"The Dollmaker" (O Fabricante de Bonecas): A local dollmaker is noted for his realistic dolls, especially the eyes of the doll. Master Bastos has four beautiful daughters that help him in his workshop. A small group of four criminals overhear one man talking to another about the dollmaker and the fact that he has money but never puts it in the bank. The robbers decide to pay the dollmaker a visit. When they can’t find any money the robbers decide to rape the dollmaker’s four beautiful daughters. They end up biting off more than they can chew.
"Obsession" (Tara): A hunchback and rather creepy balloon seller sees a beautiful woman. He becomes obsessed with her. When she drops one of her packages while out shopping the balloon seller picks it up. The woman jumps in a cab and leaves before he can return it. He then begins to follow her around. On the day of the young woman’s wedding she is stabbed by a jealous rival. The balloon seller follows the funeral procession to the crypt. After everyone leaves he breaks into the crypt and has sex with the dead body.
"Theory" (Ideologia): Professor Oaxiac Odez (Jose Mojica Marins) is giving a television lecture and debating with other professors on his theories of instinct overruling reason. The other members of the debate mostly disagree with Odez, especially Alfredo. Odez invites Alfredo and his wife to visit him at his home to continue the debate. Odez says he has proof that his theory is sound. When Alfred and his wife arrive Odez cages them and over a seven day period tortures them to prove his point.
“The Strange World of Coffin Joe” AKA “O Estranho Mundo de Ze do Caixao” is a 1968 Brazilian anthology horror film directed by Jose Mojica Marins, who also plays his alter ego Ze do Caixao or Coffin Joe. The film is a collection of three short films. Joe only appears briefly in the role of a horror host, introducing the segments but Marins himself plays the part of Professor Oaxiac Odez, in his Coffin Joe make-up, in the story “Theory”.
The first film is your basic anthology type story with a twist at the end. Not great, not horrible. Of course the film is in bad shape but Brazilian films weren’t and still aren't frequently restored. It does have a fair amount of sex and violence that wasn’t normally part of the anthology basics in the sixties. Story number two is not impressive at all except for the theme of sexual perversion in the form of necrophilia. The intercourse is not shown but definitely implied. Some also believe there is a foot fetish involved but I’m not totally convinced of that. The third story is a no holds barred sadistic snuff film style story with notes of cannibalism. It’s not recommended for the squeamish. All together the movie is a mixed bag of weird and sometimes gross exploitation.
Coffin Joe is a character created by Brazilian writer, director and actor Jose Mojica Marins. The character is an evil undertaker. The amoral character was created for the film “At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul” 1964 which is considered Brazil’s first horror film. The character went on to appear in nine more films, three television series, songs, videos and comics. Marins did three specific films using the Coffin Joe character that are part of a trilogy that included “At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul”. The other two films were “Tonight I’ll Possess Your Corpse” 1967 and “Embodiment of Evil” 2008.
The hymn-like title song at the beginning of the film was written by Marins, and performed by Edson Lopes and the Brazilian Samba band “Os Titulares do Ritmo”. They were a group of six visually impaired musicians. They were considered one of the greatest Brazilian bands in history.