The Strange World of Coffin Joe

The Strange World of Coffin Joe (OEstranho Mundo de Ze do Caixao) (1968)

Runtime: 81 minutes

Directed by: Jose Mojica Marins

Starring: Marins and many others

From: Iberia Filmes

Well, this was in fact strange. Graphic and perverted for the time are other terms that can be used. A long while ago I saw the first two Coffin Joe films (At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul &
This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse), where he’s an intelligent, verbose madman whose obsession is subjecting a woman to sire a son at all costs. This film in contrast is different; I do understand that many of the subsequent films from director/star Jose Mojica Marins are peculiar and counter-culture, yet I should still check those out because they do take risks.

The titular Joe only appears in the beginning, to deliver quite the rambling speech. The world is shown to be a trio of short stories; yes, it’s an anthology. The first concerns a dollmaker who has four young daughters; a quartet of ruffians show up and well, there’s a long scene of sexual assault where the women get naked. There was a sign that this would be a film for adult audiences even by 2024 standards. The second is an entirely dialogue-free segment where a creepy balloon-carrying guy becomes obsessed with a young woman; what a disturbing turn that takes… although that pales in comparison to the finale.

There, Marins shows up as not Coffin Joe… even though the appearance is similar and he also spouts counter-culture commentary. He is a professor who states on a TV show that humans are more about instinct than love. This is proven to a fellow professor and his lady in a rather… well, I know many don’t like the term “torture porn” as a concept for a variety of reasons yet that is the best descriptor I can use. It was shocking and depraved to me today; I can only imagine the reaction of Brazilian audiences in 1968-they had to be dumbfounded, then appalled.

The first two segments did not always work yet were still enjoyable for entirely different reasons. The finale was technically the best, yet its content wasn’t appealing to my personal tastes so I can’t say it was enjoyable to me, but many others will disagree. I’ll give Marins credit for being bold and transgressive for the time & creating something so perverse, not to mention in stark contrast to its contemporaries like Amicus anthologies.

I appreciate that Arrow restored his most prominent films and made it easy for people like me to not only revisit his most famous work, but also do a deeper dive on his filmography in general.