Grade: C
Synopsis: A ruthless mortician stops at nothing in his quest for a woman to carry on his bloodline.
At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma) is a fairly entertaining Brazilian horror picture that, for the most part, belies its shoestring budget. Director/star José Mojica Marins does a lot with a little, cranking up the atmosphere and using some fairly graphic violence to punctuate his scenes and develop his “Coffin Joe” character.
And speaking of Coffin Joe, José Mojica Marins really does a great job with him, painting him as both a monster and a humanist, and playing him just over the top enough to be larger than life, but not so much that he loses his edge.
Unfortunately, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul isn’t perfect. The script gets a little verbose toward the end, with Coffin Joe delivering a soliloquy that would be more at home in a poor man’s Hamlet, and some of the special effects at the end betray the film’s small budget.
Bottom Line: Horror fans should enjoy it, but others should probably pass.
