Census Bloodbath: Brazil Nuts

Note: The only accessible copy of this Brazilian slasher movie was in unsubtitled Portuguese, so take my review with a huge grain of salt.

Year:
1984
Director:
Custódio Gomes & Fauzi Mansur

Cast:
Marcelo Braz, J. Brito, Rosângela de Faria
Run Time:
1 hour 10 minutes

Plot: Karma - Enigma of Death (originally Karma - Enigma do Medo) is set at a secluded farm hotel that was the site of a horrific massacre in the 1800s that was orchestrated by the spurned lover (Mauro Pinto) of one of the women who lived there. The spirits of the slain are growing restless, and mysterious supernatural phenomena lead to the death of Elaina (Tatiana Mogambo)'s husband Fausto (uncredited co-director Custódio Gomes). Fausto's spirit emerges from his corpse and is shown the ropes of the astral plane by a spirit guide (Alain Fontaine) dressed in a prince costume that looks like it was stolen from a high school theater production of Once Upon a Mattress.

Various strangers, including a professor of the paranormal, a married couple, a drunk, and a nun - who are all reincarnated versions of the victims of the massacre - all arrive at the hotel. They are then killed one by one, only for their spirits to join the fray and begin killing the living as well (either by possessing other bodies, operating on the astral plane, or straight-up rising from the dead like zombies). 

Analysis: In case my plot synopsis didn't make that clear, coherence is not high on Karma - Enigma of Death's list of priorities. I usually find it helpful when the killer in a slasher begins mowing down victims, because it means that I have fewer characters to try and keep straight. Such is not the case here. Once people die, they not only stick around in the narrative but multiply like the heads of a hydra, sometimes interacting with the story in three different ways simultaneously (as ghosts, as dead corpses, as living corpses, and/or as possessing spirits).

I think I would have found this frustrating even if I could understand the dialogue. However, the supernatural elements are batshit enough that the movie is deliriously entertaining regardless. 

While I can't say that I love the yellowy film-negative imagery that is used to represent the spirit realm, the movie is exuberant, zestily throwing every possible strand of story spaghetti at the wall (including a demonic pig and a ghost resentfully bonking a woman with a car door), so I couldn't help but admire it.

Honestly, it's much better than I would have expected from this cast and crew, who were primarily known for pornographic movies (my favorite credit from the collected ensemble is the Mauro Pinto movie Meu pipi no seu popo, which roughly translates to My Pee-Pee in Your Butt). 

I wasn't necessarily inclined to trust the Brazilian adult film industry given how profoundly boring the 1983 softcore slasher Momentos de Prazer e Agonia proved to be, but art is art and artists are artists, no matter the medium. And Karma might not be capital-A Art, but I dug this enough that I'm very eager to revisit director Fauzi Mansur when he returns to the slasher genre in 1989 with Satanic Attraction.

Killer: Basically Everyone

Final Girl: Elaina (Tatiana Mogambo)

Best Kill: One character has a sword laboriously shoved through the front of his neck in a pretty killing blow.

Sign of the Times: The hunky dude who shows up to have sex with the widowed Elaina shows up with a sweater tied around his neck like he's a bully in a summer camp movie or something.

Scariest Moment: A character hides from a horde of zombies in the closet, only for them to appear on either side of him and grab him.

Weirdest Moment: One of the characters walks in on the nun conducting a Satanic ritual that involves lighting a liquid-filled bowl on fire, shrugs, and continues about his business.

Champion Dialogue: N/A

Body Count: 10; not including the one or two confused shootings shown in brief flashbacks to the massacre that took place 100 years ago.

1. Fausto is impaled by a sword that spontaneously appears through his torso.
2. Dark-Haired Woman is hanged offscreen.
3. Drunk is drowned.
4. Fisherman is strangled.
5. Blonde Woman dies offscreen.
6. Brunette is stabbed in the chest with a pitchfork.
7. Brown-Haired Guy is stabbed in the gut with a sickle.
8. Servant is stabbed in the shoulder with a sword.
9. Blue Shirt Guy is stabbed in the chest.
10. Mustache Guy is stabbed in the neck with a sword.

TL;DR: Karma - Enigma of Death is a baffling but effortlessly enjoyable affair.

Rating: 6/10