[LOOSE TALK COST LIVES 42: Marco Antonio S. Freitas. talks to director Jair Correia about his career and SHOCK: DIVERSÃO DIABÓLICA (1984)]


MF: How was Jair Correia as a kid? When did the Art Mosquito bite you?

JC: Always loved reading … from 4, 5 years old I already owned many children’s books and liked flying my kite, though and I had many friends in my in Vila Prudente (note from the the interviewer: Vila Prudente is a borough about half an hour from downtown São Paulo), which was quite rural at that time...there was even a small lake nearby; we are talking here about six decades. And since I already knew how to read and write, i entered first grade when I was five in mid-year...in six months I had finished first grade! I’m basically self-taught and did not even go to college. By the time I I was 17 years old the comic strips I had created and drawn were printed in 49 newspapers throughout 4 states in Brazil! The lead character was a guy called ‘Escamoso’ (note from the interviewer: ‘as in the American adjective SCALY) and the themes reflected my then-concerns about went on around me in society.


MF: Any particular strip you like before starting your own?

JC: My main influence was ´Hagar´.

MF: Hagar the Horrible, the funny viking character created by cartoonist Dik Bowne?

JC: Yes!

MF: Interesting...said strip put a satirical spin in ‘man-women’ relationships and your film work has real strong female characters.

JC: ´Helga´ was her name...Hagar´s wife! Hahhahaaa.


MF: Then you went to work for the 'Brazilian version' of Mad Magazine, right?

JC: Yeah, but I did not accept the financial conditions offered to me and I did not take it. ... Some time later, I got to talk to a dear friend, Egidio Eccio, who was like a mentor to me, giving my first opportunities in Film. A person I’ve learned a lot from and ended up being his Assistant in the Boca do Lixo (Note from the interviewer: Egidio was a veteran TV character actor who went on to direct features of immense popular appeal; Boca do Lixo ou Boca - from the Portuguese language, Mouth of Trash or Area of Trash was the nickname given to the region in downtown São Paulo that gathered the most independent Film production companies and offices in Brazil in the 70s and early 80s). Every other genre of Film was made there but it became more known throughout Brazil by the sexy blockbusters filmed in the style of Italian erotic farces of the era).

MF: Your two features before SHOCK were DUAS ESTRANHAS MULHERES (Note from the interviewer: DIANA, EVA: TWO STRANGE WOMEN is a movie consisting of two couple suspense tales with touches of eroticism - at the time in parts of Italy telling distinct stories in separate episodes maybe liked by a general theme or tone were successful and this influencing Brazilian films, also-about 50% of the city of inhabitants of the city of São Paulo are of Italian descent and 15% of all Brazilians have Italian heritage); and RETRATO FALADO DE UMA MULHER SEM PUDOR (Note from the interviewer: literal translation of its title would be POLICE SKETCH OF AN IMMORAL WOMAN;  an erotic thriller about an investigation of a model who's found dead in her mansion and the men who knew her). I like them both, Jair.

JC: Yes, RETRATO...was a very expensive movie by the standards of the low-budget movies made at the time at the Boca do Lixo.

MF: Is it true you are not a fan of so-called 'Slasher genre' and you are not even too found of serial killer horror movies? And since there is really not a big tradition of horror movies made here in Brazil...please tell me how did the idea of SHOCK come about, please.

JC: Just so you know, I had only watched AT MIDNIGHT, I’LL TAKE YOUR SOUL by Coffin Joe on TV, late at night but I don’t see him as an influence in my filmmaking (Note from the interviewer: Coffin Joe was basically an exception, genre-wise, among filmmakers here).
When people started calling me a pioneer of sorts of the Slasher genre here all I could say was “ F*ck...what is that?! Slasher what? As far as suspensers go, I like John Carpenter and I think THE THING and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK are very good but I'd be lying if I'd said his work really influenced me. my real source of inspiration was actually Hitchcock. And Robert Wise ... THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and THE SET-UP Are among my favourites by Wise.

MF: No influence of, say, the Cinema of Henry-Georges Clouzot? His movie released in 1955, LES DIABOLIQUES starred his wife and muse, Brazilian-born Vera Amado Clouzot...

JC: No ... you said Closeau?

MF: Yes, but not as in ‘Inspector Closeau’ ... hahahaa.

JC: That one I know...hahaha...as for the director you mentioned, I really do not recall having seen anything by him.
But you know one director that most people nowadays do not have a clue who he was but whose work I adored? I know you will know his name, I am sure: Alberto Cavalcanti!

MF: Wow, sure...DEAD OF NIGHT (note from the interviewer: British motion picture released in 1945, about guests in a cottage telling four different spooky stores; Brazilian-born Cavalcanti directed ‘The Christmas Party’ with the others being helmed by Basil Dearden, Charles Crichton and Robert Hamer)...even when the subject of his movies he lent a veneer of sophistication to his work.

JC: Oh, yeah...yes. And he was also gave a boost to French Cinema in the 30s and was an important part in bringing surrealism to the language of Cinema during the subsequent years! I own many of movies directed by him in my collection and they are a real class study in moviemaking! ... So, as we were speaking earlier on, some people approach me and wonder how much I like the first FRIDAY THE 13th from 1980 ... but I hadn’t even watched that movie!! Only after I was told is that I went to see it ... hahaha.

MF: I recall you sharing screenwriting credit with a lady by the name of Gertrude Eisenlohr ... she was a psychologist, right?

JC: Yes. She helped me with creating the psychological side of the character; how would they realistically react to that assault on the house.
 Going back to other influences, I liked Robert Wise a lot.

MF: Oh, sure, I think THE HAUNTING is a masterwork...I got to meet him very briefly at in Los Angeles, at a showing of EXPOSURE, the violent Film debut by Walter Salles Jr. (CENTRAL STATION), starring Peter Coyote and gorgeous Amanda Pays, shot in Rio de Janeiro. I know it may come as a cliché but he was hugely under-praised. ... So, as to the financing of your movie, how did the producer, L. Dupont got in touch with you?

JC: Dupont was in business with the people who helped finance O MENINO DA PORTEIRA (note from the interviewer: a blockbuster in Brazil, it was based on a chart-topping country song about the simple life of cattlemen; the title means “The kid at the Farm’s Gate”), whose trailer I’d edited. I was pretty young but you know, they liked my work and I always had friends who were much older than me. My buddies in school were not my classmates; they were the teacher! Hahahaa.

MF: Wow, sure...DEAD OF NIGHT (note from the interviewer: British motion picture released in 1945, about guests in a cottage telling four different spooky stores; Brazilian-born Cavalcanti directed ‘The Christmas Party’ with the others being helmed by Basil Dearden, Charles Crichton and Robert Hamer)...even when the subject of his movies he lent a veneer of sophistication to his work.

JC: Oh, yeah...yes. And he was also gave a boost to French Cinema in the 30s and was an important part in bringing surrealism to the language of Cinema during the subsequent years! I own many of movies directed by him in my collection and they are a real class study in moviemaking! ... So, as we  were speaking earlier on, some people approach me and wonder how much I like the first FRIDAY THE 13th from 1980 ... but I hadn’t even watch that movie!! Only after I was told is that I went to see ... hahaha.

So,  I was just won awards for directing DUAS ESTRANHAS MULHERES and we talked ... I originally had the idea of adapting a book into a film but we saw it was gonna be too expensive. ... I then wrote a story that could be made with a few young actors and basically one location; we filmed in São Paulo and the exteriors in Guarapiranga (about an hour from downtown São Paulo, near a dam). The bottom of it is that SHOCK has a political undertone referencing the violence committed by the military in Brazil and I used it in a way the censors would not notice it!

MF: The cast you were able to get is very good, lots of excellent young talents, like Aldine Mûller (Aldine is a very famous Brazilian actress, known for her sensuality in many features that went on to become huge financial successes in Brazil and after 50 years after having done her first acting job is still going strong with stage plays that blend the sensual with the comedic all over Brazil).

JC: Oh, she was great to work with!!

MF: I recall SHOCK not getting wide release in Brazilian markets other than the two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio and a lot of people who love the film to this day only really got to see it when it was released to home video...I, for one, only saw it in 1985!

JC: It garnered some good reviews but I also recall Film critic stating the stuff the youngsters in the film spoke was ‘weak’. I read it and thought ‘Hey, these are not´very deep teenagers; they were not supposed to say, thought-provoking things...they wanted to have fun, drink beer and chat.’

MF: It did okay profit-wise, right?

JC: It was not a large budget so it made its money back.

MF: Your name also appear in the Music department...

JC: I play acoustic guitar but the reason why I studied Music Composing for a while was so I could avoid saying crap to whoever I hired to compose the scores for my movies ... I wanted to understand them.

MF: Speak the same language as them, right?

JC: Exactly.

MF: UK fans of SHOCK want to know if you own the rights to said feature (they would like to try gtting you in touch with a company that specialises in Blu-ray releases of suspense films for the US and UK markets.

JC: After the movie got noticed in both international festivals (Cannes and Sitges). I am doing research now to try to find where the negatives are at ... for some reason I have no idea why, they were not stored in the Brazilian Cinematheque.

MF: Oh, okay ... let us know if you they come up, please. ... And Thanks for your the lovely conversation.

JC: You’re welcome!




Marco Antonio Freitas is a Pop Culture Historian and Film Critic from Brazil, having collaborated with Portuguese-language books about the making of CASABLANCA, THE PLANET OF THE APES, on Brazilian Erotic movies of the 70s and one on forgotten low budget movies. In English, he's collaborated with Roberto Curti's 'Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker' and in 'Tonight, On a Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Get Serious', organized by Lee Gambin. He's also hosted a Brazilian radio show for four years and a Half on Pop Culture from the 50s to the 80s.

Marco's recent analysis (including interviews), of the 35th anniversary of the cult movie NORTH SHORE in the digital magazine 'Cool Ass Cinema' can be read here.

Visit the film's IMDB page.

Read the Hysteria Lives! review of SHOCK: DIVERSÃO DIABÓLICA.