At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul | "Brazil gripped with fear of God and ghosts"

“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!” —-
Zé do Caixão (Coffin Joe)

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When it comes to Brazilian Horror, one name was there from the beginning, that name is Coffin Joe. Portrayed by horror filmmaker José Mojica Marins, Coffin Joe’s first appearance came in the 1963 classic At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul. This would be a benchmark in film history as the first Brazilian-produced horror film, and the first instalment of the “Coffin Joe trilogy” which would span over 35 years with This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse (1967) and Embodiment of Evil (2008).

Zé do Caixão (Coffin Joe) is the sole undertaker of a small, rural town somewhere near São Paulo. Although the rest of the townspeople hold him in contempt for his anti-Catholic sentiments and violent nature, they live in fear of him for his physical prowess and ability to best any man in a fight. The only people with whom Joe shares even a pleasant relationship with is his wife, Lenita, best friend Anthony, and Anthony’s fiancée, Terezinha, whom Joe lusts for. Believing himself to be of intellectual superiority to those around him, Joe’s main drive is “the continuity of blood” in the form of a son born from “the perfect woman”. After learning that Lenita cannot conceive, Joe kills her with a venomous tarantula, then murders Anthony by drowning him in a bathtub. Both deaths are ruled as an accident and Joe makes advances on Terezinha, who naturally turns him down. An enraged Joe rapes her, but Terezinha commits suicide rather than reporting him, though she promises vengeance from beyond the grave. On Dia de Finados (All Souls Day), Joe witnesses a procession of ghosts who chase him to Anthony and Terezinha’s tomb, where he witnesses their bodies coming to life. Later, the townspeople find Joe on the tomb steps, apparently dead, with his eyes bulging from their sockets.

The first time I came across this film and Coffin Joe was a late night screening on BBC 2, on the early hours of a Sunday morning (showing my age now as on Friday nights on BBC 1 would be a classic martial arts film and on Saturday just before midnight on BBC 2 would be a classic horror). Transfixed by the strange man’s appearance, he wore a black top hat, black suit, and black cape, with his most distinctive features being a thick beard and grotesquely long curled fingernails. It was safe to say he had my attention. It would then take 10 more years before I would get a chance to see another Coffin Joe film, this film would be the final film Coffin Joe would appear in with Embodiment of Evil (2008). After the release a limited edition DVD box set was released with the majority of the films, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on that box set (and still have it to this day). I would spend evenings and weekends watching all the films, re-watching several times and diving into the special features to absorb all the knowledge and madness behind the films and the character of Coffin Joe.

Like all great filmmakers and films, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul was not the easiest film to fund nor was it straight forward once it got into production.

The creation of Coffin Joe came straight from a nightmare that José Mojica Marins had.

“In a dream saw a figure dragging me to a cemetery. Soon he left me in front of a headstone, there were two dates of my birth and my death. People at home were very frightened, called a priest because they thought I was possessed. I woke up screaming, and at that time decided to do a movie unlike anything I had done. He was born at that moment the character would become a legend: Coffin Joe. The character began to take shape in my mind and in my life. The cemetery gave me the name, completed the costume of Joe the cover of voodoo and black hat, which was the symbol of a classic brand of cigarettes. He would be a mortician.”

And just like that Coffin Joe was born, at that time Brazil had produced no horror films of its own. Marins was a lifelong fan of horror films, and decided things needed to change. Funding the film himself, Marins sold possessions such as his family car and apartment, having his wife move back in with her parents. He charged money to his acting students in exchange for participation in the film and paid only few members of the production. During the production of the film things didn’t get any easier and on one occasion The crew refused to shoot a scene because there wasn’t enough sunlight. José Mojica Marins forced them to shoot the scene by pointing a gun at the cameraman. When spoken to in later interviews Marins would say “It was only a Prop Gun”

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4AUu972Cz8[/embedyt]

THE FILM REVIEW

I have been a fan of the Coffin Joe films for many years. For new audiences discovering the Coffin Joe films, some may find it difficult with the pacing of the film and sometimes find the performances very over the top, and others will find a love for it quickly and will want to delve deeper and deeper into the trilogy and other Coffin Joe films.

Others will see the cultural references of the time the film was made in Brazil, considered the first Brazilian horror film to be made with some scary moments, but is enjoyable mostly because of its value as a historical artifact and as a somewhat campy scarefest, but it is a serious document of its time and place, a Brazil gripped with fear of God and ghosts.

It is an important film for horror enthusiasts and anyone with an interest In world cinema as it was the birth of a country’s entry into a broader and more daring genre.

BLU-RAY REVIEW (PICTURE+ AUDIO)

The picture quality is from a brand new 4K restoration from a 35mm interpositive and a 35mm print. Considering the film was made on a small budget and with a mixed range experienced crew, it was Giorgio Attili’s third film as a cinematographer and was trying new and different things to make the visuals stand out, and even now the film has a haunting style with several shots that will stay with you after the film has ended.

The audio is clean and crisp, with the original Portuguese dialogue with English subtitles.

On the Blu-Ray there is an archival audio commentary with José Mojica Marins, film maker Paulo Duarte and Film scholar Carlos Primati which is Portuguese with English subtitles.

BLU-RAY EXTRAS

Coffin Joe’s Sadean Underworld, a new video essay by film scholar Lindsay Hallam
Damned: The Strange World of José Mojica Marins, the definitive documentary on the life and work of José Mojica Marins by André Barcinski and Ivan Finotti
Bloody Kingdom, José Mojica Marins’ first short film with director’s commentary
The Adventurer’s Fate and My Destiny in Your Hands, excerpts from early works by José Mojica Marins
Theatrical trailer

Arrow Video have recently released Inside The Mind of Coffin Joe on a limited edition Blu-ray box set. This 6 disc box set consist of the 10 films directed and starring José Mojica Marins (as Coffin Joe).

This film is a must see for Horror fans and lovers of cinema, the film was a birth of a new era for Brazilian horror films, which sadly are still a rarity to this day, but there are some interesting and genuinely terrifying films coming out of Brazil, and we always have the remaining COFFIN Joe films as well.