General News
A STRANGE NIGHT WITH COFFIN JOE October 9th at Webster University
A STRANGE NIGHT WITH COFFIN JOE takes place Sunday October 9th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E. Lockwood Ave.) beginning at 7:30pm. The event will consist of a double-bill of THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967) and EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (2008). There will be an appearance by Raymond Castile, who played the young Coffin Joe in EMBODIMENT OF EVIL
Unholy undertaker, evil philosopher, denizen of dreams and hallucinations, Coffin Joe, with his trademark top hat, black cape, and long talon-like fingernails is a horror icon in his native Brazil. Revered as a national boogeyman, Coffin Joe has been immortalized in films, TV shows, radio programs, and comic books. He is the creation of writer-director-star Jose Mojica Marins, whose perversely original and strangely personal filmmaking style has been compared to an unholy blend of Mario Bava, Luis Bunuel, and Russ Meyer.
Jose Mojica Marins took Brazil by storm with the 1963 release of AT MIDNIGHT I’LL TAKE YOUR SOUL where he played Coffin Joe, a sadistic undertaker who despises religion and emotion and is concerned only with finding his idea of the “perfect” woman to continue his superior bloodline. It was the first entry in what would soon become known as the delirious, nightmarish Coffin Joe franchise. That film, as well as the subsequent Marins shockers such as THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967), THE STRANGE HOSTEL OF NAKED PLEASURES (1976), HALLUCINATIONS OF A DERANGED MIND (1978) and AWAKENING OF THE BEAST (1983) were not exported to the United States when they were new. These are some of the most bizarre and extreme films in horror history and it would take several decades for American cult movie fans, after suffering through 5th generation bootleg VHS tapes, to finally see good copies of the Coffin Joe series. Now 80 years old, Jose Mojica Marins has a loyal, global following but is still not very well known outside his native Brazil.
The Webster University Film Series is going to honor Marins with ‘A Strange Night With Coffin Joe’ which takes place Sunday, October 9th beginning at 7:30pm at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E. Lockwood Ave.) The event will consist of a double-bill of THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967) and EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (2008). This will be the first time these films have been officially screened back to back in the United States. Though made over 40 years apart, the first film directly leads into the second. THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE is the second Coffin Joe film. Brazilian censors forced filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins to recut and redub the ending to the film, making Coffin Joe find Jesus and repent. This infuriated Mojica. In his mind, this mangling of his film put a “curse” on him and his career. For the next 40 years, Mojica tried to make the third movie in his official Coffin Joe trilogy, one that would erase the stain of that imposed ending. It became his obsession. But for various reasons (career slump, funding falling through, a producer dying in a plane crash), he could not get that third film made. In 2005, with the help of fans who had now grown up and become filmmakers themselves, Mojica finally got the third part of his trilogy off the ground. The Brazilian equivalent of our NEA gave him financing. Cameras rolled on EMBODIMENT OF EVIL in 2006. Mojica, then 72 years old, played the contemporary Coffin Joe in most of the film. But he wanted a young Coffin Joe to recreate the ending of THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE, revealing how Coffin Joe survived his apparent death. Marins auditioned many Brazilian actors, but none were convincing as a 1966 Coffin Joe. He finally found Raymond Castile, a Coffin Joe fan from the St. Louis area who bore an uncanny likeness to the young Marins.
Castile went on to write, direct, and star in the short film The Blind Date of Coffin Joe which can be viewed here:
Castile, as Coffin Joe, will make an appearance at ‘A Strange Night With Coffin Joe’ at Webster University October 9th.
Raymond Castile with Jose Mojica Marins on the set of EMBODIMENT OF EVIL
A Facebook invite for ‘A Strange Night With Coffin Joe’ can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/144441862667504/
THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE
(José Mojica Marins, 1967, Brazil, 108 min.)
Coffin Joe (José Mojica Marins), with his trademark top hat, black cape and nails, embarks on a brutal campaign of terror in his quest for the perfect bride. For his sins Joe is dragged headfirst into the underworld. This sequel to At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (1964) is bigger, bolder and more insane than it’s predecessor. Mojica delivers a unique vision of hell like you have never seen. Hell, as seen when the film suddenly changes from black-and-white to psychedelic color, is a bright gaudy mixture of fire and ice. Red-painted men run around sticking people with pitchforks and driving nails into their foreheads while people hang upside down with snakes wrapped around them. Walls bleed. Blood drips from the ceiling while body parts are everywhere. The film is in Portuguese with English subtitles
Followed by:
EMBODIMENT OF EVIL
(José Mojica Marins, 2008, Brazil, 94 min.)
The evil gravedigger Josefel Zanatas a.k.a. Coffin Joe (José Mojica Marins) is released from prison after forty years. He moves to the slums with his followers that worship him. The ghosts of his victims haunt him while he seeks out the perfect woman to bear his children. The vigilante brothers Captain Osvaldo Pontes (Adriano Stuart) and Coronel Claudiomiro (Jece Valadão) hunt down Zé do Caixão following a trail of tortured and mutilated bodies. The film is in Portuguese with English subtitles.
Don’t miss A STRANGE NIGHT WITH COFFIN JOE, Sunday, October 9th at 7:30 pm at Webster U’s Moore Auditorium (470 E. Lockwood Ave.)
Admission is:
$6 for the general public
$5 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$4 for Webster University staff and faculty
Free for Webster students with proper I.D.
Advance tickets are available from the cashier before each screening or contact the Film Series office (314-246-7525) for more options. The Film Series can only accept cash or check.
The Webster University Film Series site can be found HERE
http://www.webster.edu/film-series/
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