Embodiment Of Evil review

Traumatic horror set in the favelas of Brazil

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Released from a mental hospital after 40 years, hellfire-spouting Charles Manson-alike Coffin Joe (writer/director/star José Mojica Marins) sets out to spread his evil seed through the favelas of São Paulo, “even if it means imploding the cosmos”.

The third instalment in a 45-year franchise, this bonkers Brazilian shocker plays like City Of God remade by Hammer.

Highly sadistic one minute (one victim is forced to eat her own bottom) and silly the next (ditto), it’s like a Vincent Price film for the torture porn generation, albeit closer to the grand guignol of Dr Phibes than the genuine distress of Witchfinder General.

Freelance Writer

Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.

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