The sequel to At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (which is touted as Brazil's first horror film), This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse has a lot more going for it than just an amazing title. While often 'cult' films are fueled by a strange fervor that has nothing to do with any actual merit to the film itself, This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse manages to be something unique and special. It combines rampant sexuality with grotesque curiosity, yet still touts Christian morals. While it's definitely not something you'll always want to pop into your DVD player, the film is one that you'll find yourself mentally dwelling on more than might be healthy. But make no mistake, unless you have a healthy morbid curiosity, you're probably better off leaving this film alone.
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Zé do Caixão (or as he's known in the United States, Coffin Joe) is something of a horror film legend and obscure cult figure all at once. The character, the creation of Brazilian actor-writer-director Jose Mojica Marins, is only infrequently included in books on the genre and only one tome (as far as I can tell) has been utterly devoted to him. Yet once you've seen him, you're not likely to forget him; from his  all-black suit to his long, curved fingernails, he's an imposing figure. My first Zé do Caixão sighting came in the pages of Phil Hardy's Encyclopedia of Horror, in a publicity still from This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse, which had Zé leering over a female victim, all ten of his fingers hovering like talons over her eyes.(read more...)

At the time of its release in 1957, Fernando Méndez’s El Vampiro was the first film about vampires that dared to show the creatures’ now-famous fanged incisors. This seemingly minor inclusion helped craft the modern vampire. Yet, time has certainly not done El Vampiro any favors, and while this film is a landmark in horror history, genre aficionados will remember the use of light and shadow in F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu or the swagger and charm of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula before remembering the teeth shown here. There is an excellent plot unraveled in El Vampiro, complimented by an equally excellent score; however, it is is filled with (mostly) uninteresting characters, misguided pacing, and constricting camera movements. El Vampiro is not a bad film - it’s just not a particularly interesting one.
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