À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (1964)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

José Mojica Marins

Writers:

Waldomiro França (writer)
José Mojica Marins (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 1964 (Brazil)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A gravedigger prowls the city in search of a female to bear him a son. |

Plot Keywords:

Son | Owl | Haunting | Card Playing | Bird

Cast

José Mojica Marins	...	Zé do Caixão
Magda Mei	...	Terezinha de Oliveira
Nivaldo Lima	...	Antônio de Andrade
Valéria Vasquez	...	Lenita Zanatas
Ilídio Martins Simões	...	Dr. Rodolfo
Eucaris Moraes	...	Velha Bruxa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robinson Aielo
Almir Barbosa
Suzy Barros
Geraldo Bueno
Cardoso
Claudiana
Eurípedes da Silva		(as Eurípides Silva)
Genésio de Carvalho
Laura Duarte
Waldomiro França
Iko Galdine
Luiz Gonçalves
Graveto
Jonny Grégio
Arildo Iruam
Mário Lima
Luana
Laurindo Luarelli	...	Zé do Caixão (voice)
Raul Malentaqui
Antônio Marins	...	S. Francisco
Carmen Marins	...	D. Joana
Renato Melo
Avelino Morais
Cícero Paulino
Vânia Rangel
Tomás Sebastião
Leandro Vieira
José Vilar

Also Known As:

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (USA)
À minuit, je possèderai ton âme (France) [fr]
Apopse tha paro tin psyhi sou (Greece) (DVD title) [el]

Runtime:

Brazil:84 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Company:

Indústria Cinematográfica Apolo

Trivia:

With the exception of two exterior scenes, the entire movie was shot inside a 600 square foot studio in São Paulo.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Zé do Caixão: What is life? It is the beginning of death. What is death? It is the end of life! What is existence? It is the continuity of blood. What is blood? It is the reason to exist!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Maldito - O Estranho Mundo de José Mojica Marins (2001)

Somebody Get This Dude A Nail Clipper For Xmas!

The Brazilian film "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" (1963) features a character who is a strong contender for the most hateful, obnoxious, despicable, slimy and loathsome creature in horror movie history. He is Ze do Caixao, a name that, loosely translated from the Portuguese, means Coffin Joe, and he would go on to become a wildly popular figure in Brazilian culture over the years; kind of like an amalgam of Baron Samedi and Freddy Krueger. As played by the film's director, Jose Mojica Marins, Ze is quite unforgettable. Bearded, caped and top hatted, he bullies and browbeats the inhabitants of his small village, and does away with those closest to him, all in his sick pursuit to father a son and continue his bloodline. Perhaps most shocking, in the largely Catholic country of Brazil, he is a taunting atheist, who eats meat on Good Friday and even forces others to do the same! No living person seems able to stand up to Ze. But the unliving...ah, perhaps that's another story.... Filmed on the cheap, this picture still works marvelously, featuring as it does many scenes of casual and brutal violence (wait'll you see what Ze does to his barren mistress), some interesting FX (I love that glittery ghost!), fairly intense acting (especially by Marins and that gypsy witch), and a very freaky score (wails, screams, echo effects, etc.). One scene in particular is very fine; the one in which Ze rails against heaven and hell during a thunderstorm and drunkenly demands that God and all spirits do him harm. Pretty intense stuff. Anyway, that gypsy woman, at the film's beginning, warns us NOT to watch this picture, as it will make us suffer, but I'm glad that I stayed with it. And oh...a modern-day interview with Marins is included on this DVD. If you want to see something REALLY scary, take a look at his fingernails!