God Told Me To

Summary

“The Irish have waited all year for this day. You are not going to ruin it for them.”

Blue Underground is a film distribution label that has been around since 2002. They have recently been performing astonishing 4K upgrades of some of their best loved titles in their library. Some of the better known titles that have received the 4K treatment include Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, The House by the Cemetery, Gary Sherman’s incredible Dead and Buried, and William Lustig’s films Maniac, Vigilante, Maniac Cop 2 and Maniac Cop 3. The quality control on these recent 4K releases has been uniformly excellent. I was excited to see that the label would be updating the Larry Cohen film God Told Me To for the UHD format, and when my copy arrived I sat down to check the film out.

I think it is worth mentioning before I start this review that Larry Cohen was a one-of-a-kind writer and director. He made many of his films on a small budget that he would stretch by consistently “stealing shots” and using guerilla filmmaking tactics to add production value to his films. Larry largely worked independently on his projects to avoid any type of creative interference. This means that what you see is essentially what you were intended to see. If a movie succeeds or fails from Larry, it was squarely on his shoulders. I would not say that I am an avid fan of Larry Cohen, largely because I am still slowly taking in films that he wrote or directed. I have enjoyed everything of his that I have seen thus far. I really enjoyed his satirical horror film The Stuff, and all three Maniac Cop films that he wrote are basically catnip for me. I found all three to be very entertaining. I began watching Larry’s films after watching the excellent documentary King Cohen about Larry’s life and career. If you have not seen the film, I can not recommend it highly enough. The new audio commentary exclusive to this set features the director of King Cohen, Steve Mitchell, in a discussion with one of my favorite film historians Troy Howarth. This track is definitely worth your time and a welcome addition.

As the film begins, from a water tower high above the streets of New York a sniper with a telescopic rifle kills more than a dozen people. When policeman Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) climbs the tower to talk to the assailant, the rifleman says his name is Harold Gorman. When asked why he killed all those people, Harold says “God told me to,” and then he leaps from the tower to his death. Peter’s substitute teacher girlfriend Casey Forster (Deborah Raffin) wakes Peter the next morning. Peter is confounded by the accuracy of Harold’s shots the day before. Peter goes home to his estranged wife Martha (Sandy Dennis) who has not granted him a divorce. In their talk she mentions that Peter wants to keep things the way they are because of his devout Catholic faith. There seems to be some truth to what she says, because Peter sneaks off to take mass most days. Peter is called in to interview a murderer at a hospital. The man had apparently had begun stabbing folks at the supermarket. When asked why he did so, the man says “God told me to,” before passing away. The police receive a tip that there will be a shooting at the St. Patrick’s Day parade and that the shooting will claim five more lives. The perpetrator will be in a police uniform. Peter warns the Deputy Commissioner (Mike Kellin) that the parade should be delayed, but he is shrugged off. Five people are killed. Once again, the shooter says that God told him to. Peter begins to investigate if these perpetrators all had spoken to someone before committing their killing sprees. This investigation takes Peter in some wild directions that I don’t want to spoil.

Larry Cohen will definitely go down in history as one of the bravest and most brazen guerrilla directors. God Told Me To features two of the most impressive guerrilla filmed sequences that I have seen – a sniper sequence which was filmed essentially live on the streets of New York, and another sequence involving the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in which Andy Kaufman was placed in a police uniform alongside actual officers walking in the parade. The fact that Larry Cohen managed to steal these shots is honestly incredible. It could never happen today. His films serve as a time capsule to a different time when low budget filmmakers with street smarts could craft films on the streets of major cities while avoiding permits at every turn. Larry always managed to get as much production value onto the celluloid as he could within his limited budgets.

God Told Me To is definitely an interesting and unique film. Cohen filmed the picture in a handheld documentary style fashion that was not prevalent at the time. The religious murders that start off the film feel very realistic. Killing sprees have become so normalized in our country that the film still feels chillingly effective during the first half of the picture. The second half of the picture is where Larry really lets his freak flag fly as he takes the film in some truly bizarre directions. The script is enjoyable, and like all of Cohen’s films, there is a strange sense of humor that shows itself in some of the dialogue of the characters. The cinematography was done by frequent collaborator Paul Glickman and he makes some striking choices. For example, the film features some really interesting fisheye lensed scenes in some interior shots, especially a memorable attack sequence in a stairway.

The acting in the film is for the most part pretty good. Tony Lo Bianco is a good leading man in the role of Peter. He handles the role well, which I am sure at times was difficult given some of the intricacies of the role. Character actor Mike Kellen, who I loved in Sleepaway Camp, has a small but memorable role as the Deputy Commissioner. Deborah Raffin and Sandy Dennis are both well cast in their roles as Peter’s lovers. Richard Lynch is as bizarre as possible in his role, which absolutely works. Andy Kaufman is also fun to see in his small cameo.

Overall – God Told Me To ranks as one of Larry Cohen’s better films that I have seen. It’s an at times chilling film which becomes more interesting and bizarre as it plays out. Recommended!

Video

Blue Underground had released an earlier version of this film a few years ago on Blu-ray, but I did not purchase that release, so I will only be able to talk about the technical specs of their new 4K release. The new release looks great. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 aspect ratio. There is a fine level of grain over the film that is very well resolved. The HDR is used effectively to bring to life flashes of color and the occasional lens flare. The handheld style cinematography by Paul Glickman looks very nice on the 4K format. Blue Underground continues to impress with their reference quality video and audio presentations. Fans will be very pleased.

Audio

Blue Underground have provided numerous audio options including Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA 5.1, and DTS HD-MA 2.0 tracks and a French DTS HD-MA Mono track for good measure for the film. I watched the film with the Atmos track and thought it sounded wonderful. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The score by Frank Cordell, which was inspired by the work of Bernard Herrmann, is well composed. I have no complaints at all.

Supplements:

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary with Larry Cohen – this audio commentary with the late great Larry Cohen initially appeared on Blue Underground’s DVD release.
• Commentary with Troy Howarth and Steve Mitchell – Steve Mitchell, the filmmaker behind the excellent documentary King Cohen, discusses Larry Cohen’s filmmaking process and God Told Me To with notable film scholar Troy Howarth. This is a new track exclusive to this release and well worth your time.
• God Told Me To Advertising
• Demon Advertising

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary with Larry Cohen – this audio commentary with the late great Larry Cohen initially appeared on Blue Underground’s DVD release.
• Commentary with Troy Howarth and Steve Mitchell – Steve Mitchell, the filmmaker behind the excellent documentary King Cohen, discusses Larry Cohen’s filmmaking process and God Told Me To with notable film scholar Troy Howarth. This is a new track exclusive to this release and well worth your time.
• God Told Me To Advertising
• Demon Advertising
• Featurettes –
  1. Heaven & Hell On Earth: Interview with Star Tony Lo Bianco – Tony Lo Bianco discusses working on the film with Larry and his one hesitation with the film regarding a prosthetic worn by Richard Lynch. A good interview.
  2. Bloody Good Times: Interview with Special Effects Artist Steve Neill – special effects artist Steve Neill discusses his working relationship with Larry Cohen and the effects work performed in God Told Me To.
  3. God Told Me To Bone: New Beverly Q&A with Larry Cohen
  4. Lincoln Center Q&A with Larry Cohen
• Poster and Still Gallery

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4.25/5

God Told Me To is a unique and memorable film by the inimitable guerrilla filmmaker Larry Cohen. In my estimation, this is one of Cohen’s better efforts. I am still working my way through his filmography, but I really enjoyed this picture. The film starts off with some chillingly realistic scenes of violence and spirals into something else entirely. It is a picture that I would definitely enjoy discussing with another film lover, because it is really out there. Blue Underground has once again shown their abilities when restoring films in 4K UHD, and the film looks and sounds fantastic. The prior supplements from earlier releases are included along with an excellent new audio commentary with film scholar Troy Howarth and Steve Mitchell, the filmmaker behind the fantastic documentary King Cohen. Fans of Larry Cohen, guerrilla filmmaking, and bizarre police procedurals will surely want to add this release to their collection.