Thanks to the most kick ass magazine in the whole wide world, Rue Morgue, I was introduced to Coffin Joe. Coffin Joe is a character created and played by Director Jose Mojica Marins in a series of Brazilian horror films. Yeah, I didn't know there was such a thing either. These films are so controversial in Catholic Brazil that they have been banned many times and the Director thrown in jail. Apparently the fact that the main character eats lamb meat on a Friday caused riots.
The first film featuring Coffin Joe is At Midnight I'll take Your Soul, realeased in 1963. It features, amoung other horrors, eating meat on Friday, multiple murders, rape, canary killing, zombies, ghosts, gypsies, suicide, and death by spider. It was pretty fantastic.
And the score would have made Les Baxter proud. It's a jazzy, howling, women screaming kind of deal which is actually kind of creepy. Thanks to the wonderfulness that is Netfix I was able to watch this masterpiece, as I doubt I would have found it at the local Blockbuster. The next film in the series is This Night I will Possess your Corpse which sounds stunning. By the way, the character of Coffin Joe has become such a legend in Brazil that he is almost like a bogeyman. Parents warn their kids that if they are not good Coffin Joe will come and get them. Take that Freddy Krueger.
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