Customer Reviews:
A taste of horror..................FROM BRAZIL!.......2007-08-16
The year is 1963 and in Brazil a lil movie was being shown that
scared a country! At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul was unleashed
and to applause and screams became a HIT!!! Jose Mojica Marins
gives a dark performance of a atheist gone MAD! He eats lamb
on good friday,takes his best friends girl and kills the best friend
no one is safe around Ze(coffin joe)He laughs at funerals and
slaps girls till they bleed! Coffin Joe indeed! Yes it is 1963
and us HORROR FUNATICS(you know who you are)have had are share
of scares,from the great german films of the 20's the great
Chaney giving us till this date(aug.16th 07)the scariest face
captured on film(not a bold statement)we had our beloved monsters
HYDE-WOLFMAN-MONSTER-MUMMY-GODZILLA-KONG and DRAC himself!
Hammer had started in the old country and we had Mario Bava
but it is now 63 and for some reason we were SOFT in the horror
dept. All castles and no blood! That would change for Coffin
Joe(and in the same year good ole U.S.A. we had H.G.Lewis
Blood Feast)Coffin Joe I believe is the first to do fingers
in the eye?(I may be wrong) And chops a few fingers off
right before your eyes. This is a very fun film and must
be seen! Coffin Joe brings old with new to form a cascading
waterfall of genuine shrieks and thrills...See At midnight
I'll take your soul...but don't see it alone!
Remeber...At midnight I'll take your soul...........
DON'T! Disturb Coffin Joe......For he already IS!!!!!!!!!
NOTE: I in no way forgot the HORROR masterpiece PSYCHO!
I just thought it was Coffin Joe's time and wanted to build him up!
Thanks...
Coffin Joe at his ghoulish best.......2005-11-28
Brazilian filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins spent his career writing, directing and starring in violent psychosexual horror tales filled with graphic images of carnality, brutality, and torture. Not surprisingly, his work was banned in his native country. But now, thanks to DVD, his films are accessible to anyone who has the stomach for this sort of ghoulish fare.
AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL marked the first time Marins appeared as his onscreen alter ego "Coffin Joe," a villainous Brazilian gravedigger who manages to break all Ten Commandments within as many minutes. This 1963 feature film may be Marins' best, mainly because it's more coherent than most of his other efforts.
The Coffin Joe movies are often self-indulgent, tedious affairs, but Marins' complete lack of artistic restraint results in bone chilling moments of undeniable power. It's a body of work that is at once both revolting and compelling.
Creepy and genuinely disturbing.......2005-08-08
Although cheaply produced and cinematically clumsy, this campy, grotesque Brazilian horror film has several moments of genuine visceral revulsion. The film's centerpiece outrage -- of the sadistic, amoral Ze Do Caixa (aka: Coffin Joe) eating red meat on Good Friday -- may hold less punch for modern, non-Catholic viewers than it did for Brazilian audiences in the early 'Sixties, but the graphic depiction of a violent, bloody rape and the goring out of one man's eyes will still make many viewers recoil. Director Jose Mojica Marins played the role of Coffin Joe himself, leering madly and cursing God as he toppled over the flimsy set and knocked over the props. A Mr. Hyde story with no Dr. Jeckyl to balance things out, the film was apparently a sensation in Brazil and spawned two sequels of an equally lurid nature. Unless you're a student of low-budget camp, I'm not sure you really need to spend the time on any of these films, but if you do check them out, prepare to be shocked.
A truly must-see cult horror classic from Brazil.......2005-04-25
At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul is probably one of the best cult horror films you've never seen. Decades ago, this 1963 classic shocked and disturbed Brazilian audiences (it was, in fact, Brazil's first horror movie) and gave birth to a whole Coffin Joe franchise, yet only in recent years has this landmark of horror filmmaking found its way to the shores of America - and it's about time because this is one amazing film. With its expressionistic and existentialistic overtones and a cruel, thoroughly unforgettable protagonist, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul shines with a dark aura all its own. The stark nature of the black and white cinematography seems to sharpen Coffin Joe's hard edges, accentuate his evil glare, and set the mood perfectly for a thoroughly corrupt soul to face the consequences of his amoral and atheistic challenges to both God and Satan.
The character at the center of this film is now well-known as Coffin Joe, but this is actually a mistranslation of his name, Ze do Caixo. The name fits, though, as Ze stalks around in his black top hat and undertaker's getup intimidating and scaring the beeswax out of everyone in town. Everyone fears him, for good reason - those foolish enough to challenge him wind up with missing fingers, ugly stripes all over their bodies from his ruthless whip, or - as happens increasingly in this film - dead. Ze spits in the face of religion, summing up his nihilist philosophy at the very beginning of the film - to put things in a nutshell, he wants to continue his existence by producing a son. His wife Lenita has yet to bear him a child, so he has no more use for her. Instead, he casts his glance toward Terezhina, not caring one iota for the fact that she is the fiancée of his only friend in the world, Antonio. Ze is not one to let a silly thing like friendship get in the way of getting what he wants. There are a number of deaths in this film, but I won't ruin things for future viewers by detailing them here. I'll just say that Ze takes great delight in killing, thus giving us some surprisingly gory images (especially for a 1963 film) - Brazilian censors tried to suppress portions of the film, but we now have the luxury of seeing it as it was truly envisioned.
The downright evil of the man may not come across as strongly in America or elsewhere as it did in Brazil, however. Eating meat on a holy day surely offended the Catholic audiences of Brazil much more than it will many of today's American viewers. Still, Ze's fury in the face of religion is made obvious to all, as he has a tendency to rail at the God he doesn't believe in and challenge anyone or anything to send him straight to hell. Such scenes of voracious nihilism, set in a graveyard and cast against a backdrop of stormy lightning seemingly serving to vent the anger of heaven itself, play beautifully here.
It is amazing just what director Jose Mojica Marins was able to accomplish on such a low budget. The set was limited, especially that of the graveyard and forest, but it hardly shows. No one was willing to play the part of Ze, so Marins took it upon himself to bring his malevolent creation to life - and does a magnificent job. He actually glued glitter onto his negative to create one special effect, but it actually works quite well - and indeed, the special effects are a tremendous plus for this shockingly impressive film. I especially loved the change that appears in Ze's eyes just before he unleashes his fury on another innocent victim.
American audiences met Coffin Joe for the first time in 1993; now, with the DVD release, it is time America's horror fans properly introduced themselves to Marin and gave a brave, ingenious director his due. While I haven't seen the DVD itself, I can say that the print of the film that I came across was incredibly sharp and clear in both sight and sound. The film is in Portuguese, of course, but the subtitles are easy to read and correspond very well with what is taking place on the screen. Coffin Joe is a strikingly captivating fiend who revels in his own evil; I daresay I've never encountered a character quite like him.
TEREZINHA; COFFIN JOE.......2004-04-02
Being a fan of foreign horror films, I was intrigued to find out that this was the first to be filmed in Brazil. Upon viewing the strange, but captivating movie, I knew that I had not been let down. True, the film is an oldie (released in 1964), but still delivers better than most from that time period, as well as some that are released today. The story is fairly simple: Coffin Joe, resembling Jack The Ripper with claws, wants a child born of his ideal woman. The religious aspects of the film, from the holy to the blasphemous, prove that the censors had a hard time releasing it, especially in that time period. The special effects are comical by today's standards, but are still effective in being creepy. The DVD hosts some interesting extras, including a comic book and the original trailer. Most entertaining is the up-to-date interview with writer-director-actor Jose Mojica Marins, in which he reveals that the ghost effect was done by gluing glitter to the actual film around the actor's image to create a glowing essence. This film proves that you don't need a mega-budget to make a good film.
Description
Prepare to enter the world of Coffin Joe! Unholy undertaker, evil philosopher, denizen of dreams and hallucination--Coffin Joe, with his trademark top hat, black cape and long talon-like finger nails, is a horror icon in his native Brazil. He is the creation of writer-director-star Jose Mojica Marins whose perversely original and strangely personal filmmaking style has been compared to an unholy blend of Mario Brava, Luis Bunuel and Russ Meyer. The film debut of Coffin Joe was also the first true horror film made in Brazil. Joe terrorizes a small religious community in his search for the perfect woman to bear a child. Frightening, atmospheric and startlingly graphic for it's time. 35 year later, "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" has become an international horror classic.
Customer Reviews:
Russ Meyer Meets Luis Bunuel.......2007-02-13
The movies of Jose Mojica Marins, the creator of the Coffin Joe character, aka Ze do Caixao, still shock after all these years. Here is a quote from one of the first North American articles about Coffin Joe, which was quoted in much press material: "Marins' filmic style is so raw and strange that it is as if Russ Meyer shot Night Of The Living Dead with some help from surrealist director Luis Bunuel." (article by Chris McGowan in the Oct. 2, 1993 issue of Billboard magazine). The good news is that a new Marins Coffin Joe film is being filmed this year (2007).
Incredible Films from and incredible and Wicked Soul..........2006-10-28
Brazilian producer/director/actor José Mojica Marins (Coffin Joe) is one of the most enigmatic and fascinating figures lurking on the fringes of the underground film Universe. Subversive, controversial and always entertaining; Marins, known in Brazil as Zé do Caixão began his filmic career in 1963 with the atmospheric and wonderful, `At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul'.
For a first effort, and with virtually no budget, this is quite an impressive film. It was written, directed, and produced by Zé do Caixão (literally translated from Portuguese as `Joe of the Grave'). Marins also had to take over the lead actor role when his chosen actor dropped out due to the disturbing nature of the script and sadistic actions he was to undertake during the course of the movie.
When one takes into account the circumstances surrounding the filming of this classic, the finished product is even more impressive. It was shot with scraps of film and likely spliced together with scotch tape. The atmosphere and aura this film casts upon the screen is quite magickal. I will not go into plot details, as other reviews have covered this amicably. The transfer to DVD is excellent on this film (as well as the other two). Fantoma always seems to do a wonderful job with this facet of DVD production.
Following `At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul' (1963), Coffin Joe unleashed `This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse' on the unsuspecting populous. `This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse' is the proper sequel to `At Midnight...', and even more effective film. Coffin Joe had a bigger budget, which meant more money for special effects, which meant even more live tarantulas and spiders to victimize his poor actresses with.
`This Night...' is even more terrifying and outrageous than it's predecessor and is best know for it's vivid Technicolor depiction of hell. Dante has nothing on Marins, and this 8+ minute rendering of hell is indelibly etched into my psyche for perpetuity. This is the only part of Marin's wicked film that was shot in color and the contrast betwixt this vivid, lively, lysergically kissed scene and the rest of the carefully captured black and white motif is quite striking, rendering it all the more effective.
The third film in this amazing `trilogy' is inimitable `Awakening of the Beast' (1969). This delirious tale was banned by the Brazilian government until 1986. Upon its official release, `Awakening of the Beast' was regarded by many as Marin's Masterpiece. This film serves as a portrait of drugs and moral decay in modern-day Brazil. In this incredible work, four subjects are chosen for an experiment. The experiment involves giving the subject LSD and exposing them to Coffin Joe posters and films. I will leave it up to the viewer to draw their own conclusions about this perplexing and alluring film.
I realize I have not given very many details regarding the plots of these films. Previous reviewers have done a fine job with this. I am writing this review to let the interested amongst you know that I find these films to be absolutely essential. I have made it something of a mission to uncover hidden gems in the filmic Universe. I had read a few scattered bits here and there regarding a fascinating and sadistic entity named Coffin Joe. The more I read, the more intrigued I became.
The other day whilst bumbling around Amazon I stumbled across this Trilogy. When I saw that this set was produced by Fantoma I knew I needed it. When I realized that it came in a coffin with reproduction of original Coffin Joe comic books I began to convulse with anticipation. I ordered it, expecting to be let down as I usual am when reading too many reviews and essays before viewing a film. Needless to say I was not let down at all.
These are amazing films. The have an aura, ambience, and allure like none other. They are utterly perfect for Halloween and are essential for any self-professed horror fan or cinephile. If you are a fan of obscure horror films, exploitation, or atmospheric `horror-noir' please buy this set immediately. Of all my recent Amazon purchases, this has been by far the most satisfactory...
A truly must-see cult horror classic from Brazil.......2005-08-26
At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul is probably one of the best cult horror films you've never seen. Decades ago, this 1963 classic shocked and disturbed Brazilian audiences (it was, in fact, Brazil's first horror movie) and gave birth to a whole Coffin Joe franchise, yet only in recent years has this landmark of horror filmmaking found its way to the shores of America - and it's about time because this is one amazing film. With its expressionistic and existentialistic overtones and a cruel, thoroughly unforgettable protagonist, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul shines with a dark aura all its own. The stark nature of the black and white cinematography seems to sharpen Coffin Joe's hard edges, accentuate his evil glare, and set the mood perfectly for a thoroughly corrupt soul to face the consequences of his amoral and atheistic challenges to both God and Satan.
The character at the center of this film is now well-known as Coffin Joe, but this is actually a mistranslation of his name, Ze do Caixo. The name fits, though, as Ze stalks around in his black top hat and undertaker's getup intimidating and scaring the beeswax out of everyone in town. Everyone fears him, for good reason - those foolish enough to challenge him wind up with missing fingers, ugly stripes all over their bodies from his ruthless whip, or - as happens increasingly in this film - dead. Ze spits in the face of religion, summing up his nihilist philosophy at the very beginning of the film - to put things in a nutshell, he wants to continue his existence by producing a son. His wife Lenita has yet to bear him a child, so he has no more use for her. Instead, he casts his glance toward Terezhina, not caring one iota for the fact that she is the fiancée of his only friend in the world, Antonio. Ze is not one to let a silly thing like friendship get in the way of getting what he wants. There are a number of deaths in this film, but I won't ruin things for future viewers by detailing them here. I'll just say that Ze takes great delight in killing, thus giving us some surprisingly gory images (especially for a 1963 film) - Brazilian censors tried to suppress portions of the film, but we now have the luxury of seeing it as it was truly envisioned.
The downright evil of the man may not come across as strongly in America or elsewhere as it did in Brazil, however. Eating meat on a holy day surely offended the Catholic audiences of Brazil much more than it will many of today's American viewers. Still, Ze's fury in the face of religion is made obvious to all, as he has a tendency to rail at the God he doesn't believe in and challenge anyone or anything to send him straight to hell. Such scenes of voracious nihilism, set in a graveyard and cast against a backdrop of stormy lightning seemingly serving to vent the anger of heaven itself, play beautifully here.
It is amazing just what director Jose Mojica Marins was able to accomplish on such a low budget. The set was limited, especially that of the graveyard and forest, but it hardly shows. No one was willing to play the part of Ze, so Marins took it upon himself to bring his malevolent creation to life - and does a magnificent job. He actually glued glitter onto his negative to create one special effect, but it actually works quite well - and indeed, the special effects are a tremendous plus for this shockingly impressive film. I especially loved the change that appears in Ze's eyes just before he unleashes his fury on another innocent victim.
American audiences met Coffin Joe for the first time in 1993; now, with the DVD release, it is time America's horror fans properly introduced themselves to Marin and gave a brave, ingenious director his due. While I haven't seen the DVD itself, I can say that the print of the film that I came across was incredibly sharp and clear in both sight and sound. The film is in Portuguese, of course, but the subtitles are easy to read and correspond very well with what is taking place on the screen. Coffin Joe is a strikingly captivating fiend who revels in his own evil; I daresay I've never encountered a character quite like him.
Coffin Joe.......2004-07-19
Well, I am brasileire and I think interessant the people of others countrys like of the Coffin Joe movies. In Brazil he is the Ze do Caixao. But theses movies no is a trilogy. The 3º part of the trilogy never go maked. For fault of money. The awekening it's other movie. It still forgotten in Brazil since 1969 at 1983. A big shame.
Amazing Low Budget Film!.......2003-09-23
Director Jose Mojica Marins took Brazil by storm with the 1963 release of "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul," the first entry in what would soon become known as the Coffin Joe franchise. It may be quite surprising that such a low budget black and white film made in Brazil forty years ago would merit a DVD release, but when you watch the movie, you will readily agree that there is something special about Marins's project. After the release of this movie, the Brazilian director churned out numerous sequels that ultimately led to his becoming a pop culture icon in his native land. Marins often turned up in public dressed in the trademark Coffin Joe attire: a black cape, a black top hat, and hook-like fingernails about three inches long (the fingernails are real, by the way, as an interview with Marins confirms). Genre fans in the United States picked up on the Coffin Joe craze and sought out hard to find copies of his films until an American video company released them here few years ago. Now we can watch the horror that is Coffin Joe on DVD. I love it! I cannot wait to see the other two sequels also out on DVD.
Coffin Joe's works as an undertaker for a small Brazilian town. He is not a popular figure with the locals, who cannot stand his sadistic bullying or his mocking attitudes towards God and Satan. Joe laughs at the silly superstitions of the townspeople as he chows down on meat on Fridays and heckles people in a religious procession. When Joe isn't preparing bodies for burial, he spends time taunting his wife at home, hitting on his friend's girlfriend, and hanging out at the local pub. Coffin Joe's biggest concern in life is his ability to produce an heir to carry on his "bloodline." Since his wife suffers from infertility, Joe cannot stand to be around her and must always be on the lookout for a gal who can have children. Perhaps it isn't all that surprising that his desire for offspring attains a murderous mania: after all, a man who doesn't believe in God or an afterlife would have only his physical presence to fall back upon. Reproduction would be the only way to achieve a sort of immortality.
Joe's hotheaded antics eventually result in several grisly murders. In the course of his crime spree, he visits a fortuneteller who senses his evil and predicts a series of events that will culminate in Coffin Joe's demise. The undertaker scoffs at such supernatural nonsense and continues on his merry way. In various scenes, Joe murders and brutalizes his way through town. He disposes of his wife with a nasty looking spider, gouges out eyes, cuts off a man's fingers, drowns someone, and flogs a local at the pub. You just know that this guy is eventually going to get what's coming to him, especially after seeing his blasphemous jaunts through the local cemetery where he roars in derision at the dead and questions the very existence of a supreme being. Coffin Joe does finally learn that fooling with the primal forces of creation brings about events of a decidedly unpleasant nature.
Marins brilliantly realizes his creation in this film. His performance as Coffin Joe only delves into the melodramatic on a few occasions, for most of the time he exudes an aura of palpable danger. The scenes where the undertaker questions the supreme deity reek of dark atmosphere, made even more intense by the black and white picture. To top the whole thing off, the movie employs some of the eeriest background music I have heard in awhile. The music and pitch black atmosphere help to conceal the low budget production values used in the film. You would swear Coffin Joe is wondering around in a big forest for most of the movie, when in actuality Marins used a very small indoor set for nearly all of his scenes. The best effect in the film occurs during a sequence where Coffin Joe encounters the ghost of one of his victims. In order to create a creepy aura surrounding this walking spirit, Marins glued glitter (yes, glitter!) directly onto the negative. It is simply incredible how well this works on the screen; I have never seen anything like it in any movie I have ever watched. Also, listen for the use of echo boxes during Coffin Joe's blasphemous diatribes, which give the scenes an added dimension of unearthliness. Little tricks like these make "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" an immensely entertaining experience.
The DVD contains several surprising extras. You get three trailers for three Coffin Joe films and a lengthy interview with Marins about the creation of this project. The most interesting part of this discussion involves Marins's problems with Brazilian film censors at the time of the movie's release. Marins lied to the officials, telling them that he lost the negative of the film because he feared that the censors would confiscate the movie and permanently ruin it. At one time, at least ten different versions of the movie played throughout a Brazilian city. Fortunately, the DVD version is an uncut version of Marins's magical film. The movie's dialogue is in Portuguese, of course, but the subtitles are easy to see and, unlike many Asian films, actually match up with who is speaking. If you are in the mood for something well beyond the ordinary, look no further than "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul."
DVD:
- Coming Distractions
- Cryptz
- Dark Star
- Dawn of the Mummy
- Day of the Nightmare / Scream of the Butterfly
- Demonicus
- Die Screaming Marianne
- Dracula (75th Anniversary Edition) (Universal Legacy Series)
- Enter... Zombie King
- Equinox Knocks
DVD
DVD
General
| Horror
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Coffin Joe - This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse
Coffin Joe - Awakening of the Beast
Sorry Wrong Number (1948) (Sub)
The Call of Cthulhu: The Celebrated Story by H.P. Lovecraft
The Val Lewton Horror Collection (Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher / Isle of the Dead / Bedlam / The Leopard Man / The Ghost Ship / The Seventh Victim / Shadows in the Dark)
