{"id":250350,"date":"2017-12-14T15:17:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T17:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=250350\/"},"modified":"2017-12-14T15:24:16","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T17:24:16","slug":"horror-brazilian-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/horror-brazilian-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Horror, Brazilian style"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In recent years, horror films have achieved greater exposure in Brazilian cinema, a phenomenon most visible in titles that enter the commercial circuit with the promise of technical quality and actors known for their work on television.\u00a0 This is the case with the feature films Isolados <\/em>[The isolated], Quando eu era vivo <\/em>[When I was alive], and O rastro <\/em>[The footprint], <\/em>among others.\u00a0 Even though box-office results have not been exceptional, these clearly constitute a niche market recognized by critics and researchers alike. According to an estimate by researcher and independent professor Carlos Primati, one new Brazilian horror movie is commercially released every month or six weeks.\u00a0 Given the similarity of some of these films to foreign productions of the same genre, especially contemporary horror films from the U.S., the upsurge may appear to be a novelty in domestic cinema.\u00a0 Brazil, however, has a little-remembered tradition in the field of horror, which features the work of filmmaker and actor Jos\u00e9 Mojica Marins, 81, and the first two films in which he interpreted the character Z\u00e9 do Caix\u00e3o<\/em> [Coffin Joe], in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Mojica\u2019s centrality in Brazilian horror cinema is unanimously acknowledged among researchers and filmmakers long devoted to the genre, even those who do not identify with the style of the director, according to Laura C\u00e1nepa, a professor and coordinator of the Graduate Program in Communications at the Anhembi-Morumbi University in S\u00e3o Paulo. In 2008, she defended her dissertation in multimedia, entitled Afraid of what?: a history of horror movies in Brazilian cinema<\/em>, at the University of Campinas (Unicamp).\u00a0 The researcher continues to devote her studies to this genre, publishing papers and chapters in books that extend to her current line of research. Her goal while pursuing her doctorate was to describe the genre, situate it within the history of Brazilian cinema and map its widely scattered production that had as yet not been studied from that angle. It should be noted that, beginning in the early 2000s, there have been a growing number of research studies on the genre of Brazilian cinema, as noted in works on science fiction, children\u2019s movies, bandit movies, police films and others.<\/p>\n

The researcher herself says that the study was descriptive and based on a search of films forgotten, missing or deemed lost, but recovered through Internet sharing and in video rental stores that still worked with VHS tapes, in addition to collectors\u2019 archives and interviews with directors. In a survey of film dictionaries, guides and other documents, C\u00e1nepa noted that there appeared to be a wealth of works in the genre that classified themselves as comedies, dramas and erotic films.\u00a0 Only two directors advertised their movies as horror or terror: Mojica and Ivan Cardoso\u2013the latter devoted to a parodic vein he called \u201cterrir,\u201d (a combination of terror and comedy). The first Brazilian film officially billed as a horror movie was \u00c0 meia-noite levarei sua alma<\/em> (1964) [At Midnight, I will Take Your Soul], which marked the debut of the Coffin Joe character.<\/p>\n

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Public domain image<\/span><\/a> Quando eu era vivo<\/em>, from 2014…Public domain image<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

C\u00e1nepa\u2019s research led to the observation, for example, of pranks with an element of horror, even in the 1936 film O Joven Tatarav\u00f4 <\/em>[The young great great-grandfather], directed by Luis de Barros (1893-1981). In providing an overview, C\u00e1nepa concluded that \u201cif it is even possible to talk about a golden age of national horror cinema, it would be from 1963 to 1983.\u201d That period includes Mojica\u2019s most important films and \u201ca varied and extensive cinematography divided among offerings that were markedly horror fiction alongside others derived from erotic films, explored to death by producers from S\u00e3o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro,\u201d including the genre of works by filmmakers such as Walter Hugo Khouri (1929-2003) and Carlos Hugo Christensen (1914-1999). There were directors, particularly at the time of pornochanchada<\/em> (a genre of sexploitation films), originating in the Boca do Lixo (popular name for the downtown S\u00e3o Paulo neighborhood that served as the unofficial hub of movie producers and distributors in the 1970s), whose films, much like European productions, combined erotic appeal with elements of the supernatural, such as John Doo (1942-2012), Jean Garret (1946-1996) and Luiz Castillini (1944-2015).<\/p>\n

C\u00e1nepa grouped the production in a chronological cross-section. \u201cI had the option of approaching the genre as one category of the film industry, derived from traditional forms organized by Hollywood for popular cinema, or as a thematic trend that manifested itself in a more haphazard manner, which is what I chose,\u201d she says. Following this principle, the main lines are as follows: horror fiction, mainly represented by Mojica; classic horror, reminiscent of 18th<\/sup> century gothic novels and characterized more by the creation of a terrifying atmosphere than by detailed and explicit demonstration of horrifying action, represented by directors like Khouri and Christensen; exploitation horror, characterized by sensationalism, along the vein of the titles in the pornochanchada<\/em>; o horror parody, in which we find the films by Ivan Cardoso, Am\u00e1cio Mazzaropi (1912-1981)\u2013such as O Jeca contra o capeta<\/em> (1976) [Jeca against the devil]\u2013, in addition to feature films such as Bacalhau<\/em> (1975) [Codfish], directed by Adriano Stuart (1944-2012), a satire of Steven Spielberg\u2019s Jaws<\/em> (1975). Finally, there is a group of films that include \u201ccases related to subgenres such as ghost films, werewolf fiction and those children\u2019s movies that dialogue with the horror universe.\u201d According to a listing catalogued by Carlos Primati, the hybrid perspective includes nearly 500 films since the 1930s.<\/p>\n

The chapter on Mojica in C\u00e1nepa\u2019s study could have benefited from some discussion of previous studies.\u00a0 Although he was a filmmaker praised by iconic colleagues such as Rog\u00e9rio Sganzerla (1946-2004) and Glauber Rocha (1939-1981), in addition to critics like Jairo Ferreira (1945-2003), there existed, at the time in which the researcher wrote her dissertation, a dissertation defended by journalist Alexandre Agabiti Fernandez at the University of Paris III, in France, in addition to the biography written by journalists Ivan Finotti and Andr\u00e9 Barcinski entitled Maldito: A vida e a obra de Jos\u00e9 Mojica Marins, o Z\u00e9 do Caix\u00e3o<\/em> (editora 34, 1998) [Accursed: the life and work of Jos\u00e9 Mojica Marins, Z\u00e9 do Caix\u00e3o]. There were also works by experts such as Primati, one of the organizers of the box set of DVDs, Cole\u00e7\u00e3o Z\u00e9 do Caix\u00e3o: 50 anos do cinema de Jos\u00e9 Mojica Marins <\/em>(2002), that includes interviews with experts and filmmakers.<\/p>\n

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Public domain image<\/span><\/a> …and Rafael Cardoso and Leandra Leal in O rastro<\/em>\u00a0(2017)Public domain image<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The Coffin Joe character played a leading role in two films, \u00c0 meia-noite levarei sua alma<\/em> [At Midnight I\u2019ll Take Your Soul] and Esta noite encarnarei no teu cad\u00e1ver<\/em> (1967) [This Night I\u2019ll Possess Your Corpse], both major box-office hits. In other productions, he appeared as a master of ceremonies or in scenes from pseudo-documentaries.\u00a0 Because of censorship pressures during the military dictatorship, which frowned upon the violence of his films, it was not until 2008 that Mojica would revisit the character, in Encarna\u00e7\u00e3o do dem\u00f4nio<\/em> \u00a0(Embodiment of Evil).<\/p>\n

C\u00e1nepa says that Brazilian horror is a unique phenomenon. Inspired in observations by horror writer Rubens Lucchetti, who collaborated with Mojica and Cardoso as screenwriter, the researcher thinks that the filmmaker was able to \u201csolve an equation\u201d that allowed horror films to find their place in Brazil.\u00a0 To her, classic horror has trouble penetrating the country because in Brazil, the supernatural is mostly seen as beneficial. \u201cGiven the Spiritist tradition, ghosts routinely emerge as saviors in the story,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Mojica created a character that has nothing super-human about him.\u00a0 On the contrary, it is the incomprehensible forces that avenge his cruelty, based above all on rationalism\u2013in the films, supernatural interventions end up killing the villain.\u00a0 Coffin Joe owns a funeral home and his mission is to ensure continuity of his bloodline by having a \u201cperfect\u201d son. This leads him to an extreme and cruel rationalism: death, with just a hint of pain, would be the natural destiny of those who are afraid and of women who fight to perpetuate their superiority.\u00a0 \u201cI am invincible and I only believe in the power of blood and heredity,\u201d says the character.\u00a0 Yet \u201cCoffin Joe, non-believer and sinner, will be eliminated by his own guilt and the supernatural powers he claims not to believe in,\u201d C\u00e1nepa says.<\/p>\n

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Public domain image<\/span><\/a> Marat Descartes and Helena Albergaria in Trabalhar cansa (2011)Public domain image<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The spirit Exu<\/strong>
\nAlthough the character\u2019s films are resolved such that good triumphs over evil, Alexandre Agabiti Fernandez points to one compelling feature that may have seduced the public. \u201cThe character challenges the powers that be, religion and the social conventions surrounding death,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cThe taboo related to these themes has enormous appeal.\u201d Like other film researchers, Fernandez points out the similarities in the description of the character itself with the spirit Exu, superimposed as part of the syncretic tradition of the devil from Christian imagery.<\/p>\n

Primati believes that the Afro-Brazilian religions characterize many of the domestic horror films. And that some of them draw upon elements of cordel literatura (popular pamphlets containing folk novels, poems and songs).\u00a0 To him, elements such as these blend into the traditions of the genre, creating hybrids that defy classification. The films by Mojica, according to researcher Rodrigo Carreiro, of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), owe part of their strangeness to the fact that they are influenced more by popular manifestations like the circus and comic strips than by a cinematographic culture that the filmmaker would have absorbed only intuitively.<\/p>\n

With respect to the current wave of horror films, the researchers agree in stating that the tradition started by Mojica has not continued forward, although the filmmakers recognize its importance. Some semblance of the pioneering filmmaker appears in productions described by C\u00e1nepa as \u201cguerrilla cinema,\u201d amateur films that circulate among fans of the genre, but not those that are now seeking a larger public, nor those that are simply thrillers such as Trabalhar cansa<\/em> [Work is tiring] (Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra, 2011). However, that does not prevent these films. like those by Mojica, from having an atmosphere in which \u201csomething terrible could happen at any second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientific articles<\/em>
\nC\u00c1NEPA, L. Configura\u00e7\u00f5es do horror cinematogr\u00e1fico brasileiro nos anos 2000: Continuidades e inova\u00e7\u00f5es<\/a>. Miradas sobre o cinema ibero-latino-americano<\/strong>. pp. 121-43. 2016.
\nC\u00c1NEPA, L. L. and PIEDADE, L. R. O horror como performance da morte: Jos\u00e9 Mojica Marins e a tradi\u00e7\u00e3o do Grand Guignol.<\/a> Galaxia<\/strong>. No. 28. 2014.
\nCARREIRO, R. O problema do estilo na obra de Jos\u00e9 Mojica Marins<\/a>.\u00a0Galaxia<\/strong>. n. 26, pp. 98-109. 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brazilian horror films have little known tradition ","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[216],"coauthors":[137],"class_list":["post-250350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humanities","tag-film"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250350"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=250350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}