Seedy, dirty, vile and indecent, I wasnt *quite* prepared for just how intense ‘Last House on Dead End Street’ was going to be. Though, frankly having seen it now, Im amazed this film isnt bought up more often in discussions of film influence.

Would ‘Frank Booth’ in Blue Velvet be half the psychopath he is had this film not existed? Would ‘Pink Flamingos’ have pushed the boundaries of taste and decency quite as far as it did had word of this films existence not been circulating for years before its ACTUAL release?

Shot in an abandoned Campus in 1973 and eventually released in theaters in 1978 after MULTIPLE re-edits, retitles and reworkings…If you’re looking for an example of a ‘dyed in the wool’ US Exploitation film that REALLY doesnt pull its punches, this is the film for you.

The plot follows recently released prisoner Terry Hawkins (played by the films director Roger Watkins) Who, while spending a year locked away, has decided to come up with a ‘brilliant’ idea that going to turn his life around…

And, while I’d rather not spoil the plot of this one TOO heavily, as I think its best enjoyed as blind as I went into it. One thing that I DO love in this film is the themes on desperation. This film has no sunlit uplands, it has no rescue boat on the horizon. We are trapped with desperate people, in desperate situations forced into horrifying conditions by a group of people who have embraced the absurdity of their own ‘desperate living’.

Its important to bear in mind that around this time, New York (Where this film was being shot) was in the mid stages of a near total collapse that would leave hundreds of thousands essentially in abject poverty. I dont think this kind of film could have been made anywhere else and under any other circumstances.

The script is minimalist, harsh and unforgiving. There are ZERO likeable characters its just shades of unpleasentness. Whether it’s Jim Palmer, a porn director who seemed to shine during the ‘Nudie Cutie’ era, now forced into shooting harder and harder material (often reluctantly involving his own wife) and slowly being forced into incresingly less legal circumstances to please his clients.

or it could be Terry himself, a man desperate not to return to the prison system, and burning with vengence for a society and system he feels wronged within.

We have a clean 3 act structure present here, the characters are purposfully played down in terms of complexity. we are NOT dealing with nuanced characters in this piece. their solutions are often the most extreme and simplest ones. they do NOT lament their decisions through this.

The pacing is frankly breakneck, at an hour and 17 minutes this thing barely felt like an hour to me. Tonally? This is the film ‘Bloodsucking Freaks’ wishes it was, and the film that the ‘Ban this filth’ crowd thought that ‘Driller Killer’ WAS. its a dark, bleak pit of dread snatched away on celluloid and the closest comparison I can align it to would likely be Passolinis ‘Salo’ or a much less nuanced ‘I spit on your grave’ sheerly for how our main antagonists revel in the maliciousness they’re causing.

The direction is PERFECT for this kind of film, I caught this movie on Vinegar Syndromes release of ‘Corruption’ as an easter egg, and the version they’ve included on that disc is a VERY rough ‘grindhouse-esq’ partially restored version. and when I tell you that the grime and filth on that print GREATLY enhanced the viewing experience of this one. I really mean it.

It made the film feel even more like something that was shot for a ‘private’ audience, and unearthed years later. Which was the intention at the time, but because of the handheld, ‘run and gun’ rough around the edges approach to the direction, AND the fact a significant chunk of the film is presented as POV. the worse this film looks, the more realistic it seems to feel.

Direction of the cast is solid, obviously it helps when your director is also your main star, it really helps give the film a strong sense of identity and it looks like Watkins was very open to improvisation, with a strong cast who could also improvise well taking influence from Watkins performance leading to an increasingly demented ‘Upping of the stakes’ from all involved.

Composition comes second here to emotion on film. Everything is rough and ready and intentionally so, but this is a case of organised chaos, as its clear this wasnt some inexperienced chump swinging a camera around for 77 minutes, but rather a VERY talented hand, knowing exactly how to use the ‘handheld’ experience to carefully curate EXACTLY what the audience NEED to see (and better still, to hide what they *think* they see)

As such framing isnt this films strongest point in a traditional sense, but in terms of aiding the real feeling of unease, this film flourishes with character. the edit is loose, methodical, but non traditional. shots run for significantly longer than usual. Cut only when essential and the whole thing feels like it was assembled on an ‘essentials’ basis rather than to he standards of the day.

Performance wise? its incredible. With Roger Watkins deluded, manic and horrifying portrayal of Terry Hawkins being frankly mezmorising in places. He’s really truely unhinged and terrifying for the vast majority of this movie, and probably one of the all time great antagonists of cinema.

But! thats not to say the supporting cast underperform! Terrys crew are the perfect foil, hyenas following the leader of the pack into a savaging. they’re equally demented, cackling and frankly…odd, for lack of a better expression. they really help build up the sense of utter hopelessness ANYONE entering Terrys world (voluntarily or otherwise) experiences. Had they even been SLIGHTLY tamer than they are, the whole thing would have fallen apart. So I really have to applaud everyone on all fronts to so wholeheartedly committing to this.

And the soundtrack is the ribbon that ties this whole thing together, its lound, wailing, banging drone noise. From near start to near finish, its a wall of sound. And I can only BEGIN to imagine what this would sound like through a theater sound system. I can already envision my loss of ability to think clearly its that intense.

In fact; the only things I didnt really like about this movie, were the one or two concessions to either the censors, or to the bleakness, nothing too terrible, just the odd line delivery here and there and the odd bit of V/O post work that makes you think ‘someones told them to add that in to take the edge off…’

Clearly missing the point that this movie is SUPPOSED to be oppressive, and isnt SUPPOSED to be toned down.

But I digress. If you have an affinity to horror, exploitation, or the art of subverting taste and decency. and you HAVENT seen this. Its your moral duty to find the most torn up battered copy of this film that you can get your hands on and watch it ASAP.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-last-house-on-dead-end-street/

I feel kind of bad for giving this one a lower score, but as it stands this one was another example of a film selling itself on one thing, but delivering another.

I picked up ‘Deep Inside Annie Sprinkles’ based on the promotional material, which, somewhat refreshingly given the year this film came out. Promised an Adult film that was written and directed entirely by the star of the feature ‘Annie Sprinkles’ and that the the majority of the film was going to revolve around Annies day to day livings as an adult performer, photographer, and seemingly musician and artist too.

I basically went into this expecting a kind of pseudo adult documentary that was going to try and add a layer of humanity to an, at the time very one note industry.

This film is not that.

Somewhat jarringly, the film cant seem to decide WHAT it wants to be. Opening with an extended sequence in which Annie talks about her early life in detail, sharing photos of her growing up, her family and friends and going into detail about her sexual history growing up.

But then the film kind of hard veers away from that, instead just turning into Annie hosting intro and outro segments to various fetish sequences.

Annie in those segments is charming, warm and quite bubbly, but it was increasingly hard to watch her delivery to camera, as it was clear other substances were at play during the recording of this film and she seems to slur her way through the script and improv quite heavily in places too (usually going off script to see how many times she can say ‘Sex’ in increasingly awkward ways)

and…thats the movie. The film ends with Annie inviting people to write to her telling her what they’d like to do with her, and the address they post on screen IS a real address…though it looks like its a furniture store/apartments at this point in time.

Needless to say, the script didnt really win me over. I was invested in this thing, right up until the 3rd sex scene, when I realised that the very sincere introduction WAS all that there was going to be in terms of a documentary style…and that everything after that point was either going to be sex scenes, Annie introducing sex scenes or Annie faux working on sets in a production capacity…leading to sex.

The actual scenes themselves were shot quite well I thought, clearly well curated sequences that try to get the best out of whats on show. Though; as mentioned, with this being a fetish tape specifically, your milage may vary on the happenings within this film…I wasnt particularly a fan truthfully. But I could appreciate a pretty competently shot sex scene…

The edits a little all over the place, they use too many close ups too close together in my personal opinion, and the cuts are all a bit too quick for my taste. Equally it seems the budget only had room for 3 songs on the soundtrack because every sex scene has one VERY distinct and somewhat aggressive piece that plays over ever scene…which was particularly funny at the end of the film, as Annie illustrates the art of ‘Soft and intense love making with someone you care about’ to the sound of VERY aggressive ‘hardcore banging’ porn music.

I came away from ‘Deep inside Annie Sprinkles’ a little underhwelmed. While I appreciated the direction and cinematography, which were really quite well done, And Annie herself seems very charming both in life, and in film. The scripts decision to play things incredibly shallow, with uninteresting, overly simplistic and crude dialogue, combined with a bit of a haphazard edit meant that this film ultimatley wasnt for me.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/deep-inside-annie-sprinkle/

Back at it again, we have Volume 3 of ‘Hey Folks, it’s intermission time!’ And its pretty much the same story as the previous set, a goofy, entertaining mix of drive in and theater intermission ads aimed at milking your wallet dry for a sweet sweet sup of that Sprite (sprite!)

I think I marginally prefer this volume over Volume 2. Vol.2 had better quality ads on it, but kind of clumped a big chunk of recurring and themed ads together for the first half, which got a bit dull.

Volume 3 mixes things up a bit better, but toning down the eccentricities.

So I suppose its a bit of a pick your poison. Either overly repetitive but with the odd chunk of gold, or consistently varied, but overall more muted.

In either case, like the others. This ones totally recommended and is still really quite good fun!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hey-folks-its-intermission-time-vol-3/

Previously, i’ve made it known that im not the biggest fan of the original ‘Night of the living dead’, But one thing thats always been stuck at the back of my mind is whether the reason I wasnt fond on it, was because I hadnt really seen it as originally intended. While I can say i’ve seen ‘Night’ at least a dozen or so times over my life. 90% of those screenings were usually TV broadcast or from bargain basement value pack DVD’s or VHS’s both of which were usually sourced from some Nth generation, all but destroyed ‘Public Domain’ film print.

Well! tonight I had the absolute privilege and chance of a lifetime to see ‘Night of the Living Dead’ as optimised as it could possibly be! a fairly recent ground up 4k remastering presented in a half packed cinema with a projectionist who clearly took his job very seriously as the print was sharp as a pin on screen and the sound was properly balanced and crystal.

Im a firm believer that for some films, and I should stress this is only a very minute few. The cinema is probably the best possible place to see them. I had an experience a few years ago now with ‘Jaws’ where, after a lifetime of watching it on various size TV screens in various formats over the years, I managed to catch it in theaters with a packed audience, some of whome it was clearly there first time. I liken it to the closest thing to a religious experience i’ve ever had. Magical is too small a word.

I knew for years that horror fans lauded ‘Night’ as being some kind of ‘mythic’ status horror movie that changed the face of horror. And while I cant deny it’s influence, I just never could quite see what these people saw. It was revolutionary for the US, but its not like ‘Coffin Joe’ wasnt tearing it up in Brazil some 4 years prior to this. I understood its significance in history. I just didnt understand how some people could STILL consider it a 5 star film in 2024 given how creaky and ropey it looked and felt.

So I figured, if watching this film in the optimum conditions doesnt turn me around on my way of thinking. Then I’ll know this film just isnt for me.

And while I cant say that this film was a ‘Jaws’ moment for me on the big screen, I can wholeheartedly say that I really truely appreciated it more in this presentation than in ANY of my previous viewings.

While I do still have some issues around the pacing (The film opens and ends strong enough, but sags something rotten int he middle) Seeing this film on a big screen reveals something that I Hadnt honestly noticed before. There are TONS of tiny dynamic shot moves in this thing.

On previous viewings scenes felt sluggish, fixed and stale, but one a HUGE screen, you see that this was VERY much a handheld production and you see, feel and hear every single tiny breathable moment that the cam op is experiencing throughout the picture. It frankly brought the film alive in a way that i’d never seen before.

The increased screen size also brings with it another benefit, you can see every single small micro emotion playing out across each of the characters faces as the plot unfolds. I had previously had a strong dislike for Barbara, thinking she was just whiney and hammy. But I have a much revived appreciation for Judith O’Dea’s performance here. She plays traumatised and shell shocked incredibly well, and those small flickers are SO much more noticable in a cinema environment than on a TV.

Duane Jones as Ben shines through stronger than his smaller screen appearences. I thought he was the best part of the original, but seeing this film cleaned up and presented in the optimum way, he too has wonderful subtleties in his performances. Whereas previously I took him as quite blunt. Here his small nuances add so much more to the character.

The zombies all look a HELL of a lot better when you can see the fine detail that goes into their makeup and their performances after the years of grime and debris have been brushed away.

And tying all of this together is the sound mix, which, when compared to the old 2.0 mono tracks that come from a standard TV output, are simply no contest. In a theater environment, the score surrounds you like the zombie hoards themselves, never getting TOO aggressively loud, but always making you feel on edge and in discomfort. Its also nice to actually be able to hear EVERY word thats said, as older prints would lose the quieter moments in the hiss.

The lighting setups, the shadow work, the composition flicking between carefully considered shots that are curated and primed vs the more rough and ready look of the handheld stuff (Barbaras chase scene in the beginning in particular looks extroadinary) its all gorgeous, and I was really quite impressed.

I left the theater tonight a little giddy on my experience with this film. While I still dont outright ‘Love’ it, I feel like a shifts occured. I dont think I can go back to the bluray copy and my tv set version again with this one. This film was meant to play in a theater or drive in, it wasnt built for TV. and it joins my incredibly small list of ‘Films that take on a whole new life when watched in a theater environment’.

While I still have issues around character dynamics and pacing which I feel really prevent the film from truely shining, and compared to its younger siblings (Dawn + Day) its still quite creaky, My experience tonight with this film made me re-evaluate my experiences with it. Put it this way, if I ever get the opportunity to see it in a cinema again, I will in a heartbeat. and I advise you absolutely do the same.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/night-of-the-living-dead/1/

Volume 2 of ‘Hey Folks Its Intermission time!’ Once again sees the return of all those lovely drive in and theater intermission cards filled with wacky hijynx and comedy shenanigans aplenty! However, this one does feel a little rushed compared to the previous installment and did have a few pacing issues in my opinion.

For a starters, they’ve seemingly decided to ‘Theme’ this set, as the first half seems to focus almost entirely on seasonal intermission slides (with heavy emphasis on Christmas and new years)

It’s enjoyable enough, but repetition does begin to creep in a bit which isn’t helped either by two moments in the presentation where the tape seems to end, cutting instead to the blocking ‘in’ markers that ‘Something weird Video’ would have used to mass dub their tapes. That jarred and did pull me out of things a bit.

Equally around halfway through this volume they basically abandon the ‘seasonal’ theming and just go back to showing intermission commercials. A lot of which are repeated from volume 1, but with slight colour, V/O or visual tweaks.

If your coming to this volume right off the back of the first, you may be a little dissapointed as it is definitely a change of pace from the first (and not strictly for the better)

That being said, there is still a whole lot to love about this release, and if your just randomly grabbing it off the shelf (particularly around the holiday season) I’m sure you’ll have a really good time with this! I just wish the presentation had been a little neater.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hey-folks-its-intermission-time-vol-2/

The opening volume of Something Weirds ‘Intermission Time’ series, and probably my favourite one. It’s got most of the big hitters, it’s a little repetitive after a while, but it’s some of my favourite background fodder, and the recent AGFA re-release (while sourcing from the original VHS masters made for this release, rather than going back to the original film elements) is probably the cleanest these have looked in years.

I love these compilations, and while the quality of them does wobble a little bit as the series goes on. They’re such a wonderfully upbeat little series to just sit and enjoy.

I’d say if you are just getting into these Volume 1 is probably your best starting point, but volumes 2 and 3 are also pretty solid!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hey-folks-its-intermission-time/

A dizzying and enjoyable experience the ‘Intermission Video Party Mix tape’ is just that. A remixed and twisted take on the old drive in movie intermission adverts that begged patrons to part with their hard earned cash in exchange for hotdogs, burgers, gas fuelled car heaters and asbestos riddles mosquito killers.

I’ve picked up a few of these AGFA mixtapes over the years and this one’s definitely up there as a strong contender (though, for my money their ‘Christmas mixtape’ is still very much the high water mark)

Otherwise, this is a fun, silly and charming way to experience these drive in ads, folks who are used to these ads will enjoy seeing them reworked, folks who are new will probably find this grab bag more accessible and less daunting than the 6 volume compilation that’s also included in this AGFA set.

In fact, my only two criticisms here are really more a ‘me’ problem than anything else. The first being that some of the AGFA cuts to this compilation, I feel don’t quite gel as much as I’d have liked them to (some of the gag cuts landed with a thud for me because they felt a bit jarring…but that’s personal preference…)

And the other issue is the quality of the media. I totally understand why they chose to present the 6 volume compilations in this set from the original SD VHS masters. Largely because for so many of these ads. The something weird VHS transfer is ALL that survives…But I think it would have been nice for the 70 minute mistape, to go back where possible and source the original film elements to make it a full blown HD presentation, rather than an upscale job.

Again, I appreciate that that likely would have run to a significant cost. But it would have really taken this production to the next level, to be able to see these adverts as sharp as possible and preserved properly.

Small gripes, but enough to keep this release from being a total outright win.

This sets been a bit of a ‘grail’ release for me for quite a while. And to now actually have it in my hands, I can say it’s worth every penny, and the mixtape is the cherry on top of the cake.

Absolutely worth checking out.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hey-folks-its-the-intermission-time-mixtape/

The final entry to date in the ‘Coffin Joe’ franchise and likely to BE the final entry permanently after the passing of Author, Dreamweaver, Visionary…Plus Actor José Mojica Marins. ‘Embodiment of Evil’ is a STRANGE place to end things for Coffin Joe…and yet oddly fitting all things considered.

The film essentially ignores all of Josés Coffin Joe films barring ‘Midnight’ and ‘Corpse’ and is in fact a direct sequel to ‘Corpse’ set 40 years into the future. Shortly after falling into a mire and appearing to drown at the end of ‘Corpse’ it turned out…he didnt. and almost immediately rises from the swamp killing a priest and blinding a police officer. Leading to him being locked in an asylum for 40 years. But! when a new paroles officer takes charge, she decides Joes had enough time behind bars and immediately releases him.

And…from there its pretty much back to busienss as usual, With Joe, his hunchback servent and an army of goons taking up residence in the basement of a slum house with one aim in mind, to get Joe to bang as many women as possible to continue his bloodline. Oh! and as an aside he’s also now being stalked by the ghosts of all the people he killed in the first film who now appear as gory black and white spirits seeking vengence and aiming to stop him in his mission.

and…thats the movie. and probably the biggest issue I had with the film is arguably an unintentional problem thats really more of a ‘me’ issue than anything to do with the film personally.

Y’see…José was 71/72 years old when this film was made. Coffin Joe throughout his various appearences had always been a semi-youthful looking wirey spindle of a man who had the look of Baphomet about him…José in this film is 71/72 years old and looks like a Jack Black (circa 2023). He’s trying to play the role with the nimble agile nature that he did back in the 60s…and he just…isnt physically fit enough to do it. he waddles instead of running, he fumbles while trying to jump about…he’s basically trying to play a type of character that isnt possible for a man of that age (in my opinion at least).

This was really an opportunity to give Coffin Joe as a character a bit of a different angle, maintain the molevalence while acknowledging he’s an aging figure who is now running out of time to complete his mission…and they just…dont do that.

In fact, its quite the opposite. Whereas in the first two films, women were seemingly repulsed by his satanic vibe and tone, here, women LITERALLY cant keep there hands off this VERY old man. I frankly didnt want to see a 72 year old José José Marins simulate sex with women in the late 20’s/early 30’s for 10-15 minutes collectively…But if you do. then this is almost certainly the film for you!

At first I was (and still kind of am) convinced that this is supposed to be some kind of low key parody of the Coffin Joe films. Bearing in mind Joe was supposedly locked away in 1968, when dressing like a 19th century undertaker was quirky, but not impossible to imagine. there were bearly any cars in the first 2 coffin Joe films, but this one mainly takes place in a bustling city filled with drugs, fast cars and gothy looking women…And he doesnt bat an eye. Nothings questioned, it’s almost like an edgelord/hardcore version of ‘Hocus Pocus’. He just rocks up and gets right onto whatever it is he was doing 40 years prior.

Im aware the Coffin Joe films have always had a very low level comedic undertone to them, and José prided himself on having that little bit of light mixed in with the dark. But here? its just too much. I cant honestly decide if his choices here are intended to be funny, or if he genuinely just wasnt aware of his own limitations as a director and performer.

Anyway; beyond that issue. the films kinda sorta okay. The scripts a bit threadbare truthfully, as mentioned above, this was an opportunity to modernize the Coffin Joe universe. To acknowledge the passage of time, the increasing urgency on Joes mission and to maybe even use this film as an opportunity to establish a wider reconnection with newer audiences. But it just doesnt.

What this film essentially does is split the plot 3 ways. with the first plot being Joe banging as many women as possible in a 90 minute window…willingly or otherwise. The second plot follows two brothers in the police who vow to bring Joe back in and put him behind bars, or put him in the ground trying…and the third plot follows Joes victims returning to try and torment him years after there demises.

and they’re three decent enough plots…But any one of those plots would have suited this film enough. doing all three of them means that there isnt enough time to really flesh out any of them. And so, this film ends up as a bit of a carosel, where we’ll spend 5-10 minutes with Joe in his basement layer trying to have sex with the daughter of two local witches who dispise him, then it’ll cut to 5-10 minutes of the police reiterating how cruel Joe is, and then it’ll cut to 5-10 minutes of Joe screaming at a ghost, before being jolted awake or rescued by his henchmen.

It feels under developed, and overlong. this film could’ve easly lost 15 minutes and been a much stronger work for it. The tone is inconsistent, As the credits rolled I wasnt entirely sure what message I was supposed to take away from this (the only glaring one I could see was ‘If you’re going to make a big gamble, make sure you spread your bets out’)

It didnt really seem to try to say much of anything other than ‘Coffin Joe bad’…Which is fine…but it lacked the conviction needed to affirm that. Joes evil-ness in this film isnt as bad as anything he did in the first two films and actually is quite a bit more mysoginistic than the previous entries. Joe as a character wasnt great with that in the first 2 films…But theres much more empahsis on it here…

The characters in this are also a little one note. For the most part we hang around with Joe, his servents and henchmen and the women he’s trying to impregnate. Joes the most developed here and its nice to see José back in a commanding role after 30 year on screen absence fromt he role. But he’s such a striking and strong presence, it really makes the supporting characters feel positively bland in comparison.

The direction and cine is visually interesting, but not quite as strong as his earlier works. I enjoyed the way they mixed and mingled footage from the Black and white films into this film. they even do reshoots of some of the scenes with body doubles, which I think works quite effectively. But the lighting is kind of generic, the colour usage is kind of flat and didnt really grab me. compositionally this is much more in line with traditional cine…which I welcome after 10 films of absurdist arthouse work…But its conventional almost to its detriment, as by 2008…Whats shown here is pretty tame compared to the ‘Saws’ and ‘Hostels’ of its era.

The soundtrack too is just kind of middle of the road…Honestly? This wasnt a bad film. In terms of the Coffin Joe films its absolutely in the top 5 of the best made…But its just a very odd way to round off a character with a 40+ year history…I’d have honestly preferred this film to have taken a more introverted look at the character and the world built up around him, rather than just trying to cram José back into the shoes of a character wholesale that he hadnt played in 30 years.

As it stands, for me? ‘Emodiment of Evil’ isnt as enjoyable as ‘Midnight’ or ‘Corpse’ and feels actually quite out of place as the final part of a trilogy to those films…But in terms of it being a Coffin Joe picture? its a very interesting look, one final time, into the mind of José Mojica Marins. a very creative, oft misunderstood film maker. The likes of whome we’ll probably never see again.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/embodiment-of-evil/

Frankly, I am STUNNED that Arrow Videos recent Coffin Joe bluray boxset, somehow misses off what is probably one of the best Coffin Joe films in the entire series!

‘The Bloody Exorcism of Coffin Joe’ (Also known as ‘A Very Coffin Joe Christmas’…Okay, it isnt…but I wish it was…) was almost completely missed off my recent work through of the ‘Coffin Joe’ films, until I took a deeper look into José Mojica Marins filmography and realised I hadnt seen this one.

The plot, for the time is really actually quite inspired. Its set in the real world in the present day of 1974 and follows Author, dreamweaver, visionary…plus actor ‘José Mojica Marins’ as he decides to step away from the rat race that is the brazillian film market, and retreat to the woods to spend christmas with friends while also trying to get his groove back in order to write the next installment of the ‘Coffin Joe’ franchise.

However, things begin to take a dark and strange turn, when supernatural happenings begin to…happen. Including floating objects, disturbing voices and full blown possessions. Its revealed that one of the family has made a deal with a local devil worshipper in order to have a daughter. Only the deal that was made had the stipulation that, upon ‘maturity’ of the daughter, she would be married off to a man of the devil worshippers choosing…

Yes! as you can imagine Coffin Joe is back! but…how can he back if he’s a fictional character? well. it’ll fall down to José and the family to find the line between reality, fantasy and the dark arts. Rescue the devillish daughter and make it back home in time for a rousing rendition of ‘Jingle bells!’

Honestly, im still kind of in shock that this film was missed off the Arrow set. given some of the absolute tutt thats ON that arrow set, the fact this isnt deeply confuses me…Theres a couple of possible reasons. The film has 2-3 instances of on screen animal cruelty (a chicken gets its head ripped off and we have some time with…what appears to be a dog cadavar) but these are minimal…The other could be that this is one of the few Coffin Joe films not written by José (He only directs here)

In either case, Whats presented here is, for the most part a bloody enjoyable little film. I recently caught ‘Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind’ one of Josés last productions, and the comparisons to ‘Wes Cravens New Nightmare’ felt present…but underplayed. Here though? they ACTUALLY utilize the concept. and it pretty much works for most of the runtime!

There is a genuine unknowing for most of the runtime as to whether Coffin Joe has somehow broken out into the real world, or whether these are just strange happenstances. José seems genuinely baffled for most of the runtime as a character and the film really quite enjoys working through the idea of defining the line between fantasy and reality. Basically, this film manages to solve all the issues that I had with ‘Deranged’ while also making it a fun little movie with some genuinely interesting moments.

Tonally its got a slight campy edge, but is definitely in line with the previous ‘Coffin Joe’ films, The final act is a barnstormer with some really solid work going into it, the ending is satisfying and the setup and core presmise is sturdy.

In fact, my only grevience with with the script, is the pacing. Which is SO slow. Seriously, this films 94 minutes long and could EASILY have been an hour and felt slow. the first and third acts are fine enough, but the second act is pretty bloated and gets quite repetitious in places. While its not the end of the world, because, at least we have some half decent characters and conversations to be stuck with for that middle act. the bloat on this thing is fairly undenyable and I was clock watching from around the half hour mark, right up till the action flared up in the finale truthfully.

Also having a bit of a sacrifice, the cine and direction have taken a bit of a hit here compred to Josés other pieces. This one is less coherent stylistically, there isnt nearly as much creative light work or colour usage. Which is a bit of a shame, as I think it would have been nice to see a bit more of a transition between Josés world with his friends enjoying Christmas, and the hellish underworld that Coffin Joe and his followers reside in.

The cines a bit overly basic too, theres a clear compitency here, but not a great deal of experimentaiton, and a lot of the gorier elements seem to have been relegated to the final act. We have simplistic sequences that I feel really would have benefitted from another couple of passes just to make sure the optimum runtime was achieved. Non of its bad! it just feels closer to a workprint than an end product.

Direction of the casts fine enough, theres maybe a bit of a struggle with the child actors here. less in there performances, but more in the sense that they dont really feel all that fleshed out, they basically just turn up to act almost like some kind of moral football that has to be protected by the family from the clutches of evil…its fine…but had they been in this anymore than they already were, I think it really would have started to work against the production.

As for the broader performances? José Mojica Marins delights as himself (Im sure it was a stretch) This is probably my favourite on screen version of Coffin Joe, just playing full on aggressive evil here, rather than drenching himself in psudo philisophical querying. Here? he’s jsut a big scary man in a top hat…and thats kind of all I wanted…

The supporting cast are all pretty solid too hitting their marks and delivering their lines with a twinge of campiness by modern standards, that just kind of endeared me to them even more.

And, the soundtracks fine. Thats all I have to say about it, they dont use that god awful warbling choir music that José seemed to be obsessed with. its well utilized and helped to punctuate key moments in the film effectively…I really cant ask for much more than that.

One of my biggest issues with the Coffin Joe films over the years has been that, while I laud José Mojica Marins as a director. his written works, for me at least, were insufferable. And quite often totally derailed what could have been several promising stories.

With a group of writers in the hotseat on this outing? I feel like a wonderfully crystalized vision of ‘Joe’ has been realised here. While it does seem to have toned down Josés direction leading to an experience that isnt *quite* as engaging as ‘Midnight’ or ‘Corpse’. The end result is a quite ahead of its time picture that uses visual surrealism minimally but effectively and ultimately delivers a thoroghly enjoyable watch.

Again; I cant stress how dissapointed I am that this film didnt make it onto the Arrow boxset…as, had this been the ‘end chapter’ in the original Coffin Joe trilogy. I’d have said it was a pretty solid run of films…But no, instead we got ‘Hellish Flesh’….ah well…Hopefully this film willl get the bluray/4k treatment it deserves at some point…Definitely recommended, go watch it. It’s on youtube.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-bloody-exorcism-of-coffin-joe/

And so, my Journey into the works of Artist, dreamweaver, visionary…plus actor…José Mojica Marins Begins its wind down with
‘Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind’. The final film in the original run of ‘Coffin Joe’ movies (Though, Coffin Joe would see one more revival in 2008 with ‘Embodiment of Evil’).

And…this ones a bit of a mixed bag. The plot largely revolves around the story of one ‘Dr. Hamilton’ who is checked into an insane asylum who’s plagued with hellish nightmares combined with a recurring incident in which Coffin Joe kidnaps his wife Tania for his ‘Continuing bloodline’…thing.

Dr. Hamilton is convinced Coffin Joe is real and is ACTUALLY REALLY TRYING to take Tania away and impregnate her. and so, his fellow doctors summon non other than Artist, dreamweaver, visionary…plus actor…José Mojica Marins! To come and speak to Dr. Hamilton under hypnosis, to get a better understanding of what exactly is going on with the whole ‘Coffin Joe’ business, and to try and convince Dr. Hamilton that Coffin Joe is just a fictional character written about in José’s movies.

And…if that sounds vaguely familiar to you, thats because it is…Because its (broadly speaking) the plot of ‘Wes Cravens New Nightmare’ and…Im going to say this up front as it’s the nicest thing I will say about this movie. This entire films core plot about Coffin Joe infecting peoples dreams with hellish visions to get them committed to an asylum so that they can do real world damage, and the messing around with what is a dream and what is reality, is VERY ahead of its time as a trope and predates the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ franchise by a good 5-6 years.

THAT however, is where my praise kind of begins and ends for this film. It has a very novel and original idea at the core of it. But it mispends that good idea in arguably the worst way possible.

Because, in my previous review of ‘Hellish Flesh’ I lamented the fact that this felt like José was pretty much burnt out of film making by this point in his career after REALLY phoning it in for most of ‘Flesh’ and largely using pre-existing derivative plotting and recycling his own visual style to just, get a film out the door.

Well…’Hallucinations’ Gazump’s ‘Flesh’ by taking things to the next level. Because ‘Hallucinations’ is a ‘clip show’ movie.

Essentially José booked a day or so in a studio, got a load of actors nude and had them writhe around on a cardboard looking dungeon set totally about 20 minutes of footage, he then shot about 15 minutes of footage on location, and then intercut those new scenes with tinted clips and excised censor footage from all his old horror films. And thats the movie.

You’ll get a 2 minute new scene with Dr. Hamilton and José playing himself discussing coffin joe as a character, and then it’ll cut to 15 minutes of clips from 4-5 of the films we’ve already watched. In fact. the clips make up 48 minutes of this hour and 23 minute long picture. and if that doesnt scream ‘I cant be arsed to pay to make a movie, especially when I have offcuts rotting in my attic’ I dont know what would.

as such, I dont really feel confident in being able to talk about this film in the way I usually would with film generally. The direction and cinematography all looks quite nice and theres a decent level of experimentation. But it all looks nice and creative because its offcuts from movies where he actually HAD a budget and fire in his heart to MAKE an interesting a good movie.

The newly shot footage is all VERY generic, poorly lit and barely manages to hold basic technical ability. Its a really poor offering honestly.

The edits a hot mess. You can only be so forgiving with art house cinema. And here, it really does just feel like they rummaged through offcuts and censor footage and jammed together as much of it as they could get away with.

The soundtracks droning and uninteresting, the performances in the new footage are dire (If I hear someone scream ‘TANIA!’ one more time, im going to reincarnate.) Its honestly a real shame, because to me? This film really smacks of ‘so close, and yet so far’ had they actually BOTHERED to develop the idea of Coffin Joe being a malevolent presence trying to escape from his hellish prison we found him in at the end of ‘This Night I’ll Possess your Corpse’ we literally COULD have seen his popularity experience a renessance as they pretty much would have invented ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ half a decade earlier than intended…But, as a knock on Freddy Kruger may have not existed…soooo…yeh.

Even though this film came out after ‘The Bloody Exorcism of Coffin Joe’ I think it would probably make a good prequel to it. with José’s ‘in film’ character retreating after the events of this film. But thats head canon and me trying to be kind. Realistically, the only reason you’d need to catch this film is if wanted to essentially ‘speed read’ all the coffin Joe movies, and didnt want to have to sit through 7+ hours of psudo philosophy for the privilage.

A rather dissapointing end for me. Its marginally better than the last offering. But that missed opportunity to reinvent Joe for the 80s really left a bad taste in my mouth…especially considering it would be 30 years till we’d meet Coffin Joe again…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hallucinations-of-a-deranged-mind/