Exclusive: Coffin Joe Animated?

By Johnny Butane
August 6th, 2008

If all goes well, 2009 just might be the Year of Coffin Joe. The Brazilian actor/director’s return to filmmaking, The Embodiment of Evil, will hopefully be hitting U.S. shores in some capacity, which means the man himself will be making more public appearances. But would you believe we’ll also be seeing Jose Mojica Marins ... animated?

No, it’s not some bizarre, twisted kids show for Brazilian television. It’s actually an animated short called “Undertaker”, which was written, directed, animated, produced and edited by one man; Claudio Ellovitch. Ellovitch did animatics for Embodiment and was so inspired by the shoot and working with Coffin Joe himself that he developed his own tale based on the famous character.

While not directly related to the Coffin Joe world, the similarities are undeniable, as you can see from the slew of stills Ellovitch provided to us. “Undertaker” has been accepted at two of the most well respected Brazilian film festivals; Riofan and Fantaspoa, and Ellovitch is hoping those are only the beginning.

The multi-talented creator is quick to point out that the tale in “Undertaker” is very much a horror story first and foremost, not a comedy. Indeed, the stills indicate there’s some very nasty stuff going on throughout the film’s short run time.

Check out more “Undertaker” pics below, and a trailer for the short below those. We’ll have more on this ghastly animated goodness soon so stick around!

- Johnny Butane