It's a criminal shame that these movies are as unknown and underrated as they are, even among the horror underground. The fact that 4th- rate garbage flicks on some streaming site have over 100 reviews, while this has 24 at the time of this writing makes me sad. I get it to some degree. I was only lucky enough to discover these movies through the book HIDDEN HORROR, which introduced me to the opening chapter. They're in another language, with subtitles. They're 50 years old, at this point. They are low-budget, underground films. It's not a great surprise that so few have dived into the world of Coffin Joe, but it's still a travesty.
Of course, this is a sequel, so if you are just coming into the movie, start with AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL. This movie picks up directly from the events of that fist film. Xe (Coffin Joe) is badly injured and on trial for his crimes, but within the first few minutes of the movie, we put those things aside so that Xe can begin his quest to create a perfect son. See, Xe doesn't believe in good, or god, or much of anything for that matter. To him, the pursuit of his life is to pass his beliefs and his seed on to a son, who can keep his beliefs alive.
He starts this quest by kidnapping 6 women and torturing them in a sort of trial by godless game show, where the winner gets to be subdued by Xe's love. These scenes offer some of the best moments of the film, with some frightening images that masterfully play with the line between sex and violence. Xe comes to find that he needs not force himself upon some unwitting woman, though, as the woman of his nightmares shows up completely willing to turn her back on everything to be Xe's lover and the mother of his child.
From there, the movie takes a few odd twist and turns, most notably with one of the greatest scenes (I'm not even kidding) in any 60s horror movie when Xe goes to Hell. It's a technicolor inferno full of Bosch-like imagery and psychedelic terror. The scene begins to set a tone in the movie where Marins (the director) start to play with the ideas of atheism and to explore Xe's beliefs, in counter to a possibly impending sense of guilt, mingled with his fear of death and leaving behind a legacy of nothing. In AT MIDNIGHT, Maris used his character as a bold, radical villain spitting in the face of the religion and politics that were dominating his country at the time. In THIS NIGHT, he goes a step further, exploring the very nature of Xe's beliefs.
These movies would appeal to so many horror fans. For fans of the old Universal style of film, the look and feel of this movie is right up your alley. Taking some of the more bizarre subject matter aside, these movies would look right at home with Lugosi's Poverty Row films of the 40s. The subject matter is very 60s, full of counter-culture questioning of the standards of society, mixed with the obsession with evil that was so common in 60s horror. This is, almost, where the look and feel of WHITE ZOMBIE meets the kinetic film style of Rob Zombie. This is the kind of movie that you could watch on mute, at a party, with some metal or goth music in the background and still sit and enjoy for the sheer visionary impact of it.
Of course, this is a sequel, so if you are just coming into the movie, start with AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL. This movie picks up directly from the events of that fist film. Xe (Coffin Joe) is badly injured and on trial for his crimes, but within the first few minutes of the movie, we put those things aside so that Xe can begin his quest to create a perfect son. See, Xe doesn't believe in good, or god, or much of anything for that matter. To him, the pursuit of his life is to pass his beliefs and his seed on to a son, who can keep his beliefs alive.
He starts this quest by kidnapping 6 women and torturing them in a sort of trial by godless game show, where the winner gets to be subdued by Xe's love. These scenes offer some of the best moments of the film, with some frightening images that masterfully play with the line between sex and violence. Xe comes to find that he needs not force himself upon some unwitting woman, though, as the woman of his nightmares shows up completely willing to turn her back on everything to be Xe's lover and the mother of his child.
From there, the movie takes a few odd twist and turns, most notably with one of the greatest scenes (I'm not even kidding) in any 60s horror movie when Xe goes to Hell. It's a technicolor inferno full of Bosch-like imagery and psychedelic terror. The scene begins to set a tone in the movie where Marins (the director) start to play with the ideas of atheism and to explore Xe's beliefs, in counter to a possibly impending sense of guilt, mingled with his fear of death and leaving behind a legacy of nothing. In AT MIDNIGHT, Maris used his character as a bold, radical villain spitting in the face of the religion and politics that were dominating his country at the time. In THIS NIGHT, he goes a step further, exploring the very nature of Xe's beliefs.
These movies would appeal to so many horror fans. For fans of the old Universal style of film, the look and feel of this movie is right up your alley. Taking some of the more bizarre subject matter aside, these movies would look right at home with Lugosi's Poverty Row films of the 40s. The subject matter is very 60s, full of counter-culture questioning of the standards of society, mixed with the obsession with evil that was so common in 60s horror. This is, almost, where the look and feel of WHITE ZOMBIE meets the kinetic film style of Rob Zombie. This is the kind of movie that you could watch on mute, at a party, with some metal or goth music in the background and still sit and enjoy for the sheer visionary impact of it.