At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

Infobox Film
name = At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul


caption = Theatrical release poster.
director = José Mojica Marins
producer = Arildo Iruam
Geraldo Martins Simões
Ilídio Martins Simões
writer = Waldomiro França
José Mojica Marins
Magda Mei
starring = José Mojica Marins
music = Salatiel Coelho
Hermínio Gimenez
cinematography = Giorgio Attili
editing = Luiz Elias
distributor =
released = November 9, 1963
runtime = 84 min
country = BRA
language = Portuguese
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = "This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse"
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0059440

"At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" is a 1963 Brazilian horror film, by actor/filmmaker José Mojica Marins. It is the first installment of Marins' "Coffin Joe trilogy" ("At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul", "This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse", and "Embodiment of Evil"). "Coffin Joe" is a loose translation of Zé do Caixão. Based on a nightmare the director/protagonist suffered during a time of illness and depression, the script for the film was written by Marins, who also played the lead role of Coffin Joe after the actor originally assigned the role failed to show up for filming.

Filmed in 13 days on a tiny set, the film has become a horror classic, not only in Brazil, where Zé do Caixão is a pop-culture figure, but since 1993 it has become more well known in the United States.

Plot

The film is set in a small Brazilian town whose location is unknown. Zé do Caixão, the local undertaker who disdains of religion and emotion and who believes the only thing that matters is the "continuity of the blood", is looking for the perfect woman to bear him a superior child. His current wife Lentina is obedient but sterile. Zé begins to flirt with Terezinha, the fiancée of his best friend Antonio. Terezinha scolds him by saying Antonio is the only man of her life. During a Catholic holiday, Zé kills his wife by tying her up and having a poisonous spider bite her. The local authorities cannot find a clue to arrest him and he remains free to do whatever he wants.

Some days later, Zé is invited by Antonio to visit a local gypsy who will tell the fortune of Antonio's marriage with Terezinha. The gypsy reveals, however, that there is going to be a tragic disaster, and the two will never get married. Zé, in response, calls the her a fraud and states that the supernatural is a hoax. She warns him not to mock the supernatural forces, lest they make him pay. That night, Zé and Antonio go to Antonio's house, where Antonio claims that he really didn't believe the witch's words and he and Terezinha will have a happy life together. Fulfilling the witch's prophecy, Zé bludgeons and then drowns Antonio.

Once again, the police can find no evidence to directly implement Zé with the crime . He proceeds with his plan to seduce Terezinha by purchasing a canary for her, which she accepts. However, he starts to touch her against her will. Terezinha tries to resist, but Zé beats her and viciously rapes her. After this, Terezinha curses him for his brutality, saying she will commit suicide and return to bring his soul to hell. Zé laughs at her, but the next day she is found hanging in her home. To his surprise, she doesn't blame him in her suicide note. Meanwhile, the local doctor begins to suspect Zé for the recent outbreak of deaths that has occurred. Zé becomes aware of the doctor's suspicions and proceeds to brutally murder him.

Time passes, and Zé is still unpunished for his crimes. On the Day of the Dead he meets Marta, a young woman who is visiting her relatives, and decides to choose her as his next perfect woman. Zé escorts Marta home late at night, only to be confronted by the gypsy who predicted the doom of Antonio and Terezinha. She tells him that his soul shall be claimed by lost souls and the Devil at midnight. Zé threatens the gypsy, but after leaving Marta at her destination, he is soon visited by ghostly apparitions that test his courage. Realizing he cannot face the apparitions, Zé runs away, but coincidentally arrives at the mausoleum where Antonio and Terezinha were buried. Finally at the edge of his sanity, Zé opens the coffins of his victims to prove they are really dead, but instead sees that their eyes are open, as if they are still alive. Some time later, the locals come to the mausoleum after hearing Zé's blood-curdling screams and find him horribly disfigured, his eyes bulging open similar to those of the two corpses. At that same time, the bells of the local church ring, announcing the stroke of midnight.

Cast

*José Mojica Marins as Zé do Caixão
*Magda Mei as Terezinha
*Nivaldo Lima as Antônio
*Valéria Vasquez as Lenita
*Ilídio Martins Simões as Dr.Rodolfo

External links

*
*imdb name|id=0596261|name=José Mojica Marins
* [http://www2.uol.com.br/zedocaixao/ Official Zé do Caixão site (in Portuguese)]