Movieline Online

The Brazilian boogeyman, Jose Mojica Marins and his on-screen alter-ego Coffin Joe, return from a 30 year absence in Embodiment of Evil , a thoroughly sick, sadistic (yet somehow old-fashioned) and thoroughly unexpected third entry in the Coffin Joe series. Flashing back to his films in the ‘60s, Coffin Joe is tortured by black-and-white visitations from his victims. But that doesn’t stop him from pursing his all-consuming quest to find the perfect woman with which to mate and conceive a child (why he doesn’t just strap on some beer-goggles and head to Bennigan’s is anyone’s guess). With fingernails longer than the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills plus top hat and cape, Marins character is a reincarnated fashion faux pas. And for a while one expects the film to simply provide an aging horror star the opportunity for one last classy swan song. But Marins is one sick puppy, and Embodiment of Evil will be a rough slap in the face for anyone unfamiliar with his twisted state of mind...

While the giallo itself (Italy’s brand name for sexy, gory thrillers) was a played-out inbred mess by 1980, there are still plenty of gems waiting to be polished from the early ‘70s when the genre was full of new blood. The Perfume of the Lady in Black may not even fit the genre conventions quite right – no black gloved killer, no overt violence (more on that later) and no central murder mystery – leaning more towards a Hitchcockian psychotic meltdown than an Argento exercise in excess. Mimsy Farmer plays Sylvia, a fragile young woman haunted by visions of a childhood trauma. These visions begin to intrude on reality, taking the form of a young version of herself that Sylvia is both consoled and terrified by. But are these visions real, imagined or a supernatural conspiracy dreamed up by those around her? Director Franceso Barilli’s approach is elegantly restrained and avoids almost every crass exploitation opportunity (besides the surprisingly gory finale), complemented by a ...

The cult of Dario Argento admirers was once a pretty exclusive club. But boutique labels like Blue Underground changed all that by not only making the Italian director’s films readily available on various digital formats, but giving them the sort of treatment you couldn’t imagine back in the bootleg VHS days. Now it’s Argento overload! Even a casual message board scan inevitably turns up a dozen debates as to which of his films ranks highest. Inferno always is one of the top vote getters. And one glimpse of this new Blu-ray edition you can see why. The Suspiria sequel boasts the same oversaturated color scheme – red, green and blue practically bleeding off the screen – and numerous set-piece murder sequences. But Inferno doesn’t even pretend to adhere to a plot. There’s a continuing story structure involving the book The Three Mothers which details the secrets of a witch’s coven spread across the globe (trust me, checking that sucker out of the library gets you in more tro...

FERNANDO DI LEO CRIME COLLECTION: The films of Quentin Tarantino are a melting pot of b-movie inspirations and outright cinematic thievery. But at least the guy is honest about it! By lending his stamp of approval to this new 4-movie set from Raro Video, he’s paying back one of the filmmakers who helped to shape his career. Like most Italian director’s working in the gangster genre, Di Leo’s films are anything but subtle. Yet there’s a heavy political subtext and enough double and triple crosses to keep even the most experienced genre veteran guessing. The Italian Connection has a chase scene to rival anything put on the screen and a black / white hitman combo that will seem more than a little familiar to Pulp Fiction fans. Caliber 9 makes the most of its hulking anti-hero (Gaston Moschin) and the luscious Barbara Bouchet. The Boss plays off star Henry Silva, whose cold shark-eyes are put to good use as an ambitious hitman. While Rulers of the City twists the genre conv...