Up until now I have reviewed American films and I thought it should be time to break that up a bit. I could come up with any number of reasons why it took me this long to get to a foreign film, a film I watched weeks ago, and had originally intended to be my second installment in this series. But it really comes down to a single detail, I couldn’t find a stinking trailer for the film anywhere.
You see, I’ve come to rather enjoy posting a preview of the next week’s piece by including a trailer of the film. It gives people something to look forward to, and might even rekindle the memory of when the movie first came out. Now sure, I am reviewing films that are less then beloved, so I expected this to be an issue at some point, only not on my second attempt. I must admit I didn’t handle the situation well. I was completely flummoxed by the conundrum and pulled a classic bait and switch, substituting The Hidden for my original fare. Of course none of you knew this, but let me tell you it was hell backstage when the final decision was made. Eventually I had to personally fire my production assistant because of the gaffe, a process made all the more difficult because I am my own production assistant.
But then I ran into additional delays later. After finishing Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, I decided I would finally go ahead and post the review sans trailer, only to once again chicken out at the eleventh hour and post Troll instead. So now, after yet another week of delays I have finally worked up the guts to post my review on At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul.
At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul is actor/director José Mojica Marins’ (This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse) is the first film in his classic series. I went into this film with only the sketchiest of details about it. At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul also marked the debut of Brazilian horror icon Coffin Joe (José Mojica Marins stars as the titular character), an evil mortician clad in all black and a top hat. I had heard of Coffin Joe, but outside of the sketchiest of details I was going into this film with my eyes effectively closed. Over the years the film has built up quite a following among horror aficionados, but unlike the mainstream notoriety of American, Italian, and Asian film directors, Marin still isn’t a widely known commodity to mainstream American audiences. So I was interested to see if the film would still appeal to a relative neophyte of the Coffin Joe phenomena like myself. Is this a film worthy of being viewed by the mainstream as important a film as anything from say, Dario Argento, John Carpenter, or Takashi Miike? Or is it merely a cultural phenomena, that will be forever constrained to survive off its niche audience?
At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul starts off in a slightly unusual way, in that it asks you to stop watching it. This is done by a strange old witch who attempts to warn the audience, during an extended monologue that shatters the 4th wall, that the film is far too scary and everyone would be better off never having witnessed it. It is a remarkably effective bit of reverse psychology, as I was instantly intrigued by what would be in store for me. Sure enough, moments later At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul offered a glimpse of what awaited the audience during its opening credits. Showcasing a brutal beating of a woman that is blatantly masochistic even by todays watered down “torture porn” standards. That it is in a film over 40 years old makes it almost eye poppingly vile, and they certainly can’t say they didn’t warn you. As opening credit sequences go, it is a stunningly impressive punch to the gut, and one I am sure to remember.
But let us get my one complaint out of the way, shall we? It seems I had just enough information on Coffin Joe to be thoroughly confused for much of the film. I was under the misguided impression that Coffin Joe was a supernatural figure, like a Brazilian bogeyman, but that simply isn’t the case. Of course the onus for this error is solely on me, but I do want to try and prevent anyone else from making the same gaffe I did.
While this confusion initially led to me not enjoying the film as fully as I might have otherwise, the choice by Marin to make Coffin Joe a man, though a thoroughly detestable one at that, was a far superior direction to take the film then I could have originally imagined. In one standout scene Coffin Joe berates a man for abusing his own son, a move that borders on admirable, and this coming from the man who brutally beats and rapes a woman during the course of the film, is a layer of complexity simply not found in American horror antagonists, contemporary or otherwise. But it is as you progress through the film that you discover that Joe’s love of children, and more importantly his singular focus on obtaining an heir to his name, is what drives him to such deplorable levels of inhumanity. Make no mistake that Coffin Joe is a monster, but it is his brief forays with altruism that elevates his character to the upper echelon of the horror pantheon.
The only other caveat I have left to offer is for anyone with little knowledge or exposure to how films were stylistically performed 40 years ago, that you may be in for a bit of a shock. Subtle acting is wholly nonexistent in the film, and along with its many low budget special effects, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul certainly can appear dated in many respects. But many of the practical effects are incredibly impressive, especially concerning bruises that appear during the course of the various beatings that occur on screen. I came away far more impressed with how many of the effects held up quite well, and rather then being drawn out of the film by the bombastic acting or occasional clunky effects, found myself continually drawn further into the world of Coffin Joe with mesmerizing precision. Next time you get the urge to watch an old school horror film, treat yourself to this Brazilian masterpiece. You won’t regret it.
