O Estranho Mundo de Zé do Caixão

The third "Zé do Caixão"/"Coffin Joe" film by José Mojica Marins, the man who personifies Brazilian Horror cinema (mainly as his alter ego Coffin Joe) is the greatest of the bunch, even though it does not include a story about the eponymous demented gravedigger in eternal search of a woman to bear him an heir. "O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" aka. "The Strange world of Coffin Joe" (1968) is not really a Coffin Joe film as such, but Marins' delightfully demented take on the popular art-form of Horror anthologies. After a typically weird introduction by the director/writer/star's alter ego Coffin Joe, "O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" tells three macabre tales, all delightfully demented, perverted and grotesque. It is amazing that a black and white third-world production with an obviously low budget could turn out to actually be one of the most explicit and deranged pre-1970 exploitation productions ever. The three tales in "O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" include delicate subjects such as rape, cannibalism, desecration of corpses and necrophilia, and their depiction is very explicit for the time to say the least.

After a tale about a shy pervert who is willing to follow the lady of his dreams anywhere, and one about the sinister secret of a doll maker and his nymphomaniac daughters, the film culminates in a story in which José Mojica Marins himself plays another truly morbid role of a demented scientist. I do not wish to go into detail about the three stories presented in "The Strange World of Coffin Joe", but I can assure that they are entirely macabre and demented enough for this film to be a must-see for every lover of Cult Horror and Exploitation cinema. The film has its cheesy moments, of course, and the acting obviously isn't the best, but these things only contribute to the incredible camp charm of the movie. As mentioned before, the topics are incredibly macabre, morbid and perverted their depictions include some very explicit gore (severed limbs, etc.) for the time, as well as quite a bit of female nudity. The latter is of course also very welcome, especially since the female cast consists entirely of ravishing Brazilian beauties.

"O Estrano Mundo de Zé do Caixão" is a film that can be admired for many a reason, but that must be seen for two in particular. One reason is that this is one of the most explicit and deranged 60s exploitation flicks ever. The other is that there is hardly another film that shows such love for the Horror-genre, and such passion behind making a low-budget production (from everybody involved) as does "The Strange World of Coffin Joe". No fellow fan of cult-cinema should consider missing it. José Mojica Marins, we worship thee.

I think that in the 60's you can talk about "modern" and "old" kind of horror films.The modernity of horror films was determined by the forces acting in the movie: immanent forces that eluded arcane solutions or mysterious set designing with dark, freakish and irrational characters, were forces related to a new notion of Horror. New Horror tried to find, to create, a new idea of terror closer to the "human body", an immanent and "rational" idea of terror.In this way George A. Romero's movies, with their political suggestions, are the more revolutionary in their genre and, well, i think that Marins' movies too, in their particular, experimental way, follow and reinvent the horror cinema modern notion born in 60's. In the beginning of this amazing picture Ze Do Caixao, presenting his three stories, says: "You cannot understand the terror because you are the terror!".In this statement resides the whole picture: especially the third story, the best one, shows that what scared us are the body's extremes, the "instincts" as Ze says.This argument by Marins\Do Caixao creates a modern notion of horror: filming this Marins checks new extreme forms of the bodies, a new way to be, a way that can be easily confused with sadism or with pure bizarre gory cinematographic entertainment.But Marin's way is really more radical than this kind of simple stuffs.It's an experimental way! Even if all the three stories are led by the same argument - the new notion of terror related by the new new notion of body - only the third one is successful to get the argument in a great complete visual way.Other two stories, especially the first one, are obvious and don't suggest anything new about searching a suitable image for the matter. Anyway, a good, funny too, modern and experimental horror picture. I give 9 to the third story and I give 7 1/2 to the whole picture.

For his third film, José Mojica Marins a.k.a. Coffin Joe opted to do an omnibus style trio of horror tales, and it's a mixed bag. The title of the film is very apt, as Coffin Joe proved with his first two films that his 'world' is indeed very strange, and this film builds on that although none of the stories here follow the same plot thread as the other two and all of these tales stand alone - which is good news if you haven't seen the first two films, although you really should. Overall, this film isn't nearly as good as the earlier efforts; but it still offers a lot for the cult fan. The first tale revolves around a doll maker and a bunch of thieves who start out to rob him and end up finding out how the eyes in his dolls look so realistic (no prizes for guessing how). The second story is the weirdest and least good, and revolves around the ever-popular theme of necrophilia - and the final tale is an exploitation themed sick-fest in which the director takes the lead role. The plot revolves around his theories which relate to instinct and reason, and a journalist who is interested in seeing evidence.

Coffin Joe's directorial style is very flamboyant, and that's really what makes his films good. The themes on display have been copied often since the release of this film, and while I'm not sure if the films that went on to use the same ideas actually took influence from this one - it does have to be said that Coffin Joe's films are ahead of their time, especially considering that they hail from Brazil - a country not especially known for great films. As I mentioned, the trio of tales are a mixed bag and it comes as something of a disappointment that the first story is the best. There's a depressing tone that runs throughout the movie, and that is certainly felt in the first story - although not necessarily as much as in the others. The second story is definitely the least interesting, although the implications and atmosphere surrounding the story are well used. The third and final story will appeal most to exploitation fans, and is the most like the director's first two movies. Coffin Joe stars in this story in a role not too far removed from his trademark character. Overall, I wasn't overly impressed with this film - but the trippy and hypnotic atmosphere is a treat, and I'm sure fans of Coffin Joe will get a kick out of it.

I've always felt José Mojica Marins (aka Zé do Caixão, 'Coffin Joe') is somewhat of a pioneer in Brazilian cinema. Brazilian films tended, at the time, to be mere pornography (both hardcore and softcore), while now it tends to be too much 'engaged on social causes' rather than in the 'good entertainment' aspect of cinema (Brazilian romantic comedies are not GOOD entertainment).

'Strange World of Coffin Joe', as well as most of JMM's filmography, are an exception to those (which might be why he is often marginalized within Brazilian cinema): they are merely fun, eerie horror films entailing bizarre and creepy tales.

In here, we don't have Zé do Caixão appearing in character (unless you count the narration at the beginning). 'Strange World' is an anthology film, with three separate stories:

'O Fabricante de Bonecas' ('The Dollmaker') is about an old man, renowned for making dolls with impressively realistic eyes, and a group of burglars who try to steal his money and have their way with his beautiful daughters. It is an eerie and atmospheric horror tale, with a very predictable but fitting twist ending and full of eroticism that makes it a 'pleasant' watch.

'Tara' ('Fetish') is something that could easily pass off as an European drama: a tale of necrophilia about a man with a foot fetish who goes to a morgue after the now-dead woman he often fantasized about. It is pure depravity that is not far from a Pasolini film; to complete its 'artistic' aesthetic, it has no dialogue. The camera-work is good, but unless you want to see plot less perversion it should be avoidable.

'Ideologia' ('Ideology') is the only story JMM appears in (not as Zé, though). He plays a professor who, trying to prove that 'love' doesn't exist, imprisons a rival (who publicly argued this matter with him) and his wife and tortures them both to see how far their 'love' can endure in life-or-death situations. It has as much perversion as 'Tara', but not a meaningless one at that; the discussion is actually a very good one (done in JMM's trademark rhetoric of 'instinct vs reason') and the conclusion is good.

Overall, 2 out of the 3 stories are not only watchable but very fun and eerie tales. 'The Dollmaker' is the best horror-wise, but 'Ideology' manages to be one of the few 'torture porns' not to be mindless. The title song is also great if you understand what it's about.

For those not used to José Mojica Marins horror tales, though, his 'Coffin Joe' films are a better place to start with his filmography.

'Strange World Of Coffin Joe' is my third Coffin Joe experience. For those not in the know "Coffin Joe" is the name Brazil's horror icon Jose Mojica Marins is known as in the English speaking world. Separating Marins the man from Coffin Joe the IDEA is extremely difficult, if not impossible. I can't think of any real equivalent of Coffin Joe in America or Britain. It's a bit like if Alfred Hitchcock was also Norman Bates... or something. Oh look, I can't even begin to explain what Coffin Joe is all about! Try watching 'At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul' and its sequel 'Tonight I'll Possess Your Corpse' first. Both are full of creepy low budget weirdness. Even then you might not be prepared for 'Strange World Of Coffin Joe'. For one thing it's an anthology with three separate stories (ala Bava's 'Black Sabbath'). On top of that Marins doesn't act in the first two segments (one about four baddies who invade a mysterious doll makers home to steal his loot and molest his daughters, the other about lyrical tale about obsessive desire and necrophilia told without dialogue), and when he appears in the final story he's not exactly the Coffin Joe we know and love(to hate) from the previous movies. He's no longer a bullying grave digger but a Doctor who is respected enough to get interviewed on a TV show called "The Men Who Make The News". One of the panellists who rejects Joe's philosophy on air accepts his invitation to visit his home, and he and his wife are put through an bizarre series of events to prove Joe's belief that love is dead and instinct conquers morality. Or something like that. Anyone who has seen other Coffin Joe movies knows the kind of stuff he spouts. This segment features some truly extraordinary images involving torture, perversion, cannibalism, and even in one did-I-really-see-that? bit, a terrified girl being taunted with a foot long hoagie. No, I'm not making that up. If you like weird low budget horror movies then you MUST check out Coffin Joe! Imagine the love child of Herschell Gordon Lewis and Jean Cocteau and you're getting there, but really Jose Mojica Marins is a true original. The more I see by him the more fascinated I am.