The Strange World of Coffin Joe

José Mojica Marins (born March 13, 1936) is a Brazilian filmmaker, director/actor, screenwriter, television and media personality. Marins is also known by his alter ego Coffin Joe (the loose translation of Zé do Caixão). Although Marins is known primarily as a horror film director, his earlier works were westerns, drama, and adventure films. In the 1980’s he became a prominent exploitation film director, including films in the pornochanchada genre, which were soft-core sex-comedies popular in Brazil at that time.

Coffin Joe is the English equivalent of Zé do Caixão. Marins created the character in 1963 for the film At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul. The character went on to appear in many more films and as the character gained popularity he has portrayed and used the Coffin Joe persona in television programs, songs, music videos, and comic books.

Although rarely mentioned in the films, Coffin Joe’s true name is Josefel Zanatas. Marins gives an explanation for the name in an interview for Portal Brasileiro de Cinema.

The theme of the films in the Coffin Joe trilogy focuses on Coffin Joe’s bloody and determined quest to find his perfect bride. At the end of each film, his plans are undone when, while he is haunted and pursued by authorities and those he wronged, in the end is seemingly killed by some means.

The first film, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma) (1963), is Brazil’s first horror film. This is the first appearance of Coffin Joe.

The film was followed by the second installment, This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse (Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver) (1967), where it is revealed that Joe survived his ordeal at the end of the first film and returns to São Paulo to continue his quest.

Marins released Embodiment of Evil (Encarnação do Demônio) in 2008, in which Coffin Joe returns after 40 years in a prison mental ward and immediately proceeds to exploit, terrorize, and kill in order to find the perfect woman to bear his child. —Wikipedia