The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures

This film was my introduction to José Mojica Marins. I don't know that I'm interested in seeing any of his other works after watching this one. My understanding is that the coffin Joe movies might be worth a watch, but unless I really have nothing better to do, I will likely pass.

In this movie, the uni-browed proprietor of the hostel also is a philosopher, but not a good one unfortunately. It got rather old quickly. He likes to talk in riddles. He has a variety of guests show up at his hotel, including gamblers, couples, biker hippies and others. The hippies decide to have an orgy, however, I will say that those are some of the ugliest women I have ever seen - everybody naked, not so great.

"The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures' is not really a horror film although parts have a horror feel. It doesn't really have a plot per se, and it seems that it was going for some sort of arty feel. To me, it was just strange. If IMDb had ratings for absolute weirdness, this one would get a 10 for sure. If close ups of eyeballs is your thing, you'll find plenty of that here. The soundtrack was also odd and quite jarring in places (Hallelujah Chorus, anyone?).

The print I saw was choppy, however, this might have been intentional when taken in context with the rest of the movie. It is also subtitled, but it appears that some lines didn't translate over well. They didn't make any sense but that might be intentional too.

I'd recommend a pass unless you are looking for a truly weird and rather boring film - even then, you may not find it worth your while. If you are looking for a good horror film, for sure give it a pass.

Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures, The (1976)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Brazilian horror film has Jose Mojica Marins, the man behind Coffin Joe, running a hostel where a mixed group of people, ranging from hippies to gamblers, show up with nightmarish events to follow. I've heard some call this a Coffin Joe film but I don't see it as such since Marins' character, the hostel owner, is never called that nor is it ever implied that he's Coffin Joe. With that said, I found the film pretty hard to get through for a variety of reasons but the biggest being the dialogue. It really seemed like they were going for some type of Bob Dylan like lyrics because Marins' character is constantly coming up with various sayings, which are meant to be thought provoking but they left me wanting to laugh. After a while these sayings stop being funny and instead just come off as lame and this is what happened to the film as it kept going. For the most part we've got a twenty-minute movie spread out to 78-minutes and that means we get a bunch of scenes, which just replay over and over. This includes one of the dumbest orgy sequences I've ever seen where the hippies are just passing around bottles of vodka while canting an incredibly stupid line about getting naked. The final twenty-minutes is when the violence starts to kick up and we get countless more lines trying to be deep. I'm really not sure what the killings were about since the lines are so dumb but we get a wide range of events with a couple nice sequences. One such sequence is when a man is shot in the head only to have firework sparks come out before the screen turns all red in blood. We have other scenes involving the likes of a snake and crab but these add to very little. The entire movie is strange as you might expect and there's a certain level of atmosphere, especially the first ten minutes, but in the end the movie is just too dull to really work. Fans of the bizarre or surreal will want to check this out but others should certainly stay clear. Original title: A Estranha Hospedaria dos Prazeres.

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.

Decided to revisit this one and update my review since I was in the mood for something weird and it's still currently free on youtube. It worked better for me this time, there's some nice terrifying moments and creepy camera work and effects, even though the whole middle portion of this is just a repeat of the same three or so scenes while José Mojica Marins looks on creepily. I'm sure it's probably not the best of the unofficial Coffin Joe flicks, but It's still a fun weird surreal ride.