The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures

Probably the worst of José Mojica Marins's horror films, in spite of the good general idea. There is much more noise (what a noisy film! Lots of screams and a very unfortunate music score that mostly does not fit the movie) and no good connections for a chaotic sequence of not very well shot footage (differently from Mojica's best films, despite their low budget). The film also lacks the innovative editing of other movies by Mojica. Here, his famous character Coffin Joe has some different traits, what is by far the most interesting element: his psychic powers are impressive, being able to charm, kill, cause accidents... In the very beginning, he is ressurrected in a ritual (which mixes interesting trance dark scenes of drummers with an amateur performance of beautiful girls in bikini). Then, he recruits employers and guests for his lodge, under a heavy storm. His selection clearly indicated that those who were accepted were destined to. Among them, there were gamblers (one of them being the victim of the other three), a gigolo and his women, an adulterous couple, a man wishing to commit suicide, other characters I could not understand who they were (robbers?), and the worst of them all: a numerous "party hard" group of drunk people who enjoyed to shout "todo mundo nu, oba!" ("everybody nude! Oh yeah!") while dancing naked (they only shut up when make sex!). Perhaps a new cut, shortening it a lot, could have saved the film. However, in the wat it was released, it is hard to understand (not the general trend, which is predictable, but the specific fates of each character) and to keep interested on it.

The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures, directed by Brazilian horror filmmaker José Mojica Marins (also known as Zé do Caixão), presents a perplexing and disjointed narrative. Although it features many typical elements of Marins' horror cinema, such as macabre monologues, twisted sexual scenes, and sadistic violence, the execution falls short. Let's delve into the eerie inn where time stands still and guests face their eternal torment.

The film opens with a surreal sequence: dancing women, monkey-like figures, and native Brazilian drummers. An old man chants over a closed coffin, and a mysterious man rises from it-top hat, cape, and long fingernails in tow. At the isolated "Hospedaria dos Prazeres" (Hostel of Pleasures), the proprietor invites guests to stay during a tempestuous storm. Among them are drunken bohemian motorcyclists, an adulterous couple, a suicidal man, and more. As the night unfolds, they discover their watches all display midnight, and the proprietor reveals gruesome scenes of their deaths before midnight-a chilling punishment where time ceases to exist.

Despite its intriguing premise, The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures disappoints. The film lacks coherence, dragging with repetition and a slow pace. Practically nothing happens until the final revelation, leaving viewers wondering why such an inexplicable establishment exists. While I appreciate some aspects, including the atmospheric setting, the overall experience falls flat.

While watching this movie, my doorbell rang. I ran to the door, hoping it was Coffin Joe there to show me MY death, thereby saving me from watching the rest of this awful movie. Alas, it was the pizza guy, and he didn't have a gun that shot sparkles. I gave him a twenty and told him to keep the change, but he didn't say anything profound like "the change shall be kept, but the change kept within your soul will be your change", or anything. He just said, "thanks." What a bummer. Last time I order from that place.

Anyway, I wanted to watch until the end, but that orgy scene - the LEAST erotic scene ever shown on film (unless skinny, pale, hairy Brazilian guys in bikini briefs swilling vodka and saying sexy things like "let's make love" turns you on) - caused me to switch off. Honestly, this movie is a LITTLE bit funny...but it drags on for so long that the camp/humor is drained. And it's only 80 minutes! Just awful.

Generally speaking, I am a fan of the iconic Brazilian Horror filmmaker José Mojica Marins and his most famous creation and alter ego Zé do Caixão aka. Coffin Joe. I liked the first two Coffin Joe films "À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma" ("At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul") and "Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver" ("This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse") (both from 1964) and I absolutely loved the third film "O Estranho Mundo de Zé do Caixão" ("The Strange World of Coffin Joe") of 1968, which is a morbid anthology in which the eponymous gravedigger only gives an introduction. The fourth (sorta) Coffin Joe feature "O Ridual Dos Sádicos" ("Awakening of the Beast", 1970) already bored me, and I regret to say that I hated this film. "A Estranha Hospedaria dos Prazeres" aka. "The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures" (1976) is an insufferably boring affair that is not saved by its unintentional (?) fun-factor, since it just drags and drags way too slowly to be fun to watch. After a never-ending bizarre sequence in the beginning, Zé Do Caixão is apparently not looking for a woman to bear him a son any longer, but has opened a hostel in which, naturally, strange things are going on...

Seriously, "The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures" is an excruciatingly tiresome affair. The orgy scene in which a bunch of people in red speedos are yelling "Everybody Naked! Great" for about ten minutes must be one of the least erotic sex scenes ever filmed. A few outburst of morbidity are not nearly enough to make the film watchable. The first three Coffin Joe films (especially the third) were incredibly macabre and controversial for their time. This one really isn't. I have no idea why this is labeled an "Adult" film on IMDb; there is no pornography involved, the film isn't more explicit than any other 70s Exploitation film. I seriously hope that the four remaining films in my 9-film Coffin Joe DVD-Box are going to be better than this one, and preferably more like the first three. 2.5 out of 10 for the cult-value. Overall, one to avoid.

The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures opens with a bizarre ritual: a coffin, some bongo players, topless men in a mosh pit, several women in their underwear performing crap dance moves, and deformed creatures (men in unconvincing rubber masks) wailing like banshees while lightning strikes. After what seems like an eternity, the coffin opens and out pops Zé do Caixão (José Mojica Marins), who stands there while his cape and hat (a natty bowler, rather than a top hat) appear out of thin air. Then Zé begins to spout his usual line of dreary philosophy while balls of black modelling clay on wires pass by, and the viewer asks themselves 'Why did they have to bring him back?' and 'What am I doing wasting my life watching this rubbish?'.

So what does Zé do next? Why, he enters the hospitality industry of course, setting up an inn for passing strangers, of which there seems to be plenty: before long, his rooms are full of gamblers, hippies, corrupt businessmen, jewel thieves and lovers, none of whom are put off by their creepy host. The gamblers gamble, the lovers get smoochy, the businessmen make dodgy deals, the jewel thieves check out their haul, and the hippies conduct an orgy just like the one in Marins' earlier surreal oddity End of Man, repeatedly chanting 'Everybody naked, great!' while they strip off—all of which proves tedious in the extreme.

After much surreal strangeness (animals and insects dying, a clock with a beating heart, a burning veil over the camera lens), the not-entirely-unexpected twist ending reveals that all of the guests are actually ghosts, having met with violent deaths before they arrived, that the inn is, in reality, a cemetery, and that the innkeeper is Death (Zé's face transforming into a skull with blood dripping from the eye sockets). Yawn!

3/10 for Marins' hilarious pearls of wisdom, which include: 'There is no redemption for those who want to be blinder than the blind one having his sight to see' and 'The one who searches for the beginning of the end will find an end with no beginning'. Right you are!