At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964)

This is my first foray into the twisted world of "Coffin Joe", A.K.A Zé do Caixão, the bizarre creation of Brazilian auteur José Mojica Marins. What a debut film for this unique director-writer-actor! I suppose you could shoe-horn this film into the horror genre but there aren't many other ghoul-fests like it. It's almost a manifesto on atheism and nihilism which backfires spectacularly on its protagonist... mixed with an old black and white horror comic from decades ago. It certainly goes for broke in some of the more violent scenes, but also has a certain child-like Halloween charm in others. Let's look at some plotlines first, then take a closer look.

In a small village in Brazil, Zé lives with his wife Lenita (Valéria Vasquez) as an undertaker. A bully and a tyrant, Zé has no interest in the villagers' religious practices, eating meat gleefully on holy days, beating and maiming locals at the bar and lusting after his friend Antônio's (Nivaldo Lima) fiancée Terezinha (Magda Mei). It's not just any old lust, though. Zé believes the only purpose for life is to continue one's bloodline. So far Lenita has failed to produce an heir, which places her in peril with the increasingly cruel and ruthless Zé as a husband.

Zé decides to do away with Lenita via death by spider bite, and take Terezinha as a brood mare. Thus begins a series of escalating murder, rape and horror in the village. The townsfolk, for some reason, are all thoroughly weak and cowed, with any attempts to stand up to Zé being swiftly beaten down by the top-hatted monster.

Nonetheless, fate takes a downward turn for Zé when Terezinha commits suicide after being raped by the vile man, thwarting Zé's aspirations of fatherhood. Screaming his angry defiance to an unhearing void, Zé nonetheless begins daily life anew. Soon, doubts in his mind begin to swell. The local gypsy fortune teller predicted his death, and Satan claiming his soul by midnight. Are supernatural forces rising from the grave to seize him, or is he steadily going even more insane?

Made on an obviously tiny budget, Marins has gone all out to realise his vision on the screen. With cheap plastic skulls and stuffed owls, the creep-factor is still there even back in 1964. This is strong stuff for back then, and even now. "Coffin Joe" beats people, whips them, mutilates one hapless villager's hand with a broken bottle and pokes out the local doctor's eyes with his overgrown fingernails. Terezinha's rape occurs offscreen but we certainly get the gist of it after witnessing her bloody and distressed state. The only moment of sort-of humanity Zé exhibits is when he admonishes an abusive Dad for beating his son – but it's really a protectiveness filtered through his own warped philosophy.

Technically, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul is pretty ragged but charming. I thought we were in for an sonic assault on the senses, but after the shrieking and howling in the opening credits, the soundtrack settles down to pretty non-descript music. Performance-wise it's really Marins' film and boy does he really go all-out. Kind of sane at the beginning, Zé quickly becomes the howling embodiment of evil he's later known for. Thoroughly amoral, there isn't much subtlety here, but this is a character known as Coffin Joe, people. With his top-hat, cape and talon-fingernails, Zé is an iconic horror image even if the bulk of the film plays out almost as a domestic drama. Marins even does quite a few stunts and rough-looking tumbles as the story progresses. Magda Mei as Terezinha gives a perfectly adequate performance as the object of Zé’s obsession and portrays strength and victimhood in equal measure. In fact, all the actors do well with what they're given, and seem to be taking their characters seriously.

The makeup effects throughout are effective in black and white, with the (possible) supernatural shenanigans ramping up the blood and decay. The depiction of rotting corpses is convincing in the final scenes, and I particularly enjoyed the effect of the ghost of Antônio surrounded by a halo of glitter. Apparently this was achieved by hand glueing glitter to the negatives! The cinematography looks great and the lack of colour is to the film's benefit, only adding gothic atmosphere despite the lack of red blood.

Director, writer and actor Marins has created a unique little spectacle in At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul. Is it my favourite cult horror film ever? Probably not, but I definitely want to see the sequels and other Marins weirdness. He's not afraid to let rip his darker imagination for the discerning cinema-goer. There's probably something to be said for that in an industry that often defaults to cookie-cutter money-earners. I get the impression his wild approach only escalates in future films, so there's quite a bit to explore. Definitely worth a view!

Do have a pleasant evening.