God Told Me To

The plot says sci-fi, the mise-en-scene and cinematography says scabby cop-thriller and the music (and it's thematic preoccupation) says horror. It feels almost like a gritty Cronenberg. Untidely but keenly shot, it's a bizarre genre film with a very distinct tone in its unclean occultism, completely badass when it's at its most fantastic.

Well, this went in all sorts of mad directions, and took in about six genre shifts throughout the running time. As such, it's full of imagination, but perhaps falls short of its potential due to budgetary and other constraints. Cohen has made some good films, and all of the ones I have seen have been pretty crazy in their own way. This is no exception and is worth a look. Bonus points for featuring Richard Lynch.

Larry Cohen's genre-blending thriller focuses on a series of murders with apparent supernatural motives. Though the exposition is frequently choppy, the film impressively offers some unpredictable plot developments as well as a terrifically understated ending. Tony Lo Bianco is decent in the lead and Sylvia Sidney adds some real star quality in her solitary scene.

Well, that was.. unexpected. And pretty damn awesome. Hard to really pin down genre-wise, and story-wise the movie throws a lot at the viewer and doesn't particularly seem to care about what makes sense and what is just odd/atmospheric/unresolved. The story develops in a wonderfully surreal way that quickly drew me in, even though it looks and sounds kinda cheap at times.

Somehow manages to encode every major 1970s social anxiety into one utterly demented genre bricolage. You almost feel like this wouldn't have worked if Cohen had bit exactly off as much as he could chew.

Some pretty cool stuff, neat ideas. Generally well-paced and well-made. With slightly better actors, a lot more money, and someone to polish up the script, this could be a really good movie.

The budget--and a little too much weirdness--really hurt what is at its basis a really good story. A film that may benefit from a remake...

I like when a murder mystery goes off the hinges, and I like weird movies, so this did it for me. Everything always feels a little offbeat, then things just go a little insane. And while it doesn't put forth a lot of effort into explaining things I don't think it had to; I liked just existing in this world and too much explanation might have derailed it. For some reason the ending freeze frame creeped me out, I think it's just because I hate when people stare into cameras. Great stuff.

Sigh, they don't make movies like this anymore. It starts of rather gentle and straightforward, only to go over the edge somewhere in the middle and then losing itself in its own insanity. The last part is confusing and felt a bit random, but after reading about it afterwards my appreciation increased. In the meantime you are blessed with colorful, grainy shots of gritty '70s New York accompanied by an eerie soundtrack .

in some ways this is to new york what THEY LIVE is to los angeles; both are idiosyncratic little B-movies that marry a gritty, ground-level view of their respective cities with an out-there sci-fi conspiracy--although this one trades carpenter's class warfare for more of a catholic guilt angle, and is twice as batshit.

Half the time I've no idea why anything happens, but then neither do the characters, but if you just let it suck you into its... there are actually several really weird metaphors from the movie I could use here... it's a delightfully bizarre ride.

Totally rad pulp that features a kickass Andy Kaufman cameo and a fantastic ending.

Pulpy and increasingly bizarre. It starts out like a noir-ish detective story and morphs into a Flannery O'Connor type meditation on the troubles with blind faith and then into something out of the Twilight Zone. If the script was better and wasn't as crusty (though there's some charm to that) it'd be really good. As it is, it's a decent multi-genre piece.

The hell did this come from?

Well, that was unexpected. The weirdest, most Cronenbergian non-Cronenberg film I've seen.

The 70's porn-cinematography, cut-rate staging & actors r worrying at first, but stick with it. Fearlessly non-mainstream is an understatement as the ballsy script gets more unexpected & daring as it goes, leading up 2 a creepily bizarre abduction scene & completely off-the-rails showdown. Some mumbling & poor sound mars the ending, but fans of out-there & unpredictable narratives will stay hooked.

One of the weirdest films ever made. Way above par for Larry Cohen

This was a clear step up from Cohen's "It's Alive". I didn't have a clue where the story was taking me which is rare. As bonkers as it gets, it still feels believable within the film's reality - even the ending which could have been laughable in less competent hands. All in all, it's well written, directed and shot - it looks like a much bigger production than what it is. Pretty unique viewing experience.

God's always talking a load of nonsense. And the Bible? Talk about a preachy book.

Apart from the first half of The Stuff, the best Larry Cohen film I've seen so far. Nolan obviously pilfered/"homaged" the St. Patrick's Day parade shooting in The Dark Knight.

Like most of Cohen's 'high concept' films, it reads better than it plays, but it's cockeyed tone and unsteady gait imbues it with a sense of reckless abandon when he starts swinging hard for the fences. Lo Bianco is fine in the lead, and the acting is better than average for Cohen. It falls apart in the final reel though as he throws too many ideas out there at once, so the end result is a bit of a disjointed mess, but it's never boring.

What starts as a police procedural with a very cool premise turns into something completely different. Get tired of genre A? Don't worry, another is coming in just a few minutes. Completely unique.

Strange film, both intriguing and sloppy at the same time. The story itself doesn't make much sense but the ideas and questions presented within the story nearly carried my interest in the movie.

Em honra de Sammy Williams (1948 - 2018). Uma desculpa para ver Larry Cohen e como todo filme dele é menos falado (e querido) do que deveria. DVDRip no MakingOff.

Andy Kaufman is the best.

69.500

God told me to

Vagina arms did it. I blinked a little too much during this and was totally lost and right when I thought I knew what was going on the movie spat on me. This was edited together with a blender.

I'm suprised on how good this was. It's scary as hell and on top of that it's very well directed.

There are plenty of evocative moments in Larry Cohen's film, but it's never done well enough to realize its great potential. One does wonder how much better the material might have fared at the hands of a better director of weird thrillers - I'm thinking a David Lynch, Robert Altman, Roman Polanski, or even Brian de Palma.

Larry Cohen's best. Total 70's low budget weirdness!

I really didn't know what to make of this movie. I still don't. I just know that I kinda liked it. Definitely worth a watch if you're in the mood for some Larry Cohen tomfoolery.

Larry Cohen's choppily edited horror film has bouts of incoherence but gets points for depicting big city grime in a way only a low-budget 70s film can, and some of the off-kilter scenes pay off. The story, never on firm ground to begin with, eventually becomes so silly that you chuckle at its sheer outlandishness. For some strange reason, the movie has a cult following.

One of the strangest genre films ever made. The film features terrific Gotham location lensing, from Little Italy to Harlem. One standout sequence sees a uniformed cop -- a young, pre-"Taxi" Andy Kaufman in a one-line ("God told me to!") cameo -- go berserk during the St. Patrick's Day Parade (which Cohen lensed sans permits).

Okay Movie

Starts out intriguing and involving--but gets pretty murky toward the end. Good performances by all.

Another strange peice from Cohen that is very hard to pin down, genrewise. Well worth seeking out for fans of the director.

My recollection is that the opening sequences were effective, but that it turned into a bit of a mess.