Coffin Joe poster collection (NSFW)

[raycastile]

As many long-time members are aware, I'm a big fan of Coffin Joe, a Brazilian horror movie character. "Coffin Joe" is an Americanized version of his Brazilian name, Zé do Caixão. He starred in a series of films during the 60s and 70s, and another in 2008. You can Google him and find out more.

I've been collecting Coffin Joe movie posters for a few years. There seem to be only a few surviving examples of most of his titles, so finding the posters is not easy. But I've managed to do OK.

Recently I found what might be the most iconic of all Coffin Joe posters. It is the Brazilian theatrical one-sheet for THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE, the second and best film in the Coffin Joe series. It is definitely my favorite Coffin Joe movie.




I really like that bleeding eye on the moon, assuming that is the moon. Kind of a Méliès/Buñuel feel to the image.




A few weeks prior to finding THIS NIGHT, I found another Coffin Joe poster that I had wanted for a long time – EXORCISMO NEGRO. The film was called THE BLOODY EXORCISM OF COFFIN JOE on American home video.




Coffin Joe is the creation of actor/director José Mojica Marins. That's him holding the cross in the poster. In EXORCISMO NEGRO, Mojica confronts his own creation when Coffin Joe invades the "real" world. Sort of like WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE


Here is another poster I found in the last year. Mojica's PERVERSION.




This is a horror movie, but not a Coffin Joe film. It has a pretty ghastly ending.


Another rarity, THE SECRET OF THE MUMMY, directed by Mojica's friend, Ivan Cardoso.




Mojica has only a guest appearance in this film. I have not seen it, so I do not know if he appears as Coffin Joe. I have seen stills of Mojica dressed as Coffin Joe on a set, being directed by Cardoso. I don't know if those images come from this film. Mojica and Cardoso made other films. They remain friends to this day.


This is a press book for the film known in America as HALLUCINATIONS OF A DERANGED MIND.




I have several lobby cards from HALLUCINATIONS.










The one-sheet for HALLUCINATIONS is the only vintage Coffin Joe poster that is not terribly difficult to find. I have two of them, one with an autograph and one without. This one is autographed, though the inscription is too faint to see in this photo.




My other copy is rolled. I've never taken a picture of the other one.


Here is another of my favorites. STRANGE HOSTEL OF PLEASURES. Probably the best Coffin Joe image.




I'm just going through these in random order. Next we have HELLISH FLESH, another Mojica horror movie where he does not play Coffin Joe, even though the poster says "Zé do Caixão" beneath his name.




Jumping forward to 2008, here is EMBODIMENT OF EVIL.




That is actually a digital copy of the poster, but I do own the original paper poster. I've just never photographed it. But trust me, it looks exactly like that image.



Now jumping way back to 1970, my all-around favorite Coffin Joe poster. RITUAL OF THE SADISTS.




Look at that! Now that is a poster. RITUAL OF THE SADISTS screened in a few festivals, but never got a theatrical release. The Brazilian government banned it. About 10 years later, Mojica again tried to release it, this time as AWAKENING OF THE BEAST. Here is the poster for that release:




This poster is autographed by Mojica to Forrest J Ackerman.




I love how that autograph connects this poster with two horror icons on two continents. It really ties it all together.

I have a few others, but those are the main pieces in my Coffin Joe poster collection. For now.

[poseablemonster]

Incredible collection, Ray!  Thanks for sharing the images.

[Scatter]

Ray, I have you to thank for introducing me to Coffin Joe! I've only seen one film, but I loved it!! Those posters are awesome!!

[dafunk]

great treasures!

[frankenstein73]

Wow! thanks for sharing those Ray, love coffin Joe! did you happen to get to keep any props from embodiement of evil?  Ive seen a few of those posters on ebay i wanted, but i am always afraid to buy one in the case they are reprints. im always leery of posters off of ebay.

[raycastile]

Thanks everyone!

About the authenticity of posters on ebay, yes you should beware. Just about the only time I buy a poster on ebay is when it's a Coffin Joe poster. That's because the major online poster dealers like Heritage and emovieposter don't know Coffin Joe from Coffin Schmoe. You can't wait for these things to turn up in their auctions. It won't happen.

Betomartin74 and filmartgallery have Coffin Joe posters on ebay now. Beto is a Brazilian dealer. I've bought from him before. His stuff is for real. I bought a 1960s Coffin Joe TV Guide from him, a 1970s newspaper magazine with a big Coffin Joe article, and two posters, MUMIA and EXORCISMO NEGRO. With posters, he often has more than one of a title. He must buy out leftover stock from Brazilian film distribution companies. But the stuff is obviously genuine. Smelly, old, discolored, crusty paper. The technology to create fakes is not as readily available in Brazil as it is here.

With EXORCISMO NEGRO, that poster was almost impossible to find until recently. It was known that the film's producer was sitting on a stash of promotional materials for the film. Fans had called him, trying to buy it, but he refused and cursed them on the phone. He hates Mojica. They have a feud. When I was in Brazil the first time, someone involved with EMBODIMENT joked that they were waiting for EXORCISMO's producer to die so that they could raid his office and abscond with the posters. Who knows. Maybe that is exactly what happened. In fact, I would not be at all surprised if that were the case. Or maybe he finally relented and sold a few posters. In any case, I'm quite sure that Beto's posters are real.

I've never bought from filmartgallery. They have a reputation for being very honest, but overpriced. Look at the prices of their other posters. You can get the same titles much cheaper from other sources. I'm sure their HALLUCINATIONS poster is real, but I wouldn't pay $600 for it. You can find it for $200 or less if you are patient. But will the seller be someone you can trust?

In the poster collecting world, reputations are worth money. The same poster might sell for $150 from one dealer and $350 from another, just because the second dealer has a better reputation. I buy almost all of my American and European posters from Heritage and emovieposter.com, and that is because of their good reputations and "no fakes" policies. But with south-of-the-border posters, you have to beat the bushes a little harder and take some chances. For Mexican and Argentinean posters, I like to buy from Agras Sanchez or Brian Moran. One of my Coffin Joe posters came from Brian. I forgot which one. Agras is the recognized expert on Mexican posters.

[Unknown Primate]

Awesome stuff there!

And I actually have a Coffin Schmoe poster.

[general gruesome]

wow these are great!

[marsattacks666]

Beautiful posters/graphics.