À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (1964)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

José Mojica Marins

Writers:

Waldomiro França (writer)
José Mojica Marins (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 1964 (Brazil)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A gravedigger prowls the city in search of a female to bear him a son. |

Plot Keywords:

Rape | Good Versus Evil | Cat | Digger | Gore

Cast

José Mojica Marins	...	Zé do Caixão
Magda Mei	...	Terezinha de Oliveira
Nivaldo Lima	...	Antônio de Andrade
Valéria Vasquez	...	Lenita (Esposa do Zé do Caixão)
Ilídio Martins Simões	...	Dr.Rodolfo, médico local (as Ilídio Martins)
Eucaris Moraes
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robinson Aielo
Almir Barbosa
Suzy Barros
Geraldo Bueno
Cardoso
Claudiana
Eurípedes da Silva		(as Eurípides Silva)
Genésio de Carvalho
Laura Duarte
Waldomiro França
Iko Galdine
Luiz Gonçalves
Graveto
Jonny Grégio
Arildo Iruam
Mario Lima
Luana
Laurindo Luarelli	...	Zé do Caixão (voice)
Raul Malentaqui
Antônio Marins	...	Francisco - tavern owner
Carmen Marins	...	Mrs. Juana
Renato Melo
Avelino Morais
Cícero Paulino
Vânia Rangel
Tomás Sebastião
Leandro Vieira
José Vilar

Also Known As:

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (USA)

Runtime:

Brazil:84 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Company:

Indústria Cinematográfica Apolo

Trivia:

The movie became such a hit in Brazil that one theatre in downtown Sao Paulo played it for four months.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Zé do Caixão: What is life? It is the beginning of death. What is death? It is the end of life! What is existence? It is the continuity of blood. What is blood? It is the reason to exist!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Coffin Joe's Vision's of Terror (1994) (V)

Needs to get his nails clipped

(aka: AT MIDNIGHT I TAKE YOUR SOUL)

Supposedly the first Brazilian horror movie ever made, it definitely is the 1st Coffin Joe film ever made. And no, I don't consider it a 'masterpiece' like another reviewer had stated, earlier.

Joe is a maker of coffins who goes around with a top hat and long fingernails. He's also a sadist and a bully who intimidates all those around him and plays upon their superstitions.

Some sadistic acts Coffin Joe commits include cutting off the finger of a card cheat during a poker game, horsewhipping another in the saloon where they all drink and congregate, killing his infertile housekeeper with a tarantula because she can't bear him a son, and then killing the boyfriend of a woman he lusts after with a fireplace poker.

This is not the kind of guy I'd want in my neighborhood. I guess he was considered the Freddie Krueger of his time (since the Coffin Joe series was very popular in Brazil) but without the camp humor Wes Craven gave to that series.

Anyway, a gypsy woman warns Joe that his end is near and that at midnight, the dead will rise up and take his soul. It's only after Joe prevents a local doctor from filing a police report by gouging his eyes out and then setting him on fire, that we know Joe will soon meet his maker.

The ending scene where the townsfolk find him dead of fright with his face all deformed and twisted, seems anti-climatic to me. Joe deserves a far worse fate than what director Jose Mojica Marins gives him here. He got off too easy, imo.

And as stagy as the film looks, it's not all that bad. The film stock they used looks like it was taken from the 1940s, not the 1960s, giving the film an older feel to it than it actually is. It enhances the atmosphere, imo. And yeah, the gypsy woman's skulls look like paper-maché and not the real thing. I guess they couldn't find real ones or the budget was too small.

But no matter…it entertained me enough with the politically-incorrect sadism that Marins gives to the leading character, that I'm gonna give it a 6 out of 10 for a decent first entry into the series.