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R.I.P. José Mojica Marins, a.k.a. Coffin Joe

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 | News

By MICHAEL GINGOLD

The pioneering Brazilian horror filmmaker/actor has died at age 83.

Brazil’s Folha De S.Paulo has reported that José Mojica Marins succumbed to bronchopneumonia at Sao Paulo’s Sancta Maggiore hospital; his passing was confirmed by his daughter Liz Marins. Born March 13, 1936 (a Friday!), Marins became famous for his Coffin Joe (Zé do Caixão) character, a villain who wreaked murderous havoc in several features he directed and starred in, beginning with AT MIDNIGHT I’LL TAKE YOUR SOUL (1963) and continuing through THIS NIGHT I’LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967), THE STRANGE WORLD OF COFFIN JOE (1968), AWAKENING OF THE BEAST (1970) and THE BLOODY EXORCISM OF COFFIN JOE (1974). His films were groundbreakingly graphic for their time, showcasing vivid horror and torture scenes and visions of hell. Marins was also a popular figure on Brazilian television, though his fame didn’t spread to the United States until the 1990s, when his work was discovered and celebrated there.

Marins revived the Coffin Joe character in 2008’s EMBODIMENT OF EVIL, with the assistance of fan and fellow Brazilian genre filmmaker Dennison Ramalho. The movie spurred further interest in Marins, who toured festivals worldwide with the film. He subsequently helmed a segment of the anthology shocker THE PROFANE EXHIBIT; his last feature was 2015’s MEMÓRIAS DA BOCA. He will be greatly missed and forever celebrated as a great and unique talent on the international horror scene.

Michael Gingold
Michael Gingold (RUE MORGUE's Head Writer) has been covering the world of horror cinema for over three decades, and in addition to his work for RUE MORGUE, he has been a longtime writer and editor for FANGORIA magazine and its website. He has also written for BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, SCREAM, IndieWire.com, TIME OUT, DELIRIUM, MOVIEMAKER and others. He is the author of the AD NAUSEAM books (1984 Publishing) and THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO MONSTER MOVIES (FAB Press), and he has contributed documentaries, featurettes and liner notes to numerous Blu-rays, including the award-winning feature-length doc TWISTED TALE: THE UNMAKING OF "SPOOKIES" (Vinegar Syndrome).