Awakening of the Beast

Director: José Mojica Marins
Year Released: 1970
Rating: 2.0

Or, Sexual (and Chemical) Perversity in Brazil. It begins in vignette form, with various drug-induced sexual fantasies played out in surreal detail - later, a second kind of film starts up in which four participants take LSD and hallucinate a dream world that involves crazy colors, half-nude slaves and Coffin Joe (who isn't very scary in his own right, but egad those fingernails look like dirty Fritos). For the most part, this is a deranged collection of images and tacky effects without much foundation - it's somewhat monotonous at times and crude, but there is a final scene in which Marins tries to end it on a semi-intelligent note, mostly about how the inherent violence and desire is in us irregardless of drug intake ... but by that point it's too little, too late.