A Praga

A Praga

Brazilian film poster
Directed by Jose Mojica Marins
Produced by Jose Mojica Marins
Written by Jose Mojica Marins
Rubens Francisco Luchetti
Starring Felipe
Sílvia Gless
Wanda Kosmo
Cinematography Giuseppe Romero
Editing by Nilcemar Leyart
Release date(s) 1980
Running time 80 minutes
Country Brazil
Language Portuguese

A Praga (English: The Plague) is a 1980 Brazilian horror film by Brazilian film director José Mojica Marins. Marins is also known by his alter ego Zé do Caixão (in English, Coffin Joe).[1][2]

Contents

Plot

Young couple Juvenal and Mariana go on a trip and Juvenal unknowingly takes some pictures of a strange elderly lady (played by the late Wanda Kosmo) who is eventually revealed to be a sinister witch. The witch then places a curse on the man for photographing her. A wound begins to open in his side which has an agonizing hunger for raw meat which he must constantly feed in order to stop the burning pain. Perplexing his doctors, Juvenal's wound becomes hungrier as the film progresses, the man becomes delirious and murders his wife, thinking she will leave him because of his condition. The witch then reappears and coaxes him into feeding the wound with the body of his dead wife. The separate skeletons of the couple are discovered lying next to each other by police months later.[1]

Production

The film was mostly shot in Super-8 in 1980, but the footage was shelved due to lack of resources to finish it. During the preparations of a major retrospective of his work that took place in São Paulo and Brazil in 2007, for which brand new 35 mm film prints of no less than 25 films were made, Mojica and producer Eugenio Puppo decided to finish the film. Puppo put together the raw material, shot additional scenes, edited and supervised the post-production process, and the result was shown to those who attended the retrospective. Puppo and Mojica are now looking for a way to transfer the film to 35mm. A Praga is expected to travel around international festivals.[3]

The story is also featured in Marins' graphic novel series O Estranho Mundo de Zé do Caixão in the issue A Praga (V.1, #2).

Cast

References

  1. ^ a b "A Praga" (in Portuguese). Official site of Zé do Caixão. 2006. http://www2.uol.com.br/zedocaixao/cinema/25_apraga.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-05. 
  2. ^ "A Praga" (in English). IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260293/. Retrieved 2008-07-04. 
  3. ^ Brown, Todd (February 23, 2008). "Coffin Joe’s Lost Film Recovered And Restored! First Images From A PRAGA!" (in English). twitch.com. http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/coffin-joes-lost-film-recovered-and-restored-first-images-from-a-praga/. Retrieved 2008-07-04. 

External links