At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

Director - Jose Mojica Marins (Hellish Flesh, Awakening of the Beast)
Starring - Jose Mojica Marins, Magda Mei, and Nivaldo Lima
Release Date - 1964
Genre - Horror
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     There is literally hundreds of movies I've wanted to watch over the years and have never found myself in the position to check them out.  A good bit are movies I've seen in documentaries floating around when I was in middle school or high school.  Some I had heard about from other horror fans and the movie is hard to come by.  There is a few movies that I learned about from Cinemassacre's Monster Madness that ran for several Octobers.  One set of films that really caught my eye was the Coffin Joe films and how James Rolfe described them.  I was so fascinated by them but I could never find myself with the funds to fork out for the amazing box set.  Synapse recently released the official Coffin Joe trilogy in a box set and single released the first two films At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul and This Night I'll Posses Your Corpse.  They were kind enough to send those my way for review.

     The film follows mortician Ze Do Caixo (Marins) who does not fit in with his small town.  He speaks out against religion and will cut anyone down that steps in his way.  He lives with his wife and is obsessed with having his very own son but his wife is barren.  He kills her with a spider and makes it look like an accident before raping his friends wife.  She could not live with herself over the rape and kills herself robbing Coffin Joe of his son.

    




     What really pulled me into the Coffin Joe universe was the mood and atmosphere.  The film looked like it had a story to tell and the character of Coffin Joe walked you through every minute of it.  When I finally got the movies to review I was not disappointed.  The acting in this one is no consistent.  Jose Mojica Marins absolutely killed it as Coffin Joe.  He was chilling, domineering, and controlled every scene he was in.  I have never seen an actor take center stage like Marins did with his portrayal of Coffin Joe.  Sadly, the supporting cast is nowhere near his level so most of the scenes are uneven or awkward to watch.  The story for this one is so fucking simple but leaves a lasting impact especially when you consider it was released in 1964.  The film touches on death, anti-religion, anti-Christianity, and rape which was generally not discussed in film at that time.  The story was very shocking but it had substance to go along with it.  Finally, the film does have some blood and some solid practical effects but it is not gory.  There is some blood and solid effects but that is the extent of that.  Overall, At Midnight I'll Take You Soul is a film that truly needs to be seen to be believed.  It looks great and the character of Coffin Joe should be on everyone's list for favorite villain.  Check it out.