Originally titled Sadists’ Ritual and marketed as a ghastly haunted house film, Awakening of the Beast was directed by Brazil’s horror maestro José Mojica Marins and promised a scream-filled romp much like the filmmaker’s earlier This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse (1967); however, this film ended up going far beyond its genre parameters and has become one of the key political films of Brazil’s era of military repression.
A tongue-in-cheek commentary on 1960s counterculture, the plot begins in pseudo-documentary style with a series of experts on TV - played by notable Boca do Lixo figures like Carlos Reichenbach and Jairo Ferreira - debating the possible link between the use of psychedelic drugs and violent and sexually deviant behavior.
An experiment involving four volunteers, LSD and Marins’ on-screen alter ego Coffin Joe ensues, playfully debunking the drug-related hysteria that dominated the mainstream discourse of the time. Censors did not take the film lightly; it was banned for 14 years.
- Director
- José Mojica Marins
- Country of production
- Brazil
- Year
- 1970
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2012
- Length
- 93'
- Medium
- 35mm
- International title
- Awakening of the Beast
- Language
- Portuguese
- Producers
- Giorgio Attili, José Mojica Marins, George Michel Serkeis
- Production Companies
- Fotocena Filmes, Ovni Indústria Cinematográfica
- Screenplay
- José Mojica Marins, Rubens F. Lucchetti
- Cinematography
- Giorgio Attili
- Editor
- Luiz Elias
- Cast
- João Callegaro, Carlos Reichenbach, Jairo Ferreira