This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse.

Review #2109: This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse.

Cast: 

José Mojica Marins (Zé do Caixão), Tina Wohlers (Laura), Nadia Freitas (Marcia), Antonio Fracari (Truncador), Nivaldo Lima (Bruno), Roque Rodrigues (The Coronel), with Esmeralda Ruchel, Paula Ramos, and Tania Mendonça. Directed by José Mojica Marins.

Review: 

I'm sure you remember At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1963). That was the first film crafted by Jose Mojica Marins with the character of "Coffin Joe", who has been cited in some circles as Brazil's boogeyman. He had first directed films with the 1958 adventure Adventurer's Fate, but the most noted film he ever did came because of a nightmare of a figure dragging him to a cemetery with his headstone, and I'm sure you know the rest of a character that struck distinctly in the Roman Catholic dominant Brazil, where reason and materialism is all that matters to him when it comes to the quest to make "the continuation of blood" by finding that perfect woman to procreate with (the desperate are never as odd as the ones who want an equal for sex, one wonders); the sequel continues right where the first left off with him surviving the disfigurement that happened when he messed with a few lives (the reason I did a recap is because the last I saw of Joe in film was three years ago). The despising of the weak (not children, naturally) is present here again. The film (known as Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver in its native Brazil) was written by Aldenora De Sa Porto and José Mojica Marins. The character of Coffin Joe returned as the segment host for the 1968 anthology film The Strange World of Coffin Joe and then appeared in various other films directed by Marins, such as Awakening of the Beast (1970), where he is being hallucinated by folks taking LSD and looking at a movie poster before Embodiment of Evil (2008) would be the true return and swansong for the character.

Honestly, the film is not nearly as interesting as the original film, probably because of the middling ending that was apparently foisted upon Marins by the censors that had the main character convert in the face of salvation for the climax. No, really. But at least one has some fun with Coffin Joe and his particular habits of women-shopping (at one time, to test a bunch of women he kidnapped about toughness, he lets out a whole bunch of spiders) beforehand to make a useful film with its own particular surprises. You get to see a depiction of Hell, for one thing, and it really goes to show that a low budget doesn't always hinder the vision of folks in making something look terrifying. It probably helps to see bodies about in color, if you think about it. Marins has not lost his edge in this sequel, which already had him murder quite a few people in the first only to see him wax about his ideals while subjecting people to tests for their lives (oh but where is one's God kind of stuff) that is entertainingly amoral as can be. Him and Wohlers made a delightful pairing of offbeat slick nature that can seemingly go only one way in the eyes of God and the devil (in general the actors do what they can, since it is a collection of actors who arent exactly household names that happen to play roles such as a hunchback or a brother getting squished). The 108-minute runtime is spent with probably a bit too many lines of the futility of people that aren't like Coffin Joe, but one will not find it too tedious to stick all the way to the ending. Marins obviously had an interest in scaring the auduence with subtle strokes. As a whole, the movie has some of the alluring power and weirdness generated by Marins as before to make a useful second effort with Coffin Joe that will prove curious for those wanting a bit of world cinema for their horror offerings that deal in mania in the macabre sense.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Next time - Alert - In a special surprise, we will have a non-horror film fit for October 15: Facing Nolan.

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul.

Review #1417: At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul.

Cast: 
José Mojica Marins (Zé do Caixão), Magda Mei (Terezinha), Nivaldo Lima (Antônio), Valéria Vasquez (Lenita), Ilídio Martins Simões (Dr. Rodolfo), and Eucaris Moraes (Velha Bruxa) Directed by José Mojica Marins.

Review:
"What is life? It is the beginning of death. What is death? It is the end of life! What is existence? It is the continuity of blood. What is blood? It is the reason to exist!"

There is no time but the present to cover a film from South America, particularly from its most populous country in Brazil, which has had a varying level of success with entertainment over numerous decades. It's easy to stand out as a film in a different country if you're the first in a genre. In this case, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul [À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma] was the first ever Brazilian horror film. It came from director-co-writer-star Jose Mojica Marins, who lived near a cinema that his family operated growing up. He made short films as a child while growing up inspired by the films he saw that came from other countries, becoming a fan of actors and directors such as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Alfred Hitchcock, while also noting the expression in the eyes of Charlie Chaplin. By the time he was 18, he had formed his own film company and studio with Companhia Cinematografica Atlas. He made his debut as a director with Adventurer's Fate (1958), a Western. He would become known for his horror and drama films over a career that spanned three decades before a reprise with Embodiment of Evil (2008). Marins would do the role of (known in English-speaking countries as Coffin Joe) numerous times over four decades (for both film and on television), and three of them are considered to be a trilogy: this, This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967), and Embodiment of Evil (2008, Marins' last film before his death in 2020).

He was inspired to do the character based on a nightmare he had about a figure that dragged him to a cemetery and left him in front of his headstone. His character was a clear contrast to the cultural sensibilities of the time in Brazil (a predominately Roman Catholic country), which are represented through actions such as eating meat on Good Friday as an open mocking of other's beliefs or through his actions to others in desire of a child to continue his blood. It is a film more popularly known in Brazil than abroad (Coffin Joe is sometimes referred to as "Brazil's National Boogeyman"), but there is definitely quite an cult appeal for something like this. Sure, plenty of people suffer his wrath through physical means, but it is the conviction that Marins holds in such a morbid character (with a big beard and long fingernails) with a clear method of madness that makes for a capable 84 minute tale of creeping chills. It achieves most of what it sets out to do with striking terror through a demented lens fitting of its main character that holds up in most ways now as compared to five decades ago with its sensibilities. It doesn't depend on big moments of gore but instead in those foreboding moments and images that drive curiosity mad, with everyone else being but a potential next person to terrorize in some way, where moods shift completely after he enters a room. On the whole, this is a fair experience of terror that oversteps its low budget to make a morbid pioneer for its country that retains some of its creeping power now more than ever.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.