin Joe trilogy did not disappoint.
After 40 years in prison for the crimes committed in 1964’s At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul and 1967’s This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse, Zé do Caixão (AKA Coffin Joe) is released back into society and immediately picks up where he left off in search of a perfect woman to continue his bloodline and bear him a son. Along the way, many people happily devote themselves to him, many more are brutally tortured and murdered, and the police, with the help of a masochistic priest (Milhem Cortaz), dedicate themselves to finding Joe and bringing him to justice.
Marins, with a big assist from co-writer Dennison Ramalho (Love from Mother Only, finalist for Best Short Film at the fest in 2003), delivers more of what Coffin Joe fans are used to, including body torture, scalpings, flesh consumption, and blood-soaked sex. But we also start to see a more human version of Coffin Joe, as he is haunted by his past crimes and victims – through an interesting technique involving clips from previous films. As his already questionable sanity unravels, we even witness Joe strolling through a larger-than-life birth canal until he emerges into what can only be described as a demented personal vision of hell/purgatory.
More than just an insanely evil guy looking to prolong his own life through procreation, Coffin Joe was created as an anti-organized-religion response to the corrupt dictatorship in Brazil in the 60s. And according to Marins, Embodiment of Evil was conceived almost forty years ago but was cursed – three producers of the film in its various stages of development died during their tenure – only to be resurrected when Ramalho, a huge Coffin Joe devotee himself, came on board and pressed for its completion. The long wait for a new installment in the Coffin Joe saga was well worth it as, by the time filming began, Marins was finally able to work without any fear of censorship. In fact, Brazil – Sao Paolo in particular – was fully on board for the production of the film. Various levels of government even figure in the final credits, from thanks to full-on production credits. The result is a Grand Guignol tour de force that must be seen to be believed. Welcome back Coffin Joe…oh how we’ve missed you.
