The Strange World of Coffin Joe (1968) User Reviews

Three Great Horror Tales

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 23 June 2011]

"O Estranho Mundo de Zé do Caixão" is a collection of three creepy and bizarre horror tales.

"O Fabricante de Bonecas" ("The Dollmaker"): In Pirituba, Master Bastos is a respectable doll maker that lives with his four daughters in a remote area manufacturing dolls with impressive eyes. When four criminals break in his house to rob his money and rape his daughters, they learn why the doll's eyes are so realistic.

"Tara" ("Perversion"): A poor balloon seller has a crush on a young woman and stalks her. On her wedding day, the woman is stabbed in front of the church by another woman and dies. After her funeral, the man breaks in her crypt and spends the night with her to satisfy his obsession.

"Ideologia" ("Ideology"): After a debate on a TV show with the journalist Alfredo about the nonexistence of love, Professor Oaxiac Odez (José Mojica Marins) invites Alfredo and his wife Wilma to visit him. Professor Odez offers to prove to Alfredo that the instinct prevails over reason, and brings the couple to the dungeon of his house. They witness the results of the sinister experiment of Professor Odez with people that did not believe on his theory and after a period subjected to subhuman conditions, have become monstrous animals. Now Alfredo and Wilma are imprisoned and submitted to starvation and all sort of psychological torture to prove that the love is dead.

The first tale of violence, with heist and rape, is erotic and gore and has a predictable conclusion. The second tale explores an unusual theme, necrophilia without any dialog. The third one is the sickest tale, with cannibalism, torture, humiliation in an insane experiment of a deranged professor. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Estranho Mundo de Zé do Caixão" ("The Strange World of Zé do Caixão")

Now that's the kind of Coffin Joe I hoped to see!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 20 October 2008]

Slightly over a year ago now, I had my first and long-awaited acquaintance with the repertoire of José Mojica Marins and – to my own personal surprise and regret – I wasn't the least bit impressed! I'm usually a sucker for creative and eccentric low-budget horror but "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" (one of his alleged masterpieces) turned out a huge disappointment. Marins' infamous alter ego Coffin Joe isn't a petrifying and menacing horror symbol, but a whiny creep who draws all the attention to himself instead of setting up a morbid atmosphere. I can understand why his style and movies are popular among avid cult fanatics, since it's experimental and bizarre, but substantially speaking they are nothing. It took me over a year to give his oeuvre another chance, but I'm sort of glad I did eventually, as "The Strange World of Coffin Joe" is a completely different type of film. It still isn't a very perplexing film – and definitely not as brilliant as some fans around here claim it is – but it's more diverse, ingenious, artistic and atmospheric. "The Strange World etc…" is a horror anthology existing of three versatile and delirious stories and the film as a whole is much better since the stories don't exclusively revolve on Coffin Joe, in spite of what the title may suggest. José Mojica Marins doesn't even appear in the first two segments and in the third, where he does play the lead role; he depicts a different character than his usual crazed mortician.

The first story is rather mundane and predictable, but it's worth sitting through for the eerie scenery and lurid sex sequences that are definitely ahead of their time. "O Fabricante de Bonecas" tells the story of an old doll maker and his four luscious daughters. Everybody in town wonders how come the dolls all have such realistic looking eyes, but obviously you don't need a degree in quantum physics to figure that out. When four petty thieves attempt to break into the house and rape the daughters, they literally experience the doll-making process. The second story is mostly artsy (because it's shot without dialog or monologues) and controversial (because it builds up towards the taboo subject of necrophilia). It's a haunting and strangely compelling segment in which a shy and introvert balloon salesman stalks the woman of his dreams day and night, even until on her wedding day. Only when she unexpectedly dies and her body is put to rest in a secluded morgue, the obsessed man finally sees a chance to be intimate with her. I know it sounds like the most revolting and sickening exploitation concept, but – at to my own big surprise – Marins illustrates it with great elegance, with tasteful photography and sensual musical guidance. It's literally a unique segment and something you certainly don't expect. The final segment is Coffin Joe at his own and most robust again. The story "Ideology" is pure nonsense, but it marvelously showcases imaginative cruelty and gratuitous violence. In fact, this little episode could even be considered as the granddaddy of the nowadays hugely popular Torture-Porn movies, since it is non-stop senseless violence and graphic mutilation without a plot or ambiance. A scientist declares on TV that love doesn't exist as a sentiment and that we all thrive on instinct. One of his colleagues disrespectfully disagrees and humiliates the doctor on TV. Reason enough for the deranged doctor to kidnap his colleague and his wife and subject them to severe torture in the catacombs of his mansion, only to prove his theories. If, after one week of excruciating pains, they still sacrifices oneself to save the other, then love conquered. If not, they only follow their instincts. The last segment is quite sick, disturbing and it openly glorifies rape & murder! Great! What more could you look for in a cult flick?

Bizarre Brazilian horror tale

[GTeixeira · 7/10 · 12 September 2013]

I've always felt José Mojica Marins (aka Zé do Caixão, 'Coffin Joe') is somewhat of a pioneer in Brazilian cinema. Brazilian films tended, at the time, to be mere pornography (both hardcore and softcore), while now it tends to be too much 'engaged on social causes' rather than in the 'good entertainment' aspect of cinema (Brazilian romantic comedies are not GOOD entertainment).

'Strange World of Coffin Joe', as well as most of JMM's filmography, are an exception to those (which might be why he is often marginalized within Brazilian cinema): they are merely fun, eerie horror films entailing bizarre and creepy tales.

In here, we don't have Zé do Caixão appearing in character (unless you count the narration at the beginning). 'Strange World' is an anthology film, with three separate stories:

'O Fabricante de Bonecas' ('The Dollmaker') is about an old man, renowned for making dolls with impressively realistic eyes, and a group of burglars who try to steal his money and have their way with his beautiful daughters. It is an eerie and atmospheric horror tale, with a very predictable but fitting twist ending and full of eroticism that makes it a 'pleasant' watch.

'Tara' ('Fetish') is something that could easily pass off as an European drama: a tale of necrophilia about a man with a foot fetish who goes to a morgue after the now-dead woman he often fantasized about. It is pure depravity that is not far from a Pasolini film; to complete its 'artistic' aesthetic, it has no dialogue. The camera-work is good, but unless you want to see plot less perversion it should be avoidable.

'Ideologia' ('Ideology') is the only story JMM appears in (not as Zé, though). He plays a professor who, trying to prove that 'love' doesn't exist, imprisons a rival (who publicly argued this matter with him) and his wife and tortures them both to see how far their 'love' can endure in life-or-death situations. It has as much perversion as 'Tara', but not a meaningless one at that; the discussion is actually a very good one (done in JMM's trademark rhetoric of 'instinct vs reason') and the conclusion is good.

Overall, 2 out of the 3 stories are not only watchable but very fun and eerie tales. 'The Dollmaker' is the best horror-wise, but 'Ideology' manages to be one of the few 'torture porns' not to be mindless. The title song is also great if you understand what it's about.

For those not used to José Mojica Marins horror tales, though, his 'Coffin Joe' films are a better place to start with his filmography.

"Strange" is an understatement! If you like weird low budget horror movies then you MUST check out Coffin Joe!

[Infofreak · 6 December 2003]

'Strange World Of Coffin Joe' is my third Coffin Joe experience. For those not in the know "Coffin Joe" is the name Brazil's horror icon Jose Mojica Marins is known as in the English speaking world. Separating Marins the man from Coffin Joe the IDEA is extremely difficult, if not impossible. I can't think of any real equivalent of Coffin Joe in America or Britain. It's a bit like if Alfred Hitchcock was also Norman Bates... or something. Oh look, I can't even begin to explain what Coffin Joe is all about! Try watching 'At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul' and its sequel 'Tonight I'll Possess Your Corpse' first. Both are full of creepy low budget weirdness. Even then you might not be prepared for 'Strange World Of Coffin Joe'. For one thing it's an anthology with three separate stories (ala Bava's 'Black Sabbath'). On top of that Marins doesn't act in the first two segments (one about four baddies who invade a mysterious doll makers home to steal his loot and molest his daughters, the other about lyrical tale about obsessive desire and necrophilia told without dialogue), and when he appears in the final story he's not exactly the Coffin Joe we know and love(to hate) from the previous movies. He's no longer a bullying grave digger but a Doctor who is respected enough to get interviewed on a TV show called "The Men Who Make The News". One of the panellists who rejects Joe's philosophy on air accepts his invitation to visit his home, and he and his wife are put through an bizarre series of events to prove Joe's belief that love is dead and instinct conquers morality. Or something like that. Anyone who has seen other Coffin Joe movies knows the kind of stuff he spouts. This segment features some truly extraordinary images involving torture, perversion, cannibalism, and even in one did-I-really-see-that? bit, a terrified girl being taunted with a foot long hoagie. No, I'm not making that up. If you like weird low budget horror movies then you MUST check out Coffin Joe! Imagine the love child of Herschell Gordon Lewis and Jean Cocteau and you're getting there, but really Jose Mojica Marins is a true original. The more I see by him the more fascinated I am.

A mixed bag of stories from Coffin Joe...

[The_Void · 7/10 · 6 September 2006]

For his third film, José Mojica Marins a.k.a. Coffin Joe opted to do an omnibus style trio of horror tales, and it's a mixed bag. The title of the film is very apt, as Coffin Joe proved with his first two films that his 'world' is indeed very strange, and this film builds on that although none of the stories here follow the same plot thread as the other two and all of these tales stand alone - which is good news if you haven't seen the first two films, although you really should. Overall, this film isn't nearly as good as the earlier efforts; but it still offers a lot for the cult fan. The first tale revolves around a doll maker and a bunch of thieves who start out to rob him and end up finding out how the eyes in his dolls look so realistic (no prizes for guessing how). The second story is the weirdest and least good, and revolves around the ever-popular theme of necrophilia - and the final tale is an exploitation themed sick-fest in which the director takes the lead role. The plot revolves around his theories which relate to instinct and reason, and a journalist who is interested in seeing evidence.

Coffin Joe's directorial style is very flamboyant, and that's really what makes his films good. The themes on display have been copied often since the release of this film, and while I'm not sure if the films that went on to use the same ideas actually took influence from this one - it does have to be said that Coffin Joe's films are ahead of their time, especially considering that they hail from Brazil - a country not especially known for great films. As I mentioned, the trio of tales are a mixed bag and it comes as something of a disappointment that the first story is the best. There's a depressing tone that runs throughout the movie, and that is certainly felt in the first story - although not necessarily as much as in the others. The second story is definitely the least interesting, although the implications and atmosphere surrounding the story are well used. The third and final story will appeal most to exploitation fans, and is the most like the director's first two movies. Coffin Joe stars in this story in a role not too far removed from his trademark character. Overall, I wasn't overly impressed with this film - but the trippy and hypnotic atmosphere is a treat, and I'm sure fans of Coffin Joe will get a kick out of it.

More Marins madness for cult movie fans.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 7 June 2015]

Coffin Joe, the cult horror character created by Brazilian writer/director José Mojica Marins, hosts a trilogy of macabre tales.

First up is The Dollmaker, which sees a group of thugs breaking into the house of an elderly doll maker to look for an alleged stash of money. Unable to find any gold, the gang take a different kind of prize, raping the doll-maker's four beautiful daughters. The table are turned on the brutes, however, when the old man pulls a gun on the them, and the girls proceed to pluck out the mens' eyes for use in their new dolls. The plot for this one isn't anything special, with a predictable denouement, but it offers plenty of gratuitous T&A and the gory sight of the thugs' decapitated heads sans eyeballs.

The second story is Obsession, which seriously ups the weirdness ante. A balloon seller becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman, stalking her from a distance, carrying with him the box of new shoes dropped by woman during a shopping trip. On the woman's wedding day, she is stabbed and killed by a love rival. The balloon seller follows the woman's funeral procession to a crypt, which he breaks into after dark in order to fulfil his desires and return the lost shoes. A strangely lyrical tale told entirely without dialogue, Obsession tends to plod for much of its run-time, but ends in a satisfyingly twisted manner, the balloon seller breaking open the dead woman's coffin and stripping her corpse for a spot of necrophilia.

The last episode opens with the broadcast of a television debate show in which Professor Oaxiac Odez (Marins) expounds his theory that love doesn't exist. After the show, the professor invites a fellow panel member and his wife to his home, where he proceeds to shock and torture the couple in order to prove his ideology. As with his earlier Coffin Joe films, this one sees Marins' character waffling on incessantly about his lunatic philosophies, but also features plenty of exploitative content, including a man being spoon-fed molten metal, needles being pushed through flesh (for real), a sadistic acid attack, the wife drinking her husband's blood (fresh from the jugular) to quench her thirst, and a couple of gory scenes of cannibalism.

Probably not the kind of thing to appeal to casual horror fans, but those who dig weird cult world cinema should find this entertaining, especially if, like me, they also particularly enjoy the anthology format. One thing's for sure… Marins' world is very strange indeed.

only for the last story

[trashgang · 6/10 · 6 November 2014]

Still worth seeing but maybe you better skip the first story about a doll maker being robbed, but it turns out rather awry for the robbers because they think they can rape the doll makers daughters without any consequences. But it's rather weak and you could see it coming miles away.

Part two isn't that much better but placed in the time when it was made then this must be shocking because this is about necrophilia. And we do actually see the man going for the death body. But it takes almost 20 minutes before the necrophilia comes in.

But the best is last for the third story. Here we see it all, lesbian action (nothing to see but shocking back then) and a man being pierced with needles and one drinking boiling melted metal. Towards the end the couple watching it all will pay the price. Not bad at all.

Nothing really creepy but some breasts here and there and eerie hairy armpits by the girls. Worth picking up for the last story.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Joe's Sabbath.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 5/10 · 22 October 2013]

With having seen half of Anchor Bay's Coffin Joe boxset for last year's October Horror Challenge on IMDb's Horror board,I decided that it was the perfect time to open Joe's last remaining coffin's.

View on the film:

For the first story in the film,lead actor/co-writer/ (along with Rubens Francisco Luchetti) director Jose Mojica Marins soaks the story in a haunting Gothic mist,with the blank stares shown in the dolls eyes,being matched by the bleak fate that Marins unleashes on the gang.

Shooting each of the stories in a different styles,Marins and Francisco decide to take a silent movie approach for the Tara story,which whilst being very daring,does sadly lead to the story feeling rather plodding,due to Marins allowing no build up for the relationship between the balloon seller and Tara.

Going for a gore fest for the final story in the movie,the initially interesting idea of the story sadly runs out of steam at about the half way point,due to Marins being more focused on covering the film in B&W blood,instead of building a chilling atmosphere,that made the Dollmaker a real devil doll.

Experimental horror picture: a new terror notion related to a new body limits notion

[redsun5 · 8/10 · 25 July 2005]

I think that in the 60's you can talk about "modern" and "old" kind of horror films.The modernity of horror films was determined by the forces acting in the movie: immanent forces that eluded arcane solutions or mysterious set designing with dark, freakish and irrational characters, were forces related to a new notion of Horror. New Horror tried to find, to create, a new idea of terror closer to the "human body", an immanent and "rational" idea of terror.In this way George A. Romero's movies, with their political suggestions, are the more revolutionary in their genre and, well, i think that Marins' movies too, in their particular, experimental way, follow and reinvent the horror cinema modern notion born in 60's. In the beginning of this amazing picture Ze Do Caixao, presenting his three stories, says: "You cannot understand the terror because you are the terror!".In this statement resides the whole picture: especially the third story, the best one, shows that what scared us are the body's extremes, the "instincts" as Ze says.This argument by Marins\Do Caixao creates a modern notion of horror: filming this Marins checks new extreme forms of the bodies, a new way to be, a way that can be easily confused with sadism or with pure bizarre gory cinematographic entertainment.But Marin's way is really more radical than this kind of simple stuffs.It's an experimental way! Even if all the three stories are led by the same argument - the new notion of terror related by the new new notion of body - only the third one is successful to get the argument in a great complete visual way.Other two stories, especially the first one, are obvious and don't suggest anything new about searching a suitable image for the matter. Anyway, a good, funny too, modern and experimental horror picture. I give 9 to the third story and I give 7 1/2 to the whole picture.

The Gloriously Demented World of José Mojica Marins

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 8/10 · 5 November 2010]

The third "Zé do Caixão"/"Coffin Joe" film by José Mojica Marins, the man who personifies Brazilian Horror cinema (mainly as his alter ego Coffin Joe) is the greatest of the bunch, even though it does not include a story about the eponymous demented gravedigger in eternal search of a woman to bear him an heir. "O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" aka. "The Strange world of Coffin Joe" (1968) is not really a Coffin Joe film as such, but Marins' delightfully demented take on the popular art-form of Horror anthologies. After a typically weird introduction by the director/writer/star's alter ego Coffin Joe, "O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" tells three macabre tales, all delightfully demented, perverted and grotesque. It is amazing that a black and white third-world production with an obviously low budget could turn out to actually be one of the most explicit and deranged pre-1970 exploitation productions ever. The three tales in "O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" include delicate subjects such as rape, cannibalism, desecration of corpses and necrophilia, and their depiction is very explicit for the time to say the least.

After a tale about a shy pervert who is willing to follow the lady of his dreams anywhere, and one about the sinister secret of a doll maker and his nymphomaniac daughters, the film culminates in a story in which José Mojica Marins himself plays another truly morbid role of a demented scientist. I do not wish to go into detail about the three stories presented in "The Strange World of Coffin Joe", but I can assure that they are entirely macabre and demented enough for this film to be a must-see for every lover of Cult Horror and Exploitation cinema. The film has its cheesy moments, of course, and the acting obviously isn't the best, but these things only contribute to the incredible camp charm of the movie. As mentioned before, the topics are incredibly macabre, morbid and perverted their depictions include some very explicit gore (severed limbs, etc.) for the time, as well as quite a bit of female nudity. The latter is of course also very welcome, especially since the female cast consists entirely of ravishing Brazilian beauties.

"O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" is a film that can be admired for many a reason, but that must be seen for two in particular. One reason is that this is one of the most explicit and deranged 60s exploitation flicks ever. The other is that there is hardly another film that shows such love for the Horror-genre, and such passion behind making a low-budget production (from everybody involved) as does "The Strange World of Coffin Joe". No fellow fan of cult-cinema should consider missing it. José Mojica Marins, we worship thee.

A horror omnibus like no other

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 10 March 2012]

José Mojica Marins is nothing if not a one-off. With his first two movies he introduced the world to Coffin Joe, the demented gravedigger who delighted in terrorising the people in his village. These movies set down the style of Marins. His films may have been very low budget but they did have a crazed imagination and a definite visual style. In this third picture from Marins, The Strange World of Coffin Joe, we once again have a horror film full of the bizarre and surreal. Unlike those first two films, however, this one isn't a Coffin Joe vehicle. Despite the title, he only appears at the start as the host, although there is a fun song celebrating him played over the opening credits. No, this film is Marins take on the then popular horror omnibus format. Although this is decidedly different to any other 60's portmanteau movie, and that's putting it mildly. Its three stories cover topics like rape, necrophilia and cannibalism. It's a concoction that is very extreme for its time and indicates once more that Marins was a true maverick. Like most anthologies it's a pretty uneven movie overall.

The Dollmaker - The first tale is about an elderly doll maker and his daughters who are subjected to a house invasion by a group of thugs. The tables are turned however, as it turns out the rapists have been lured into a trap. They are killed, decapitated and their eyes are used for new dolls. This story is the most traditional of the three but the sex and violence in it is definitely not typical for the day.

Tara - In the second story a balloon seller becomes obsessed by a beautiful woman. She is murdered on her wedding day by a jealous woman. Undeterred, the balloon seller then breaks into her crypt and embarks on what can only be described as a necrophiliac romance. This segment is notable in that it is more or less silent. Despite its subject matter it has a lyrical feeling not entirely dissimilar to the films of Jean Rollin. It's the weakest story in fairness and could have done with trimming but it isn't without interest and does have a certain ambiance.

Ideology – The final story is the most expansive and also the most similar to Marins other work. He stars in it as a doctor not a million miles away from Coffin Joe. The story is basically about the night the evil doctor invites a rival and his wife to his house. What follows is an evening of torture, cannibalism and general unpleasantness. This part is very gory and exploitative indeed. It's like a collision between Herschell Gordon Lewis and Luis Buñuel. It isn't exactly subtle.

So, all-in-all a pretty variable film. But definitely a crazed one. If you like them odd then this may be the tonic.

sophisticated and creepy

[sinistre1111 · 30 October 2000]

Jose Mojica Marins, known as Coffin Joe in the English-speaking world, likely had no model for his style of film; there really was no Brazilian horror scene before him, and little since. This film, a series of three vignettes depicting human depravity, gore and unexpected moments of pathos, is reminiscent of Herschell Gordon Lewis, though a good deal less camp. Some of the cinematography and shot-framing is worthy of Bergman or Polanski ca. REPULSION. Done in crisp B&W, the film also has excellent music (which at times inappropriately overstates itself!), including a theme which celebrates the glory of the man Coffin Joe. This theme, like the rest of the film, may inspire chuckles, but definitely chills as well. Can't wait to see more!

Maybe strange, but mostly dull and disjointed

[Groverdox · 6/10 · 1 July 2019]

Here is a horror anthology flick from the icon of Brazilian horror, José Mojica Marins - better known to cult film fans as Coffin Joe.

The first of the three stories is called "The Dollmaker". The titular doll maker lives with his four ethereal daughters who run a family business making supposedly very exquisite and life like dolls. Particularly, the eyes of the dolls get complimented. Unfortunately, the one we see doesn't look that amazing, but whatever. The dollmaker is assaulted by four criminals who rape his sexy daughters, all of whom take a liking to the eyes of the criminals. Can you see where this is going?

This story features amusingly unconvincing gunfire, where people are supposedly blasted with a shotgun and we get reaction shots from the victims who seem to find the gunfire less painful than a stubbed toe. Being shot with that gun at that range would have blasted a hole in them, and easily knocked them off their feet.

There's also some scant nudity in this story, but not much else to recommend it.

The second story, "Tara" is also the lamest. The plot of "The Dollmaker" was light on the ground, but this one is even simpler, and has no dialogue. Basically a young woman is murdered on her wedding day by a knife wielding debutante. She has been followed by a vagrant balloon seller, who opens her coffin so that he can fondle the body's feet. The end.

The last story, "Idelogy", features Marins in an acting role, though not Coffin Joe. He plays a professor who looks like a gypsy demonologist, with shiny black clothes and dangling talismans. He also has a dreadful wig, and of course still has his trademark mono-brow.

The segment begins with a television interview in which Marins, as the professor, speaks some mystical rubbish which is not believed by his fellow guests, who then come with him to his home, where he seems to have some fetishists just hanging out and having sex. The first couple are just making out while a guy rubs them with a clothes brush - BORING - but the next couple show someone having his flesh pierced with needles and it looks real.

The sophisticated naysayers whom Marins brought to his house are then captured by henchmen - what kind of professor has henchmen? The kind with fetishists having sex in his house all the time, I guess - and of course made to observe some more rituals while Marins tries to prove whatever rubbish he was talking about at the beginning of the segment.

They watch a gaunt man, wearing only a loincloth (and a lot of fake blood), strapped to something like a stretching rack while other guys crowd around him and eat him.

The guests are appalled. "It's a crime! It's murder!"

Marins explains that he's "Benevolent", because the Bible says something about feeding the hungry.

We, and the guests, then get another demonstration, with a female victim this time. Of course, she's young and attractive, and has her clothes ripped off. Surprisingly, Marins doesn't show any nudity this time. A guy picks up a bottle, helpfully marked "ACID", and throws it over her, and the acid seems to turn to tomato sauce.

Finally, we have some hot substance poured into a man's mouth, and then - what looks worse from our perspective - an ugly older woman kissing him. Poor bugger.

Surprise surprise, the nutty professor also locks up his two guests, while philosophising tediously about nothing in particular.

The ending features a series of shots showing people eating human limbs around the dinner table.

Throughout particularly the last two segments, "The Strange World of Coffin Joe" features strange shots and weird editing, giving it the appearance of an avant-garde film, or at least a film that wants to be. Maybe because of that we are invited to excuse the tales for actually being pretty lame? You might, but I'm not sure if I can.

I have been trying to avoid spoilers in this review, but it is one of those movies that I think I could describe everything that happens without really spoiling anything. Each story has a set up that doesn't really go anywhere surprising. I'll click "yes" just to be on the safe side.

Joe lives

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 14 August 2023]

Sure, Coffin Joe was dragged into a pond by the skeletons of his victims and had accepted God, but now he's back and seemingly as filled with hate for the human race as ever before. Instead of his search for the perfect woman, he's here to tell you three stories, as if he's an EC Comics character. Well, a year after this movie, he would have his own comic book series with the same title. It was also the name of his much later TV talk show.

In "The Doll Maker," a man and his four gorgeous daughters make the most realistic and sought after dolls. Criminals rob them when they learn that they don't keep their money in the bank. After the doll maker faints, the robbers assault the daughters, who actually start to accept and encourage their advances after remarking about their eyes. And soon enough, we learn how the dolls have such human-looking eyeballs.

"Obsession" is about a poor balloon seller with a foot fetish and a love for a beautiful woman well above his station. After her wedding, which he watches from afar, he learns that she has been murdered. Too poor to attend her funeral, he comes to her body in the mausoleum where, well, he makes love to her and her feet before returning the shoes he saw her lose when she was still alive.

Finally, "Theory" has Professor Oãxiac Odéz (José Mojica Marins, also Coffin Joe and this film's creator) bring a rival professor and his wife to his home. Soon, he has imprisoned them and forces them to go through a series of sadistic experiments to prove if instinct can overcome reason and love.

So yes, Coffin Joe is in this for about three minutes. But his fingerprints - and long fingernails - are all over every frame.

A movie that leaves a sign in your head

[tzillo · 10/10 · 31 March 1999]

What to say about this beautiful movie? I don't know. Three episodes, one better than another, that says to us what's the life and what will happen if we don't care about him.

Artsy! Gory! Good!

[zmaturin · 17 April 2000]

[there are spoilers in this review]

Anthology movies are always risky, because there's always one segment that's better than the others, so instead of having a great movie, you've got a third of one (everyone remembers the killer doll in 'Trilogy of Terror', but not much else). This flick, from the legendary Coffin Joe, is uneven as well, but is bursting with talent, ideas, great imagery, and excellent production values that it holds your interest the whole way through.

Coffin Joe introduces the three tales of life and death. After robbing an old guy's doll store, some ne'er-do-wells attempt to rape his daughters. The whole thing goes on a little too long, and the villains' fate is way too predictable and silly- their eyes are cut out and put in the doll's heads, which really doesn't work, as the eyes would be too big. But I'm nit-picking- there are some great decapitated head shots, and there's the great scene where the old guy shoots each bad guy one by one, and they all make hilarious faces.

In the next segment, which has no dialog, a creepy balloon vender follows a young gal around, and after she dies he opens her casket to give her some shoes she dropped. Although this story is really slow, it looks beautiful and has great style. It's kind of out of place with the others, as there's no gore on screen (just some creepy necrophilia).

The last tale is the kicker, with Coffin Joe debating his view that love is dead. He invites his nemesis to his home (which is done up like a Halloween haunted house) to prove his point- through torture, mutilation, and decapitation! The gore in these scenes is totally convincing (most of it looks real, mondo-style) and the many scenes of rats, bats, snakes, lizards, and spiders are effectively creepy. Throw in a Lurch-like butler and tons of biblical references, and you've got a movie!