Hellish Flesh

Inferno Carnal (1977)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Brazilian horror film features director Marins playing the lead role of a doctor who has acid poured on his face by his cheating younger wife. The wife eventually takes his money and runs off with her playboy lover but the doctor has his own ideas for revenge. This is a rather bizarre and surreal film, as one would expect from the director, but it's not as bizarre as you might think. There's a few gory sequences, mostly with the acid, but outside of this the film is more talk that anything else. Some would say that's a bad thing but it actually works here for several reasons. The first is that the entire subplot of the lover turning out to be a scumbag to the wife makes for some interesting twists. The talk also helps build up the wife's character to where we slightly begin to feel for her. This works perfectly because there are a couple twists at the end, which come out of no where and really work quite well. The lack of gore might keep some people away or disappoint those who do watch the movie so people should prepare themselves going in. Even at 82-minutes the movie begins to lose steam but I really respect Marins for trying something different and not just delivering your casual revenge plot. The film also manages several surreal moments, which usually gets done with strange sound effects, weird edits and some strange color designs. Even stranger is an actual eye operation, which we get to see in close detail, which will certainly have your eyes watering up. The story is told in a straight forward fashion, which again, might upset die hard fans of the director but I think if people give the film a far shot then they should enjoy it. The print shown on IFC is in good condition but the subtitles are disastrous as we get many misspelled words as well as several words that are incorrectly used.

Despite underrated, this is one of the very best movies by José Mojica Marins. Curiouly, here he does not play neither a fictionalized version of himself, nor his classic icon and signature character Coffin Joe, as in most of his films. It is the story of a rich scientist named George Medeiros, who is researching a new powerful acid. I do not consider it a horror; indeed, itnis more approapriate to consider it as a dramatic thriller. In the film, Count of Montecristo meets Le Chien Andalou and Beauty and the Beast. It is eye for an eye. The black widow meets an opportunist gambler who spends much money with prostitutes. Can we say there is a moral lesson? Atmospheric, well paced and well edited movie.

Hellish Flesh is a slightly more conventional horror tale from Brazilian madman José Mojica Marins. In it Marins plays a scientist who spends too much time in his lab. His wife conducts an affair with a mutual friend. The pair then concoct a plan to kill the hapless husband. The wife pours acid on his face and her lover sets fire to his lab. But the scientist survives albeit with a creepy burned face, while the wife suffers a bad life as her lover is a good-for-nothing gambler and womaniser. But things only get even more complicated.

At its heart this is a simple revenge tale. Although given that it's a Marins movie it isn't a typical one. He still manages to incorporate some surreal elements such as the scenes with the mysterious young woman. Her lover is but a shadowy silhouette, á la Nosferatu. There are also a couple of shock moments; one being the acid attack scene which does look quite fake and another being the eye surgery scene which unfortunately is quite genuine, and very unpleasant indeed. Also, the parts with Marins facially deformed scientist were nice and creepy. But mostly Hellish Flesh is a fairly straightforward affair. The twist at the end is kind of good though and rounds off the film on a satisfyingly macabre note.

Brazilian director José Mojica Marins is renowned by cult movie fans for his surreal, gory, bizarre and frequently incomprehensible Coffin Joe movies in which he plays sadistic undertaker Zé do Caixão. Hellish Flesh doesn't feature Zé and is one of the film-maker's more conventional efforts, but I don't mind: it's nice to be able to understand what the hell is going on for a change!

Marins plays Dr. Jorge Medeiros, a scientist so caught up in his experiments (or 'experience' if you have the poorly subtitled Anchor Bay DVD) that he neglects his beautiful wife Raquel. A little too trusting, he is happy for Raquel to go to dinner with his friend Oliver while he tends to his test tubes; unsurprisingly, the pair are at it like rabbits behind his back.

Fed up with keeping their affair a secret, the deceitful couple plan to rid themselves of Jorge and claim his fortune. While working one night, Raquel goes into his laboratory and throws acid into her husband's face; Oliver goes one step further and starts a fire, leaving Jorge to burn to death. Miraculously, Jorge survives his ordeal and spends months in hospital receiving reconstructive surgery (cue some nauseating real-life eye surgery footage); meanwhile, Oliver and Raquel are quickly working their way through what cash they have, unable to lay their hands on Jorge's money.

Strangely, when Jorge leaves hospital, he doesn't go to the police; on the contrary, he regularly gives Raquel money, most of which is squandered by Oliver on gambling and, unbeknown to Raquel, on numerous skanky hookers (fat women, women with bad teeth, women with five o'clock shadows: he's not fussy!). When Raquel learns of Oliver's dalliance's with these women, she rushes to confront him, but is hit by a car (she needn't have bothered: his last hooker had stabbed him to death).

Once again, Jorge comes to his wife's rescue, paying for the surgery necessary to help her walk again. Indebted and wracked by guilt, Raquel returns to her husband, and, on seeing his scarred visage, declares her love and throws acid into her own face, wanting to be disfigured just like Jorge. After unsuccessful plastic surgery, Raquel returns home and once again declares her love for Jorge, at which point her husband… well, that would be telling, suffice to say that as acts of revenge go, this one is pretty sweet!

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

"Hellish Flesh" is not an Coffin Joe entry but an average horror tale of revenge. A scientist (Marins) gets his face destroyed with acid by his young cheating wife. She then spends his money on a playboy/lover, meanwhile Marins is lurking around them with a scarred face. The end has nice twist but like "Perversion" it's too straightforward compared to his unique surreal Coffin Joe epics. The print from Something Weird Video is pretty worn but it's properly the only way to get this rare film. Only for fans of this Brazilian genius.