José Mojica Marinsbetter known as Coffin Joe (his most famous character), was a Brazilian actor and film director. He developed his own style of filming that, initially despised by national critics, became revered after his films began to be considered cult on the international circuit. He died on February 19, 2020, at the age of 83, due to bronchopneumonia.
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Artistic trajectory
Born in Vila Mariana, in São PauloState of São Paulo, José was son of circus performers of Spanish origin. As a child, he spent hours reading comics, watching films in the projection room of the cinema where his father worked, playing puppet theater and putting on plays with costumes made of cardboard and fabric.
José Mojica Marins is the creator and interpreter of the character Zé do Caixão.
After he got a V-8 camera at age 12, never stopped making movies, that was her life. Self-taught, he set up an acting school for friends and neighbors and, when he was 17, after several amateur films, he founded, with the help of friends, the Atlas Film Company.
Specialized in scatological terrorcreated a school of actors (1956), in which, in the following decade, he would set up a synagogue (1964), in the neighborhood of Brás, where he experimented with amateur actors, using insects to measure their courage.
When José Mojica created the serial killer Coffin Joe, he was not based on any horror myth known worldwide. In the first film, Zé do Caixão was a man disillusioned with life, for not finding a fertile woman who would give him the perfect child. In the second film, after escaping from two banshees, he began his reign of terror, even taking a trip to hell.
The most important film in the series was The Awakening of the Beast – Ritual of the Sadists (1969), which was censored by the ruling military. During the Military Dictatorship, he fought bravely against the ostracism and the censorship. Made and presented at Rede Bandeirantes a very successful series entitled Beyond, Beyond Beyond (1967-1968). Then he debuted on TV Tupi (1968) with the series O Estranho Mundo de Zé do Caixão, with renowned actors such as Lima Duarte.
In Exorcism Negro (1974), the character met his creator. With the end of censorship and under the pseudonym J. Avelar, he directed several sexually explicit films (1976-1980), an activity that he interrupted at the beginning of the following decade to return to play his most famous character. Debuted through Rede Record a new series: Um Show do Outro Mundo (1981), with horror stories presented by Zé do Caixão. The show ran for 12 episodes.
He returned to Bandeirantes (1996), this time as presenter of Cine Trash, where foreign horror productions were shown. Zé do Caixão also appeared a lot in comic books specializing in horror, such as À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma, the film’s official comic strip.
He wrote for the theater with the plays Zé do Caixão and Lampião no Inferno and also released a book entitled As Crônicas de Terror do Zé do Caixão (1993). Other filmmakers, such as Jairo Ferreira (1978), Ivan Cardoso (1978) and Godofredo Telles Neto (1980), documented the life and work of the grand master of national terror. In the United States, he became revered and known only as Coffin’ Joe.
Origin of Zé do Caixão
According to his creator, his character’s real name Coffin Joe it would be Josefel Zatanas, who was born into a family that controlled a network of funeral homes. During World War II, he enlisted in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) and abandoned his fiancée.
When he returned to Brazil, Josefel found his bride married to the mayor of the city. For having become a bitter and unfeeling person, Josefel received the nickname of Coffin Joe. Her objective was to continue her blood, through the perfect son, generated by the ideal woman.
Don’t stop now… There’s more after the publicity 😉
On the other hand, to create his character, he based himself on a nightmare he had had, in which a figure all in black dragged him through the cemetery to his catacomb. He woke up in a panic and lost sleep, but wrote everything down, and the character debuted with At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (1963). Due to the lack of an actor, as there was none who would submit to the characterization of the character, the author became Zé do Caixão. Even at the time, he had a beard, because of a family promise. Over time, the character’s name began to be confused with that of the author himself and brought him practically all his fame.
Other works from his filmography
→ as an actor
2004 – The End (short film)
2004 – A Summer Show
2002 – Samba Song
2001 – Maldito – The Strange World of José Mojica Marins
2000 – Wild Torture – The Grid
1997 – Ed Mort
1997 – Men Without Land
1994 – Demons and Wonders
1990 – Extra-Terrestrial Puss in Boots
1987 – Demons and Wonders
1987 – Forty-Eight Hours of Crazy Sex
1986 – The Billings Beauties
1984 – The Fifth Dimension of Sex
1984 – Padre Pedro and the Children’s Revolt
1983 – Fatal Hours
1981 – The Secret of the Mummy
1981 – Little Red Riding Hood of Sex
1981 – The Incarnation of the Devil
1978 – Mundo-mercado do Sex
1978 – Perversion
1978 – The Abyss
1977 – Carnal Inferno
1977 – Strange Hospedaria dos Prazeres
1977 – Delusions of a Freak
1977 – The Vampire of the Cinematheque
1976 – Women of the Violent Sex
1974 – Black Exorcism
1972 – Sex and Blood on the Treasure Trail
1971 – When the Gods Sleep
1971 – Finis Hominis
1970 – Audacity – The Fury of Desires
1970 – One Man’s Failure on Two Wedding Nights
1970 – Ritual of Sadists
1969 – The Prophet of Hunger
1969 – O Cangaceiro Sem Deus
1968 – For Example Butantã
1967 – The Strange World of Zé do Caixão
1966 – Tonight I’ll Embody Your Corpse
1965 – The Devil of Vila Velha
1963 – At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (Zé do Caixão appears)
1962 – My Destiny in Your Hands
1958 – We Were Brothers
1958 – Sina de Aventureiro (his first complete sound film)
1955 – Sentence of God (unfinished)
1948 – The Gravedigger’s Voice
1947 – Vagabond Dreams
1946 – Big Kisses
[1945-TheMagician’sMagic
→ as director
2004 – The End (short film)
1996 – Adolescence In Trance
1994 – Demons and Wonders
1987 – Forty-Eight Hours of Crazy Sex
1986 – Dr. Frank at Clínica das Taras
1984 – The Fifth Dimension of Sex
1983 – Fatal Hours – Severed Heads
1981 – The Incarnation of the Devil
1980 – The Plague
1978 – Mundo-mercado do Sex
1978 – Perversion
1977 – The Woman Who Puts the Dove in the Air
1977 – Carnal Inferno
1977 – Strange Hospedaria dos Prazeres
1977 – Delusions of a Freak
1976 – How to Comfort Widows
1976 – Women of the Violent Sex
1974 – Black Exorcism
1974 – The Virgin and the Macho
1972 – When the Gods Sleep
1972 – Dgajão Mata para Vengar
1972 – Sex and Blood on the Treasure Trail
1971 – Finis Hominis
1970 – Ritual of Sadists
1968 – Trilogy of Terror
1967 – The Strange World of Zé do Caixão
1966 – Tonight I’ll Embody Your Corpse
1965 – The Devil of Vila Velha
1963 – At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul
1962 – My Destiny in Your Hands
1958 – Adventurer’s Fate
1955 – Sentence of God (unfinished)
1948 – The Gravedigger’s Voice
1947 – Vagabond Dreams
1946 – Big Kisses
[1945-TheMagician’sMagic
Source: Biographies – UFCG
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