Shocktober Foreign Frights: Mexico / South America

Each week in October this year, as part of our Shocktober Classics event, we'll be spotlighting different regions of the world that have significantly contributed to the horror genre, with new reviews for that region's films from Monday to Friday of that week.

This week, we turn our sights south of the border, to Mexico and South America (Brazil specifically). Mexico has been producing horror films since the 1930s, but their most productive period in the genre ran from 1957-1977, when luchadores, ape men, vampires, and Aztec mummies ruled the screen. Many of these films were imported into America by producer Gordon K. Murray, who laid down all-new dubbing and sold the movies under new titles to television.

Over in Brazil, there wasn't really a national horror cinema until Jose Mojica Marins formed one out of black cloth and long fingernails. Going by the name of Zé do Caixão (roughly translated -- Coffin Joe), Marins alter-ego terrified Brazilian filmgoers throughout the country, but it's only been in the last fifteen years that his movies have been widely available in the United States.

For this abbreviated week, we present reviews of two films made early in the "Mexploitation" cycle, followed by looks at the very first Coffin Joe movies.

Wednesday, October 1st: El Vampiro (1957) by John Dubrawa
Thursday, October 2nd: The Brainiac (1962) by Kevin Nickelson
Friday, October 3rd: At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964) by Nate Yapp
Saturday, October 4th (Coffin Joe Bonus): This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967) by Timothy J. Rush

Other Reviews of Mexican and South American Horrors:

The Man and the Monster (1959)
Alucarda (1975)
Cronos (1993)
The Devil's Backbone (2001)

The Shocktober 2008 schedule:

October 1st - 4th: Mexico / South America
October 5th - 11th: Spain
October 12th - 18th: Germany
October 19th - 25th: Southeast Asia
October 26th - 31st: Miscellaneous