"Damned: The Strange World of Jose Mojica Marins"
José Mojica Marins is one of those guys that I would have to say is like going down a road you are familiar with, like to your school, you know the way, but up ahead is a detour sign that takes you to someplace you've never been before.
I was living in Dallas, Texas in the late 80s and an acquaintance who was like me, in radio, one night came to a midnight film series I hosted and programed said to me, "Who do you think you are, Coffin Joe?"
I didn't know who he was talking about, but I was starting to think he was insulting me. Maybe he realized this because he quickly started explaining to me about José Mojica Marins. He told me that he had been a radio deejay like we were and making horror films. I still to this day don't know if that is true about him being a dj, I can't seem to find any info on that.
My friend a few weeks later came over to my house and showed me, "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" and "This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse" and my mind was thoroughly blown.
Marins is Coffin Joe, but he is also a Brazilian filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, and television personality. Coffin Joe's true name in the films is Josefel Zanatas. Zanatas because backward it reads Satanas," and the 12 year old in me says, "I dig that!"
"At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" came out the year I was born and is supposedly Brazil's first horror film. You must watch it with a friend. You must watch them all. He really is like a big kid trying to tell scary stories so the pretty girls cling in fear.
I maybe should show you one of his films, and maybe I will, but I just happened to be watching this documentary by André Barcinski and Ivan Finotti and it won the Special Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. So if someone walks in on you while you're watching it and gives you a questionable look, tell them it's an award winner.
His website: http://www2.uol.com.br/zedocaixao/
No comments:
Post a Comment