THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE -- "Your Cuppa Joe?" (1967)

Greg Goodsell strikes again! Tonight's bill of fare is THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE, or in its original Brazilian Portuguese, ESTA NOITE ENCARNAREI TEU CADAVER! In spite of some naysayers who say our readership only looks at the pictures, y'all should be told that this here film is in fact a sequel to the earlier Brazilian horror hit, AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL, aka A MEIA-NOITE LEVAREI SUA ALMA in 1964.

All  righty then, our main man here is Zé do Caixão, or as he translates from Portuguese, "Joseph of the Coffin," or more appropriately, COFFIN JOE! As played by multi-hyphenate star-director-producer José Mojica Marins, Coffin Joe is a satanic undertaker who terrorizes a backwaters  Brazilian town, flouting convention by wearing way-long fingernails --  which translates as, "Ha, ha, I don't have to sully my lovely hands with manual labor like you do, you sweat hogs!" He both physically and  philosophically bludgeons passersby with his fierce, existential line of patter -- like this!

Marins' films are either lauded or attacked for their kooky, unexpected touches, such as having the film's credits being handwritten directly on the film. Is this avant-garde -- or just rampant cheapness? You decide!

Here's something that many will point out -- Coffin Joe has got himself a hunchbacked, deformed henchman for this outing -- and yet he stands so tall and erect the hump on his back juts out like a woman's pregnant  belly! Avant-garde -- or inept? You decide!

Now, Coffin Joe may be the embodiment of evil -- but he loves children. Children are our future, as Whitney Houston used to sing. Here he gives a reckless motorcyclist the what for after narrowly running over some kiddies in the street.

To this end, Coffin Joe abducts a bevy of bimbos in order for him to sire offspring. But in order for these gals to pass muster, they must undergo a series of tests!

SO -- as the lovelies slumber, he dispatches some spiders on their sleeping forms! I figure this spider is happy where he's at right now.

This has the gals giving Coffin Joe major attitude, but as he ably points out -- we don't run a Democracy in this house!

As a reward for his years of servitude, Coffin Joe gives one of the gals to his oatmeal-faced employee!

As there can be only one mom for his kid -- Coffin Joe loves kids and IS NO POLYGAMIST -- he picks one gal and throws the rest in a snake pit!

"I  don't like spiders and snakes, and that's not what it takes to love me,  you fool, you fool!” screams one of the girls -- probably hired for her willingness to hold a boa constrictor, and she lays a curse on Coffin Joe. She reappears later on -- wait for it --

 A strongman is thrown into the mix for the ladies. He's one of the townspeople who dares to stand up to Coffin Joe's reign of terror!

There he goes again, screaming atheism into the face of some poor put-upon believer as he lowers a rock inches away from the victim's face. Marins is still very much alive and still very much at it with his Coffin Joe character -- his last film was EMBODIMENT OF EVIL in 2008!

 Sleaze, cheese and tease, Brazilian style!

 

Now, THIS is what this particular film is remembered for -- Coffin Joe goes to hell and it's in ghastly COLOR! Sort of a reverse on THE WIZARD OF OZ, eh?

Hell is full of perverse eye candy, such as these heads in ceilings that scream nonstop. According to Marins, the residents of hell in this picture were recruited from some of Sao Paolo's highest members of society -- bankers, lawyers and politicians -- who were all too ready and willing to work for free in a Coffin Joe film!

In direct contrast to a fiery afterlife, Hell here is depicted as a snowy, frozen place where snow perpetually falls calmly from the sky -- brrrrr. It's like when Christian missionaries discovered the Eskimos and they warned them of the fires of Hell -- unintentionally making the Eskimos look forward and wish for a place that was toasty warm!

Far out, maaaaaan! I'm diggin' all these lighting gels and rampant nudity!

Marins appears as Satan himself to question Coffin Joe -- "How do you know there's no Lake of fire awaiting such miscreants as yourself?"

There's that gal again -- telling ol' Joe I told you so!

HA! It was just a dream! Just in time for some good news!

Yes, his female partner in crime is going to bear a child! Hurray!

A moment of tenderness -- Coffin Joe may be a torturer and a mass murderer -- but he loves kids, babies -- just like Mussolini!

NOT SO FAST, the disgruntled townspeople say -- you must be brought to justice for all of your rampant killings! Man up, dude!

The townspeople have ganged up on him -- and now Coffin Joe has a moment of conscience! Seems like Joe is just a big ol' paper tiger, much in the manner of that blustery philosopher Ayn Rand who went on to collect Social Security benefits towards the end of her life!

One last moment before ol' Joe is tossed into the lake with his other victims!

Burble, burble, burble, as Marins throws in one last bit of Catholic morality to appease the Brazilian censors of the time. Full of windy speeches and loving close-ups of the film's auteur, Coffin Joe is, ahem, an acquired taste! Greg Goodsell signing off now --

THE HOBO HERO with Piccolo Pete / Les Elton - 1935

It's Freeloader Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a GAG Film from 1935 produced by amazing early NY animator, Les Elton, using a method called rotomation or rotoscoping, where, the artists draw over live action film frames, giving characters a realistic look in the scene.

Eegah!! sent over a lil' sound clip for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button next to the magic piccolo, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... THE HOBO HERO!

Back in the early days of movies and cartoons, everything was fun and crazy! Nowadays, everything's just the opposite.

Here's a good example of rotomation, Piccolo Pete looks like a real person!

Pete stands on the front of the train and saves Tillie's little doggie from being run over, so, she invites him to stay awhile at her parent's farm, down the road. The PDQ on the train stands for Pretty Damn Quick.

Pete plays his piccolo for this happy little moo cow as she dances for him... Surrealistic City!

Pete milks the cow and follows Tillie and her mom to the house...

Well, it's 9 pm and time for all good little girls to go beddy-bye and get their beauty sleep!

Pete finds out that Tillie's attracted by music and walks in her sleep if she hears it, that's why no saxophone playing is allowed at night (there are other male boarders)! So, Pete gets an idea, he waits until the parents are fast asleep, and...

Pulls out his trusty piccolo!

Tillie gets out of bed and heads towards where the music is coming from.

You can figure out this last picture for yerself... You can watch this classic cartoon on YouTube if you get the hankering... Tomorrow's Saturday, which means, Virus Man will be back in town!

THE AMBUSHERS - Hugo Montenegro - "Here It Comes" (1967)

"The Ambushers" released in 1967 is the third leg of the Matt Helm superfecta after "The Silencers," and "Murderer's Row!" The Fourth in the series is "The Wrecking Crew!"  "The Ambushers" is silly, stupid, and ridiculous, and I enjoyed every stinking minute of it!

Down in The Dungeon we just dabble with Dino info, but if you really want to know more about the man, then head on over to the I Love Dino Martin site,  you will not be disappointed!

Women, women, and more women, and after they run out of women, there's more women, and they're all beautiful!

The Guv'ment had a different kind of space program going on before anybody ever set foot on the moon! A perfect flying saucer, but not from space, but from right in the good ole U.S. of A!

But, as always, they're not the only ones who want to play, and the saucer is brought down on it's maiden flight by some powerful anti-gravity magnet ray emanating out of Mexico!

Inside the saucer in the pilot's seat is Janice Rule as Sheila Sommers! Janice was in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "Nightmare As A Child" as Helen Foley, and also in one of the strangest films I ever saw, "The Swimmer" starring Burt Lancaster! On the right is the man who wants to rule the world, and thinks hijacking this here saucer is a good starting place, Albert Salmi as the nefarious Jose Ortega aka Leopold Caselius! Albert has the rare distinction of being in not just one, but three "Twilight Zone" episodes, "Execution," "A Quality Of Mercy," and "Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville!"

We're trying to keep it down to 20 stills per movie, but I just couldn't do it on this one, so I decided to double up more than usual! I think you'll be able to understand and recognize the reasons why!

One of the newest contraptions they've developed at the Intelligence Counter Espionage Rehab Center is a bra, that when the strap is loosened, it shoots a bullet! Luckily for Matt Helm, it was only loaded with blanks this time!

Cutie Pie Beverly Adams shines in the role of Matt Helm's secretary Lovey Kravezit in the first three flicks, but she wasn't in the forth one for some reason! Beverly was also in "How To Stuff A Wild Bikini," "Devil's Angels," and "The Torture Garden!"

This is a demonstration of how the hand-held version of the anti-gravity magnet ray works!

Matt Helm's boss James Gregory as MacDonald fills him in on what's going down south of the border! I love the fact they're watching a 16mm film of a boxing match in his office, and Matt's eating popcorn just like he's at the movies! James Gregory was also in two "Twilight Zone" episodes himself, "Where Is Everybody," and "The Passerby!" This was the third time James played MacDonald, but he too was left out of the fourth film!

The sponsor for the fight is the Montezuma Brewing Company, and the owner is up to his ears in corruption and greed, and it's up to Matt to get to the bottom of it all! Here's what the jingle sounds like with an extra minute of some of the cool background sounds created by Space Age Pop star, and early moog stylist Hugo Montenegro!

Here's a look at a couple of Hugo's album covers!

Next Stop, Viva La Mexico!

The familiar face of  Kurt (Land Of The Giants) Kasznar is Quintana, the owner of the Montezuma Brewery! When Matt Helm goes out on assignment, his undercover job is that he's a freelance fashion photographer, and he's here to do a photo shoot with a revived Sheila Sommers as his wife, since she's the only one who can identify Jose Ortega! You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Kurt Kasznar was nominated for a Tony Award for his contribution to the Broadway version of "Sound Of Music" in 1960!

I thought this was original, a member of this band has guns built into his maracas that are used in a feeble assassination attempt on Matt Helm!

Way ahead of it's time, information is sourced back to MacDonald via some future electronic system!

I read that Janice Rule said that this was THE worst movie she was ever in, and that she deeply regretted it! Too bad, because the fact that she looks so out of place is one of the things that makes this movie!

When pipes get shot during a gunfight in the brewery, Matt Helm takes a second to savor the situation, and decides to wet his whistle with some free suds! Not much later, he finds himself in a vat of beer with a Quintana who can't swim!

"The Ambushers" was never meant to be taken serious, and this scene involving a firing squad fumbling around looking for a match for their intended victim Matt Helm's last cigarette request could have just as easily been in a "Three Stooges" episode!!

The sensational Senta Berger is bad girl Francesca Madeiros!! Senta is still cooking today, and her career dates all the way back to 1950's German Krimi-Thrillers like "The Terror Of Doctor Mabuse!" Awesome!!

Some of the outfits these gals are wearing in this movie will flip your lid! Here's a prime example as Jose Ortega proceeds to remove some of Sheila Sommers' clothing by using his special anti-gravity magnetic ray gun that now apparently manages to work on anything, metal or not!

It's mainstream 1967, so there's no nudity in "The Ambushers" at all, nothing really close actually, but they didn't have a problem lining the walls of Jose Ortega's pad with paintings, not photos, of nude women, which I guess made it artistically okay! Still kind of crazy, if you ask me!

Dino rides off into the sunset with his girl of the moment Sheila Sommers, but even though they went through a lot together, Matt Helm's a free spirit and will be moving onto higher ground! You can just see it on his face!!

The closing scene features Dino and one last girl, and one last joke! The're listening to some of Dino's music, but she just can't get into the mood until a song by Frank Sinatra comes on! I bought the 4 disc set called "Matt Helm Lounge" on Amazon years ago, and it seems a bit pricey now, but I saw they stream "The Ambushers" for $2.99, and that's probably your best bet these days!