HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2019: At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (1964)

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My apologies for not posting last night.  Late Friday I got hit by the latest attack of this recurring illness that has been plaguing me off and on all year, and resulted in my lying in bed all day in the dark.  I did endeavor to watch yesterday’s random pick, the 1923 German film Warning Shadows, but I could not concentrate.  I promise I will return to it on a day I have the time to watch two movies; worse comes to worse, I’ll do that review on November 1st.

Which brings us to today, which is sponsored by my lab monkey at The Honeywell Experiment, Chris Honeywell.  Be sure to check out our new episode, covering the landmark Australian ‘Nature Run Amok’ classic Long Weekend...and watch out next month when we welcome author J.A. Konrath to talk about Emanuelle and The Last Cannibals!

Chris chose as today’s film d’jour the seminal Brazilian chiller At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul, the product of one Jose Mojica Marins.  This is not the first time I have encountered Marins and his signature character Coffin Joe; back in the 90‘s I watched Awakening of The Beast, the 1970 anti-LSD anthology...which was probably the worst possible introduction to this maniacal undertaker.  After watching that one I was perplexed by the character’s appeal.  After watching this one, Marins’ first, I more than understand Joe and his eugenics obsession.

In this film, Marins makes it clear who the film is about right up front; the film starts with Coffin Joe directly addressing the audience with his philosophy.  There are very few scenes which do not contain Joe at all, and in some scenes he wanders in without warning.  This kinda predates the emphasis on the villain over the heroes during the 80‘s ‘super-slasher’ era, and it’s fascinating to watch it play out.  The film never identifies with Joe, but he’s in our face torturing people and roaring out his views of existence over belief, the flesh over the spirit to anyone who will listen.  It’s fortunate that he is a charismatic presence who relishes in his own misbehavior, because if it wasn’t it would be insufferable.

The plot is relatively slim--Joe dominates the small town he provides services for, he is obsessed with having a son, kills his barren wife and best friend so he can marry the woman the friend was going to marry only for that woman to kill herself, and for all his bad karma to catch up with him on The Day of The Dead.  But it’s enough of a support for the series of vignettes where this character slaughters people in the cast--at one point with a bored expression on his face--and otherwise behaves abominably.  The payoff almost seems rather tame given what we’ve watched him do, and its not surprising he comes back.

It’s hard not to compare this to The Blood Drinkers, which was made in the same year...and whereas that film’s director, Gerardo DeLeon, tries to throw all sorts of stuff at us to disguise the cultural aspects of the story, Marins revels in the Brazilian-ness of his.  The faith and beliefs in that country at that time are essential to the plot.  Those beliefs are Joe’s enemy and not the people he kills.  Hell, there are moments where I considered the possibility that this film is about how horrific Ayn Rand’s philosophy of self over culture could be when stretched to its logical extreme.  Joe is purely motivated by selfishness, and it is his belief in himself that justifies his atrocities.

Yeah, I’m talking about Joe a lot.  The other characters pale against his malevolent dark light...but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other joys to the production.  I like how the town feels small but also full of people, and I like a lot of the compositions and the way Marins utilizes camera movement to make what could have been a cramped set look open.  It doesn’t drag in spite of its slightness of story, and features some really striking set pieces (with all the sadism and murder, the scene I keep coming back to is one of Joe looking out his window at a High Holy Day Procession, gleefully eating lamb while the passer-bys watch).

This is would be a watchable film even without its status as the first Brazilian horror film. Unlike The Blood Drinkers, which tries to be universal in its appeal and fails, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul embraces its otherness and is obviously made for its home country.  That it manages through sheer charisma and skill to appeal to other cultures is truly commendable.  Needless to say, I recommend this film.

Tomorrow, we’re sponsored by Los Angeles film critic Witney Seibold, who has chosen for my edification Onibaba, a historical Japanese flick about a pair of women who kill samurai and live off their belongings.  Oddly enough, this is also from 1964, which means we’re getting quite an interesting portrait of what horror looked like in other countries at that particular year.

If you’d like to get me to watch a movie of your own choice during the Halloween Horrorfest, please consider joining the Domicile of Dread Patreon at the $3 Tier or greater.  Each new patron gets a free slot in this Gauntlet of Ghoulishness!