À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

Brazil 1964
produced by
Arildo Iruam, Geraldo Martins Simoes, Ilidio Martins Simoes for Indústria Cinemagográfica Apolo
directed by José Mojica Marins
starring José Mojica Marins, Magda Mei, Nivaldo Lima, Valéria Vasquez, Ilidio Martins Simoes, Eucaris Moraes, Arildo Iruam, Genésio de Carvalho, Vânia Rangel, Graveto, Robinson Aielo, Avelino Morais, Luana, Leandro Vieira, Antônio Marins, Mário Lima, Euripedes da Silva, Luis Goncalves, Carmen Marins, Cicero Paulino, Waldomiro Franca, Cardoso, Jonny Grégio, José Vilar, Suzy Barros, Tomás Sebastiao, Iko Galdine, Laura Duarte, Claudiana, Renato Melo, Almir Barbosa, Raul Malentaqui
story by José Mojica Marins, screenplay by José Mojica Marins, Magda Mei, music by Salatiel Coelho, Herminio Gimenez, special effects by Producoes Cinematográficas Indrikis Kruspos

Zé do Caixao/Coffin Joe

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Zé do Caixao (José Mojica Marins), the local undertaker, is pretty much feared by the whole village: Not only does his profession freak people out and his outfit (including cape and top hat) make him look positively scary, he is also an aggressive atheist (in a superstitious region), a violent bully, and he seems to have some hypnotic powers. Zé enjoys the villagers fearing him, and gives them every reason to continue to do so, but he has a soft spot for women, especially Terezinha (Magda Mei), the fiancée of his only friend, Antonio (Nivaldo Lima). Now Antonio could stand in the way of his plans of having his way with her, and so could Zé's own girlfriend, Lenita (Valéria Vasquez), so he brutally murders them both, and even manage to somehow escape police prosecution, then he pays Terezinha a visit - to brutally rape her. His plans are for her to carry his offspring (Lenita couldn't have any children by the way, so he thought he had the right to murder her), but rather than to become the mother of his children Terezinha kills herself, but not before cursing Zé first.

One night a few days later, on his way home through the graveyard, Zé's sins and Terezinha's curse catch up with him, and those killed by him rise from their graves to scare him to death ...

In the 1960's, horror films (especially homegrown ones) were not big in Brazilian cinema, so this very immoral flick that combines comicbook and folk tale elements with genuine horror mainstays came pretty much out of nowhere, and it shows, but in a good way: The movie and its shocks are crude and primitive, but that perfectly compliments the (intentionally) simplistic plot of the whole thing, a film that trades in the gloss of your typical genre movies from the time for the rawness of an uncut diamond, a film that makes an old story feel edgy and that in its crudeness effortlessly goes to the jugular concerning gore effects.

Recommended - if you're up for something immoral that is.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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