embodiment of evil

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. Full of graphic scenes of Spanish Inquisition-style torture accomplished via some very convincing practical make-up effects, the film is a Fangoria fan’s dream come true made even more disturbing by the dichotomy between Marin’s theatrical (i.e. hammy) acting and the quasi-Satanic rituals performed on sometime willing participants. It just goes to show that Saw is not the end-all-be-all of torture porn. Marins out-shocks them all without even chipping a nail. Synapse Films’ Blu-ray / DVD combo pack looks very good and includes a featurette, trailer and festival premiere footage by way of extras.

We are living in the second golden age of monster movies, my friends. Thanks to the prodigious output of the SyFy Channel there’s a new supersized gator, python, or ice spider on display every week. It’s the kind of schedule Roger Corman could have only dreamed about in his hey-day (although Roger is still providing SyFy with some of their content). By and large, the movies are intentionally cheesy time wasters. But every so often something slips between the cracks that’s just a hair above average. Behemoth is just such a movie, adhering to all the required ingredients for Saturday night monster movie fare (small town, unexplained occurrences, no-name actors, and quick peeks at a phony CG monster until the dramatic unveiling in the third act) but delivering just a bit more than you expect on every level. Of course, with expectations this low, it doesn’t take much. But Behemoth cleverly disguises the identity of its titular monstrosity to add some suspense; a tentacle here, an eyeball there, and most of it convincing. Even the setting, mostly outdoors in some local subbing for the Pacific Northwest, is a refreshing change of pace from the parade of control rooms and warehouses that are the norm for these low-budget quickies. Behemoth shows that even within the confines of SyFy Channel standards, monster movies can aspire to move up a letter grade now and then.

As celebrity tragedies go, Dorothy Stratten’s untimely demise at the hands of her psycho husband/manager has faded into cultural obscurity. If you’re interested in how the death of the 20-year-old Playmate of the Year played out there are two movies to choose from (one with Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead role, another with Eric Roberts as the psycho pimp), but most fans tend to gravitate to Galaxina instead. As a statuesque fembot, Stratten’s sexy space outfit and cherry-red lips plastered on the poster lured in guys hoping to go where no man had gone before! The movie itself is god-awful. Ostensibly a parody of the sci-fi hits of the day (Alien, Star Wars and Star Trek most noticeably), it’s made up of Match Game-era humor led by frequent Match Game guest Avery Schreiber and a supporting cast done up in bad Halloween masks. You’ll never laugh. But you will strain your eyes trying to get a glimpse down Galaxina’s shirt. That’s all you get though, as the film never lets the former Playboy bunny show what made her a star in the first place. Packaged as part of a Blu-ray double feature, The Crater Lake Monster is a great example of the work put out by Jim Danforth and David Allen, the only effects guys who deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen. Unfortunately, that’s all the movie has going for it. And even those moments are limited to quick glimpses of the slimy plesiosaur as it chomps random victims of a backwater mountain town. Full of embarrassing comic relief and a hand-me-down comedic score, few people will ever bother to track the film down. But Mill Creek’s Blu-ray actually might increase your opinion of Crater Lake a peg or two. Some of the photography is memorable and the effects hold up even under the advanced scrutiny of hi-def. That’s a bargain any way you look at it, even for a couple of bad flicks.

Peter Fonda never really had it in him to become a movie star. Despite the family pedigree and cultural icon status in Easy Rider, his longhaired aloofness and half-lidded performances never rang true. But that didn’t stop producers from trying. Dirty Mary Crazy Larry takes advantage of Fonda’s street cred as a small-time crook with a plan to use the proceeds from his robberies to fund a career in NASCAR. Those driving skills come in handy as he takes a cross-country escape route to freedom, pursued by a relentless local sheriff. The film owes a serious debt to Bonnie and Clyde and all the vehicular destruction quickies produced by Roger Corman’s gang at the time. The stunts are often impressive and the look reminds you of early Spielberg (think Sugarland Express) but Fonda and co-star Susan George are more grating than ingratiating in the end. The second film in Shout Factory’s action-packed double feature fares much better. Race with the Devil would have you believe that the entire state of Texas is run by a vast conspiracy of Satan worshippers, all of them whipped into a frenzy because Fonda and his pals happened to witness one of their rituals while on an RV camping trip. This leads to lots of sly glances and paranoid looks, culminating in an awesome family camper chase sequence that gives The Road Warrior a run for its money. Race with the Devil is wildly inconsistent, sometimes looking like a bad TV movie, other times so impressive you wonder why it isn’t better known. A remake has been on the horizon for a while, but before it makes it to the screen check out the original supernatural ‘70s chase movie, all spruced up and looking fine with new transfer, commentary and reminiscences from Fonda and his co-stars.