01/29/11: EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (Jose` Mojica Marins, 2008) 
This is only the third official Ze` De Caixao/Coffin Joe movie after AT MIDNIGHT I’LL TAKE YOUR SOUL (1964) and THIS NIGHT I’LL POSSESS YOUR COPRSE (1967), though there are a number of others in which he appears (and which Mojica Marins directed) – not least two more I own, STRANGE WORLD OF COFFIN JOE (1968) and AWAKENING OF THE BEAST (1970). For the record, I also have the little-seen STRANGE HOSTEL OF NAKED PLEASURES (1976) and INFERNO CARNAL (1977) from this Brazilian cult figure. Though I cannot say I was bowled over by the first two entries in the series, I enjoyed them to a certain degree (on the other hand, I positively disliked AWAKENING, which was the only other one I had watched so far).
While this has typically been greeted with enthusiasm by ardent fans, I was skeptical about it myself – but, seeing it available on Blu-Ray at my local DVD rental outlet, I sprung for it regardless. Incidentally, it is nice that exploitation veterans can still keep busy in today’s very different climate (even if, like here, they have to stoop to the level of ‘Torture Porn’ now in vogue): I had watched the idiosyncratic but below-par effort by the late Jean Rollin, FIANCEE` OF DRACULA (2002), but was reasonably impressed with the Paul Naschy (also deceased by now) vehicle BLOOD RED (2004) and, for what it is worth, I also own Jess Franco’s well-received SNAKEWOMAN (2005). Anyway, the film under review is definitely not bad for a modern horror film, though the DV-sourced photography (with its sharpness augmented by the HD transfer!) is rather unattractive.
Coffin Joe is released from prison after 40 years (still in his top-hatted, cape and cane attire, not forgetting the disgusting extra-long fingernails!), by which time many had figured he had died. He still has his faithful servant waiting on him (on their way home, Ze` is even hit by a speeding car, from which he emerges amazingly unscathed!) and, who has acquired a number of other willing acolytes (that are immediately put to the test by their sadistic/blasphemous master). He is still trying to beget a son (in fact, one of the girls in his power offers herself up for the task) and has already set his sights on a number of prospective candidates, whom Joe torments into acquiescence (one is even forced to eat her own buttock!).
An interesting aspect here is that Ze` is, if anything, an anguished boogeyman – as he is haunted by the victims from his previous outings (the women’s original demises at his hands shown in flashbacks from their respective films)! At one point, he descends once more into Hell, albeit a different vision from the memorable one (and which is how I had actually first come across the character on late-night Italian TV) featured in Joe’s 1967 ‘vehicle’. His nemesis here are two military officers behind an oppressive regime: actually, it was intended to be just one part but had to be split when the actor concerned died during filming! The Anchor Bay UK “Special Edition” disc included a half-hour “Making Of” which, apart from the typical behind-the-scenes vicissitudes, amply displays the esteem in which Mojica Marins is still held.
01/30/11: INQUISITION (Jacinto Molina, 1976)
Paul Naschy’s directorial debut amazingly emerged to be superior to most of his work for other film-makers. Thematically, it amalgamates WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968) with THE DEVILS (1971): Naschy is the appointed Inquisitor who falls under the spell of a local girl (Italian starlet Daniela Giordano from Mario Bava’s atypical FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT [1969] and who, in a recent interview for the “Stracult” TV program, singled out the Naschy film as her personal favorite!). He has her lover killed (intermittently depicted as in a Sergio Leone picture, with harmonica accompaniment intact!) – though, in an online review, it is stated that he was not responsible after all?! – but is eventually brought before the court himself for associating with a sorceress. In fact, Giordano has sold her soul to the Devil (seen in effectively grotesque make-up not unlike that of a villain from some contemporaneous anime[!] and, reportedly, played by the star himself) and deliberately given in to her leading man’s advances in order to bring him down!! At one point, he is haunted by the vision of a scythe-wielding Death but, since she ends up sharing his fate, one supposes the girl is ultimately disillusioned by her twisted beliefs – while, ironically enough, Naschy acquires grace through martyrdom!
The period ambience is splendidly evoked, there is discreet use of gore (notably a nipple torn off by a huge pair of pliers!) and a surprising amount of nudity (gratuitous perhaps but not really exploitative). Of course, the “Malleus Maleficarum” tome and the plague (which, again, it is stated elsewhere to be the handiwork of the Devil himself!) never seem to be too far away in this type of film. Still, Naschy’s script offers reasonable subtext: his character’s position is coveted by the second-in-command (who proceeds to gleefully supervise the Inquisitor’s own subsequent trial), a local blind-man is constantly snitching on the usually-innocent townsfolk (though he takes inordinately long to report the real witch who schools the heroine in the Black Arts!) to the relevant authorities until he predictably gets his just desserts, while Giordano – for whom, with her true love gone, life has lost its meaning – gradually comes to realize the power of Darkness and willingly becomes its servant and vessel. Incidentally, I was under the impression that INQUISITION was one of two efforts about which the writer/director/star felt the proudest (the other being THE TRAVELER [1979], which followed this viewing in quick succession) as per “The Mark Of Naschy” website – but, having double-checked, it transpired that that film was the serial-killer thriller THE FRENCHMAN’S GARDEN (1978) which, however, seems to be rather hard to come by…
01/30/11: THE TRAVELER (Jacinto Molina, 1979)
Paul Naschy’s third historical outing proved to be not just the best of the loose trilogy but perhaps his finest work ever, a feat rewarded with a couple of nods at Fantasy Film Festivals. Interestingly, it presents yet another facet to the question of Evil which is so often treated in films boasting a medieval setting: indeed, in THE DEVIL’S POSSESSED (1974), he had been a Satanist; in INQUISITION (1976), an oppressor and – eventually – victim of Devil worship; whereas, here, he is the personification of all that is unholy, since he plays Lucifer himself in human form (his face occasionally taking a red sheen for maximum impact)!
Naschy’s script, too, is undoubtedly his most fascinating – as its episodic structure intelligently takes a logical progression. The Devil (disguised as a wanderer) meets with a man who directs him to a nearby house for shelter, but proceeds to kill him instead. Then, he meets a younger man being tormented by his blind master, whom he helps and takes under his wing. Going to the indicated premises, he seduces the crippled woman while her husband is away at work but subsequently denounces, and brands (which scene even became the film’s poster), as a whore and robs of her savings. Later on, he goes to another family, where he purports to save a dying girl’s life – the price being to share her mother’s bed (even getting her pregnant, with the begotten child’s fate left hanging in the balance by the film’s conclusion and the woman herself a suicide!).
Our ‘heroes’ next hit upon a caravan – where Naschy plays the idiot to distract the noble couple at its head, while his companion cleverly gets rid of their entourage (by promising gold but leading them into a deadly trap). On to a convent (to which he and his ally turn up dressed in the habits of two friars they had come across and assaulted) where, naturally, superstition and repressed sexuality are rampant – thus easy prey to The Devil’s wiles. Here, however, he had counted without the nuns’ lusty gardener who gives him a piece of his mind on sensing the threat to his ‘territory’! They wake up in a whorehouse, where the two obviously find themselves at home – but this time their ties are irrevocably severed (though not before the young man is allowed glimpses into mankind’s less-than-encouraging future via newsreel footage of WWII, the Holocaust and the Atom Bomb!), when Naschy sells his partner to a gay nobleman!!
The boy takes revenge by having the lackeys of his new master (thanks to whom he is finally on his way to Court, and to where he had previously hoped Naschy would lead him) crucify his former companion/tutor – leading to a brief but striking moment where The Devil asks a stone figure of the martyred Christ how could he have given his life for such an ungrateful species as the human race! The film ends with a reversal of its opening sequence: Naschy helping out an apparently weary traveler and being turned upon yet again…only he now opts to show off his omnipotence, and merely – jeeringly – laughs in the face of man’s selfishness and greed.
While fully displaying the inherent appeals of this type of film, namely cinematography (by “Euro-Cult” stalwart Alejandro Ulloa, with especially nice candle-lit interiors), production design, costumes and music, the tone here is curiously – yet endearingly – bawdy (with the star himself participating in nude scenes and sarcastically exclaiming “Vade retro, Satanas!” while bedding the convent’s Mother Superior). This was actually the style adopted by countless erotic comedies of the “Decameron” variety that emanated from Italy earlier in the decade; a speeded-up orgy, then, clearly bears the influence of Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971).
Incidentally, I had recently come up with a premise in which the coming of the Anti-Christ is treated in Bunuelian, i.e. agnostic, terms – and I knew Naschy’s effort would be among those I was required to watch for inspiration! In conclusion, in view of the recent discussion I had with Michael Elliott about the star’s work, I ended up acquiring the intriguing sci-fi piece THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK (1976), which I will be checking out presently…
01/30/11: DOGTOOTH (Giorgios Lanthimos, 2009)
I first became aware of this Greek drama (the horror elements attributed to it are mainly implied) via an enthusiastic review in a British movie magazine. I was immediately intrigued by the plot (of the children of a family leading an oppressive/deceptive sheltered life – though the result is a long way from Joseph Losey’s THESE ARE THE DAMNED [1963]) but, since it was surprisingly Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, I made it a point to check this one out before the ceremony (even if there is little chance of it emerging the eventual winner).
I have only watched a handful of titles from this Mediterranean country over the years, so I could not tell what was the current trend in their film-making style; as it turned out, this seemed to follow in the no-holds-barred tradition of directors like Lars von Trier and Gaspar Noe, neither of which I am at all fond of! The film, therefore, resorted to snatches of hardcore pornography to get its various points across. Some elements prove engaging, such as the presence of a woman from Father’s place of work to provide sexual service for the two elder kids in exchange for trivial gifts, who is eventually assaulted by the old man when she in turn gives them presents ‘behind his back’. At other times, it is even amusing: not only when performing a spastic dance for their parents’ benefit, but the notion that an imaginary other brother had been scratched to death by a cat – when one such animal unaccountably turns up on the premises, it is brutally killed there and then by the boy with a pair of garden shears! Mostly, however, it is just bewildering since no context whatsoever is given to this unusual situation, thus resulting an altogether pointless and unpleasant exercise!
As expected, the eldest offspring ultimately rebels – deliberately breaking her “Dogtooth” (which would indicate the children’s passage into manhood) in order to go out into the world unbeknownst to her father – though the film typically cuts off before anything of consequence happens, thus letting the audience ‘make up’ their own ending, as it were.
01/31/11: THE DEVIL’S CROSS (John Gilling, 1975)
To begin with, I only became aware of this one last year: I was immediately intrigued, however, due to director Gilling’s involvement (which, apparently, irked Spanish film unions and eventually proved to be his swan-song) but also for being an unofficial entry in the popular Knights Templar/Blind Dead series. The script (adapted from stories by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, a Spanish author of horror tales in the vein of Edgar Allan Poe) was originally supplied by yet another cult figure, Jacinto Molina aka Paul Naschy, who would end up fired by the director (despite the two reportedly having been friends!) both in this capacity and as the film’s leading man!!
Anyway, the end result may be slow-starting but it subsequently emerges a gripping effort, not to mention a stylish and (undeniably) atmospheric one; incidentally, as was the case with the recently-viewed THE WOMAN WITH RED BOOTS (1974), there was an unexplained discoloration in the image during fog-bound night-time sequences! Another asset with respect to the film under review is that it is well-cast: this extends to Ramiro Oliveros – who replaced Naschy (the latter would, in any case, have been wrong for the part) – whose novelist hero is forever doubting events due to his copious intake of hashish! Even so, the dominant presence is definitely that of bald-headed, bearded and memorably sinister Adolfo Marsillach (father of Cristina from Dario Argento’s OPERA [1987]!): his eventual revelation as the villain of the piece was hardly a surprise, but his true identity still provided a sting in the tail!
Typically effective, too, is Emma Cohen (who actually leaves a more lasting impression than nominal, and top-billed, leading-lady Carmen Sevilla): she had been equally notable in an earlier Naschy vehicle, HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1972), as well as the nasty Spaghetti Western CUT-THROATS NINE (1972) and, best of all, Jess Franco’s restrained psychological thriller THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR (1973; in which Oliveros also appears). Here, she is actually an apparition, doomed to be constantly pursued by the Templars (right from the opening moments of the film, in fact!)…until ‘freed’ by the hero at the climax, as he fights off her assailants with a sword she had directed him towards found in the very ruins of a monastery where they rise every All Saints’ Day! Also on hand are a somewhat glum Eduardo Fajardo, Fernando Sancho (in unusually servile mode) and Monica Randall in a small but pivotal role (she would also be given prominence in the Naschy-directed INQUISITION [1976]).
Though its pedigree obviously points in the direction of the Hammer, Blind Dead and the typical Naschy films, with a bit of the Giallo (by way of a masked killer on the loose!) thrown in for good measure, perhaps the biggest compliment one can level at THE DEVIL’S CROSS is that it particularly brought to mind Mario Bava’s KILL, BABY…KILL! (1966) – not just in the overall look but also the complexity of its narrative (notably the ironic and downbeat coda). In the end, whatever Naschy’s contribution was to the finished film, this can surely be counted among the best Spanish horrors out there and, consequently, ought to be more readily available…
Edited by Mario Gauci - 2/1/11 at 4:00pm
