The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures

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.

José Mojica Marins (a.k.a. Coffin Joe) is something of a hit and miss director for me. Sometimes his brand of low budget horror surrealism works pretty well but on other occasions the results are somewhat tedious. Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures falls into this latter category sadly. It begins brightly enough though with an extended scene of a strange ceremony where Marins character is resurrected from the dead. There are dancing women, drumming men, weird imagery and avant-garde music throughout. The whole segment has a real demented rhythm to it. It turns out, however, that this opening sequence is the best part in the entire movie. After it, the action shifts to a hostel run by Marin's character. More specifically to events surrounding one stormy night. The hostel takes in several guests, including a group of hippies, corrupt gambling businessmen and an adulterous couple. It seems that uncle Joe is some kind of extreme supernatural moralist and he sets about killing his amoral guests.

This sounds all well and good but the problem is that it's all a bit tiresome in reality. Sure it's weird and surreal but it's also dull. It's the latter factor that's the big problem here. The pacing's not too great, which is admittedly a Marins trait in general but there is a lot of unnecessary repetition such as the silly hippy orgy where the same shots are seen over and over and the chant 'Everybody naked! Great!' is repeatedly seemingly endlessly. Otherwise, scenes drag out and the constant atonal music makes it even more unbearable. It's got its moments but overall it's hard work getting through this one.

A very chilling movie, which starts with a crazy and surrealist dance, where naked women dance all over, and old men scream towards the sky. Then a coffin has dragged open, and a man (Coffin Joe?) is broad back to life. Then the story goes to an eerie hostel, where all kinds of men come in one stormy night. Coffin Joe tells the visitors some very strange stuff like "All thats nothing will be everything" (???!). The moody story ends up in a knockdown-ending, but the story still continues veery eerie for its last a couple of minutes. Lots of violence, and corny nudity, its normaly regarded as pure exploitation trash. But if you look it, in another way, its a masterpiece of eerie horror-movies. *** out of ****, or *½ out of ****. You see it, then decide.

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.

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.