Two New Brazilian films revel in gore

Aficionados of fantasy and horror had a few treats in the 2018 London Film Festival, notably emerging from Brazil, The Cannibal Club 2018 (Guto Parente) and Morto não Fala (The Nightshifter 2018): one a minimalistic horror film (yes, really!), the other manages to go way over the top and yet both are successful examples of their genre.

by Corina J Poore

Nightshifter-

Guto Parente’s THE CANNIBAL CLUB (2018) is a stylish, dark and gory comedy /satire on the decadent super -rich in Brazil who live out- of- touch with everyday life in their luxurious homes. Otávio (Tavinho Teixeira) and Gilda (Ana Ruiz Ríos) are an extraordinarily wealthy couple, yet under that façade of affluence and privilege, they have the unusual habit of 'eating' their carefully-chosen employees. Their immaculate home feels like a gilded cage, or even a tomb, so that the shock of the blood that is ruthlessly splattered in the ‘carving’ room is amplified. Otávio runs a highly successful private security company and is a member of the macabre all-male and darkly secret Cannibal Club, run by a powerful congressman, Borges (Pedro Domíngues). When Gilda is accidentally privy to certain secrets of Borges’ life, they have to come to terms with the fact that both their lives are in danger as they, in turn, become the hunted. They go to their own caretaker José for assistance, never quite relinquishing the thought of eating him for dinner anyway. The divide between rich and poor was never larger.

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Ana Luiza Ríos and Tavinho Teixeira as Otávio and Gilda.

There is horror, humour and sharp satire spread out like a feast to enjoy, suggesting that the rich live off the poor in very real terms. To add sparkle, the creepy Otávio is also a very keen chef, adding an interesting twist to their shared passions, both culinary and sexual, that become intertwined.

The idea of a Cannibal club has echoes in other parts. There was a Victorian dining club associated with The Anthropological society, founded around 1863 by Sir Richard Francis Burton and Dr James Hunt. The club’s name was derived from Burton’s fascination with cannibalism, which he regretted never having witnessed on his travels. The Official symbol was a mace carved to look like an African head gnawing on a thighbone. The aim was to create an atmosphere “where all subjects considered deviant by society could receive an open airing… for venting subversive opinions about religion, race, sex and much more.” Not that far from what might have been the starting premise of this new Brazilian format presented by Director Guto Parente on his second outing.

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Pedro Domínguez as Borges .

At a stiff and formal meeting of the ultra-wealthy and powerful businessmen of the Cannibal Club, members expound their values, toasting the “…loyalty that brings us together. We, the distinguished men devoted to the highest universal values…a privilege that demands even more attention … because our enemies… who want to destroy family values, our faith and work … and want to make our country a law for the poor, the delinquents, the pederasts and the scum should be smashed under our feet.” This grandiose gesture of hypocrisy culminates in Otávio himself lamenting: “We're not murderers!”, clearly having chosen to ignore his own prolific manner of disposing of his own workers.

The film was written by Guto Parente. He has emerged as an active participant in the development of a film hub that is making an impact in the city of Fortaleza in the northeast of Brazil. Following his debut as co-director in the charming ‘Inferninho’ (My Own Private Hell) about a café inhabited by a fascinating assortment of low-life characters and outsiders, this new outing opens entirely new perspectives to his work. The stylish visuals cover the weaker narrative that lacks sufficient development, but despite that the film lingers in the imagination and dinner parties will never quite feel the same again.

Fortaleza, a previously somewhat underprivileged area, rubs shoulders with many wealthy Brazilians who flock to luxurious resorts in the area. Perhaps inspired by this contrast, Parente was keen to “create an absurd reality based on its violence and archetypes to build a satire around the cynicism of the Brazilian elite”. As he described in an interview, he wanted the humour in the film to be “… associated with issues of masculinity and the ridiculousness of the role that most men insist on playing in society… as I see it”, he says, “men’s obsession with their virility can only be treated as a joke.”

Guto Parente emphasizes that despite using gore and horror, the violence can often be more vicious in speech and thought, especially from people who believe they are above everything simply because they have money and power: -

“For me, the film examines the cynicism of the powerful Brazilian elite and how they push the boundaries of their powers.

The Cannibal Club

MORTO NÃO FALA (The Nightshifter (2018) is a debut film that creates a tapestry of horror, gore and supernatural elements that threaten to drive the lead, Stênio, the ‘Nightshifter’ himself to an early grave in the process. The Brazilian title ‘Morto Nã Fala’ is literally translatable as ‘The Dead do not speak’. However, that is exactly what they do in this melodramatic dark comedy by director Dennison Ramalho.

Stênio (an intense Daniel de Oliveira) works the night shift at the morgue where he finds he can communicate with the grisly cadavers that are brought in for their post mortem examinations. The dead returning to speak to the living is not a new premise, we have seen it in Sixth Sense, The Orphanage, Labyrinth, even Beetlejuice. Here it is used to startling effect, as the dead pressurize Sténio to carry out specific tasks for them.

Daniel de Oliveira as Stênio.

As he becomes privy to secrets of the dead, some touching on his own personal life, he decides to freelance with some ideas of his own, opening a can of worms that will cause his life to unravel and threaten his and his children’s existence. Is there a deeper reason than that which we can see on the surface? Maybe, but now he has chosen to open Pandora’s box, releasing dangerous information best left with the dead, he cannot resist acting on this, awakening a metaphysical wrath, and yet through the gore, as the high drama develops, there is a fine string of black humour that persists. One corpse aptly warns him: “a dead man’s secret can be deadly.”

Stênio is up against it.

He is seriously harassed by his ever-demanding wife Odete (Fabiula Nascimento) who desires prestige, financial stability and money in her life. She constantly humiliates him and is repulsed by his body odour that she insists stinks of dead corpse. At work, there is stress from his bosses and on top of that, he cannot get the dead to stop talking!

Armed with personal snippets of information, he decides to manipulate his knowledge of local gangs to his advantage and, as they say, it goes seriously pear- shaped and he and his family find themselves hunted by the very souls on whom he sought revenge.

This is not a film for the squeamish, but the dark humour shines through the gore, and there is plenty of it as one critic put it: “the morgue itself is busier than central station.” Perhaps he should have let sleeping corpses lie.

The suspense is held throughout and the move into supernatural territory is terrifying as he wades into more and more dangerous situations in his attempt to avoid them. His revenge hurts him more than it hurt those he wanted to harm: everyone loses with revenge.

The screenplay was adapted by Dennison Ramalho and Cláudia Jouvin from a novel by Marco de Castro, and atmospherically shot by André Facciolo. Fábio Goldfarb’s production design stands out as does the separately credited ‘Corpse’ effects man Marcelo A.M.P., whose creations are particularly chilling and effective as they thrust us into Stênio’s nightmarish world.

This film is an impressive opera prima, hugely entertaining and memorable. It has been well received at the festivals. His first outings were with the impressive short Ninjas (2011) and Nocturnu (1998). Morto Não Fala was nominated for ‘Best Film’ at the Sitges Catalonian Film Festival in 2018.

Both Morto Não Fala and The Cannibal Club have been screened at a number of festivals, and there is hope that some distributor will pick them up soon.

The Cannibal Club is available on the BFI player.