I've always felt José Mojica Marins (aka Zé do Caixão, 'Coffin Joe') is somewhat of a pioneer in Brazilian cinema. Brazilian films tended, at the time, to be mere pornography (both hardcore and softcore), while now it tends to be too much 'engaged on social causes' rather than in the 'good entertainment' aspect of cinema (Brazilian romantic comedies are not GOOD entertainment).

'Strange World of Coffin Joe', as well as most of JMM's filmography, are an exception to those (which might be why he is often marginalized within Brazilian cinema): they are merely fun, eerie horror films entailing bizarre and creepy tales.

In here, we don't have Zé do Caixão appearing in character (unless you count the narration at the beginning). 'Strange World' is an anthology film, with three separate stories:

'O Fabricante de Bonecas' ('The Dollmaker') is about an old man, renowned for making dolls with impressively realistic eyes, and a group of burglars who try to steal his money and have their way with his beautiful daughters. It is an eerie and atmospheric horror tale, with a very predictable but fitting twist ending and full of eroticism that makes it a 'pleasant' watch.

'Tara' ('Fetish') is something that could easily pass off as an European drama: a tale of necrophilia about a man with a foot fetish who goes to a morgue after the now-dead woman he often fantasized about. It is pure depravity that is not far from a Pasolini film; to complete its 'artistic' aesthetic, it has no dialogue. The camera-work is good, but unless you want to see plot less perversion it should be avoidable.

'Ideologia' ('Ideology') is the only story JMM appears in (not as Zé, though). He plays a professor who, trying to prove that 'love' doesn't exist, imprisons a rival (who publicly argued this matter with him) and his wife and tortures them both to see how far their 'love' can endure in life-or-death situations. It has as much perversion as 'Tara', but not a meaningless one at that; the discussion is actually a very good one (done in JMM's trademark rhetoric of 'instinct vs reason') and the conclusion is good.

Overall, 2 out of the 3 stories are not only watchable but very fun and eerie tales. 'The Dollmaker' is the best horror-wise, but 'Ideology' manages to be one of the few 'torture porns' not to be mindless. The title song is also great if you understand what it's about.

For those not used to José Mojica Marins horror tales, though, his 'Coffin Joe' films are a better place to start with his filmography.

For his third film, José Mojica Marins a.k.a. Coffin Joe opted to do an omnibus style trio of horror tales, and it's a mixed bag. The title of the film is very apt, as Coffin Joe proved with his first two films that his 'world' is indeed very strange, and this film builds on that although none of the stories here follow the same plot thread as the other two and all of these tales stand alone - which is good news if you haven't seen the first two films, although you really should. Overall, this film isn't nearly as good as the earlier efforts; but it still offers a lot for the cult fan. The first tale revolves around a doll maker and a bunch of thieves who start out to rob him and end up finding out how the eyes in his dolls look so realistic (no prizes for guessing how). The second story is the weirdest and least good, and revolves around the ever-popular theme of necrophilia - and the final tale is an exploitation themed sick-fest in which the director takes the lead role. The plot revolves around his theories which relate to instinct and reason, and a journalist who is interested in seeing evidence.

Coffin Joe's directorial style is very flamboyant, and that's really what makes his films good. The themes on display have been copied often since the release of this film, and while I'm not sure if the films that went on to use the same ideas actually took influence from this one - it does have to be said that Coffin Joe's films are ahead of their time, especially considering that they hail from Brazil - a country not especially known for great films. As I mentioned, the trio of tales are a mixed bag and it comes as something of a disappointment that the first story is the best. There's a depressing tone that runs throughout the movie, and that is certainly felt in the first story - although not necessarily as much as in the others. The second story is definitely the least interesting, although the implications and atmosphere surrounding the story are well used. The third and final story will appeal most to exploitation fans, and is the most like the director's first two movies. Coffin Joe stars in this story in a role not too far removed from his trademark character. Overall, I wasn't overly impressed with this film - but the trippy and hypnotic atmosphere is a treat, and I'm sure fans of Coffin Joe will get a kick out of it.

Coffin Joe, the cult horror character created by Brazilian writer/director José Mojica Marins, hosts a trilogy of macabre tales.

First up is The Dollmaker, which sees a group of thugs breaking into the house of an elderly doll maker to look for an alleged stash of money. Unable to find any gold, the gang take a different kind of prize, raping the doll-maker's four beautiful daughters. The table are turned on the brutes, however, when the old man pulls a gun on the them, and the girls proceed to pluck out the mens' eyes for use in their new dolls. The plot for this one isn't anything special, with a predictable denouement, but it offers plenty of gratuitous T&A and the gory sight of the thugs' decapitated heads sans eyeballs.

The second story is Obsession, which seriously ups the weirdness ante. A balloon seller becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman, stalking her from a distance, carrying with him the box of new shoes dropped by woman during a shopping trip. On the woman's wedding day, she is stabbed and killed by a love rival. The balloon seller follows the woman's funeral procession to a crypt, which he breaks into after dark in order to fulfil his desires and return the lost shoes. A strangely lyrical tale told entirely without dialogue, Obsession tends to plod for much of its run-time, but ends in a satisfyingly twisted manner, the balloon seller breaking open the dead woman's coffin and stripping her corpse for a spot of necrophilia.

The last episode opens with the broadcast of a television debate show in which Professor Oaxiac Odez (Marins) expounds his theory that love doesn't exist. After the show, the professor invites a fellow panel member and his wife to his home, where he proceeds to shock and torture the couple in order to prove his ideology. As with his earlier Coffin Joe films, this one sees Marins' character waffling on incessantly about his lunatic philosophies, but also features plenty of exploitative content, including a man being spoon-fed molten metal, needles being pushed through flesh (for real), a sadistic acid attack, the wife drinking her husband's blood (fresh from the jugular) to quench her thirst, and a couple of gory scenes of cannibalism.

Probably not the kind of thing to appeal to casual horror fans, but those who dig weird cult world cinema should find this entertaining, especially if, like me, they also particularly enjoy the anthology format. One thing's for sure… Marins' world is very strange indeed.