At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964)

What a waste of my time!!!

Perfect cast and a good story

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Coffin Joe has gotta be one of the most fascinating villains I've seen. He is over the top, cruel, sadistic, twisted and at the same time funny. Everything that has to do with this guy is completely unpredictable and deranged. Some of his evil actions and haunting monologues come out of nowhere and that's what makes this so great.I like how it opens with the old witch warning you not to watch it. That really set the bizarre tone right. The black and white colors, the music and the chilling foggy atmosphere. There's something about those things that work so well in this movie that would be difficult to replicate nowadays. It's a one of a kind.Coffin Joe is so full of himself that he even yells to the dead and the gods just to tell them that he denies their existence. And he doesn't just stop there, no, he goes into long speeches about his beliefs and why he is strong and they are weak. Throughout this whole thing his voice is heard as echoed and there's thunder in the background. He is one crazy man, but you can't wait to see what he's gonna do next. Because you never know what might happen.A true classic that explores the horrors of humanity. The religious aspect is an interesting touch too. If your main character wants meat with his dinner so badly that he will have the guts to say lines like: "I will eat meat today, even if it's human flesh". Then you know some serious crazy things are gonna happen. It's obviously someone you should NEVER take as a role model.

José Mojica Marins had made a few movies before "À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma" ("At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" in English), but it was this first entry in the Coffin Joe trilogy that gave the director his most famous role. Zé do Caixão (as he's called in Portuguese) is the undertaker in an unnamed Brazilian town. Disdaining religion and morality, Zé cares only about "continuity of the blood", and so he wants to father a child with the "perfect woman".Without a doubt, Zé's actions show him to be an amoral individual. To be certain, he seeks to use women exclusively as a path to his own fulfillment. This individualistic attitude is actually antithetical to Latin American culture, as it is more common for everyone to look out for each other. Of course, Zé can't be seen as a representation of anyone or anything except his own malicious desires.At times the movie is a little confusing, but the last ten minutes easily make up for any shortcomings. Indeed, the low-budget special effect in one scene is one of the neatest things that I've ever seen (in an interview, Marins describes how they did it). All in all, this is truly one of the most unique movies that I've ever seen. Brazil has as much reason to be proud of it as they do of "The Girl from Ipanema" (which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month). Very neat.

If there's one thing that stands out in "À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma", it's the quantity of "dark" in the film. There are more shadows than light in every scene, and the shadows are so black as to be living ink, and so palpable that they threaten to engulf everything in its path.That being said, Mojica was the perfect fit for the lead character, Coffin Joe. Unbelievably, no one wanted to play the this role; everyone thought the movie was so over the top as to be ridiculous, and turned it down. This turned out to be a blessing, as Mojica wound up playing Joe himself, ultimately turning this film into the classic that it has come to be. He delivers every line with such vindictive zeal I can only compare him to a Shakespearian "Hamlet of Doom". Every line rolls off his tongue with menacing resonance, each one bellowed ever more defiantly and louder than the last. Joe is one of my favorite anti-heroes, and I look forward to watching the other Coffin Joe films in Mojica's collection.-vl-

"At Midnight, I'll Take Your Soul" is one of the most original and clever films around.**SPOILERS**Tired of being a gravedigger in his town, Ze do Caixao, (Jose Mojica Marins) spends his free time with Terezinha, (Magda Mei) the fiancée of Antonio, (Nivaldo Lima) his best friend. Complaining about his wife Lenita, (Valeria Vasquez) and her inability to bear a child, he sets out to find a woman in the village to give one to him, but they all fail. Terezinha also wishes him to leave her alone, and he is so enraged he cuts a path of destruction through the village over anyone that stands up or opposes him. When they determine that he has done enough, the spirits of the damned arise from their graves and seek their vengeance against him.The News: This was a really impressive surprise and an entertaining film. The one thing that stands out the most in here is the overt and downright confrontational religious themes present. The ranting in the doctor's home, where after delivering a series of jabs at the church, the utter denouncement of all things religious is made, and it still packs a wallop. The utter contempt for the fears and superstitions of the town, from laughing at the priest while eating a piece of lamb meat on Good Friday, to committing several acts strongly adhered against religious doctrine, to the berating and beating down the others who think differently, all reinforce that assumption, and are made to believe that the fear is based on superstitious nonsense. Even the contempt of using a headband from a religious statue as a tool for beating in a fight becomes symbolic of the fact that religion is beating down those who view it as being peaceful and forgiving when it's forceful and oppressive is the final nail in the coffin for the metaphor. There's other aspects of the film, such as the memorable images created in here. The first time the titular character is on-screen, with the flowing cape, uni-brow, top hat and uncharacteristically long fingernails, all create a unique certainly menacing villain. His grand variations and wild movement make him all the more eccentric, and it's useful in making him different from the other crazed types out there. The one area where it's hard to top the film is the atmosphere. This is a really impressively designed film, where the film has a really creepy feel. The strange feeling whenever we're in town is exemplified by the strange behavior of the residents and until we get an explanation about who he is, the scenes with them frightened at the sight of him make for some really tense moments. The one scene that is unquestionably a masterpiece concerns the ending, which is so masterful that it really just stands out in the film. The cemetery where the action takes place is one of the most visually arresting cemeteries around, with giant bushes and trees around, creepy candles littering the ground and an air of morbid and unease around it. From the moment he walks in, with the wind howling over the trees and the voice-over explaining his demise and the ways it will come about, are nothing short of jittering and supremely suspenseful. As the other warnings start to come true in spectacular fashion, the dawning of it becomes apparent and the visions increase even more readily. The ethereal voices with the chanting in the background and the increasingly more out-of-control situations that transpire make the whole sequence a real highlight that has a hard time being topped. The brutality of the violence is also quite pleasant, and there is some nice deaths in here. From the slow, tortuous scene where a victim is slowly subjected to a spider slowly crawling over their leg and biting on the neck, to the repeatedly bashing over the head with blunt objects or a spiked headband, this one does have some very brutal, and intriguing kills in it. This is one pleasant surprise for a film.The Final Verdict: One of the most impressive horror films around, and a debut film just as good as anything out there, this was an extremely pleasant and rewarding surprise. Highly recommended to the most open of minds, as the themes present may not be for everyone, but is certainly worthy of a watch at any rate.Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence and a mild Rape