Nearly a quarter of a century before Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Jose Mojica Marins made a similarly Meta sequel to his Coffin Joe franchise that blurred the line between “reel” and “real”. It’s not as consistent as his earlier films, but it is pure dynamite when it really gets cooking.
A shrink bemoans the increasingly abhorrent sexual behavior in society, particularly when it comes to young people and drug abuse. He seems to want to lay much of the blame on the films of Jose Mojica Marins. While preparing his next book, he performs an experiment where he gives the subjects LSD after watching This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse. They then proceed to experience hellacious visions of torture starring none other than Coffin Joe himself.
Awakening of the Beast is a tad uneven at times, but there’s so many jaw dropping moments here that it manages to be more than a sum of its parts. The first act of the movie is pure sexploitation. The unconnected segments almost play like a precursor to the Schoolgirl Report series. Marins appears briefly in the second act as himself as he is forced to defend his work against baseless accusations.
Those frustrated by the lack of Coffin Joe in the first hour will be rewarded in the third act. It’s here where Marins takes center stage as Coffin Joe appears to guide the test subjects through their drug trip. From this point on, the movie really kicks ass. Right after the characters take acid, the film switches to color (just like This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse) and Marins’ flair for ghoulish spectacle is on full display. I’m not saying I understood some of it and I’m not sure “understanding” it was the point. (It is one long drug trip after all.) What I do know is some of the shit in the last ten minutes or so is unforgettable. (Those “buttheads” are especially freaky.) Because of that, Awakening of the Beast is one hell of a trip.
AKA: Ritual of the Maniacs.
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