King Cohen

Summary

I am a sucker for documentaries on directors. I love to learn more about the filmmakers that create the films I love and their personalities. I recently watched Larry Cohen’s film The Stuff and I enjoyed the amount of originality the film displayed. Larry Cohen sadly passed away in 2019, but luckily Steve Mitchell had crafted a very entertaining documentary on the filmmaker and his career in 2017.  The film is a fitting love letter to a truly fascinating and creative man.

Larry Cohen grew up in Manhattan and was absolutely enamored with film. He started out as a borscht belt comedian and then he decided to start writing for television shows. Incredibly, at the age of seventeen he began having his ideas adapted for the small screen. He proceeded to create numerous shows – Branded, The Invaders, Coronet Blue, and more. Larry was an idea man. When he realized that it would be more satisfying to completely control his projects he found a way to write, direct, and produce his own films including Black Caesar, Hell up in Harlem, Q:The Winged Serpent, It’s Alive!, The Stuff, God Told Me To, and many more. What makes this story even more incredible is HOW he made these films. Larry was a true guerrilla filmmaker and was flying under the radar making his films without permits and stealing shots and scenes all over New York and Los Angeles. The stories are honestly incredible and it is amazing what he was able to accomplish without any permission. 

The documentary features interviews with friends, cast members, fans, and the story of his life is largely told by Larry Himself. Interviewees include: Joe Dante, Michael Moriarty, Martin Scorsese, Eric Roberts, Traci Lords, Eric Bogosian, Jon Burlingame, Barbara Carrera, Robert Forster, Mick Garris, John Landis, Fred Williamson, Yaphet Kotto, and many more. Both of Cohen’s wives Cynthia Costas-Cohen and Janelle Webb reflect on his life as well. It says a lot about what a warm person he was when his first wife was so happy to discuss memories from his career over the course of their twenty three year marriage. 

I have only seen a couple of Larry Cohen’s projects, but that did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying the documentary King Cohen. I honestly can’t recommend the movie highly enough for fans of the director and newcomers alike. 

Video

La-La Land have given King Cohen a proper release on Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Like most documentaries the footage varies in quality, but all of the interviews for the film were shot digitally and look crisp. Clips from numerous projects from Larry’s career are used. I thought that it looked good overall.

Audio

King Cohen features a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track that benefits the score by Joe Kraemer. The film itself is a documentary so the focus is on the talking heads and the audio from the interviews is clear. Everything sounded good to my ears.

Supplements:

• An Audience With the King – over forty five minutes of additional stories told by Larry Cohen. Any one of these could have made it into the film. Totally worth your time.
• More Stories from the King’s Court – Many of the interviewees from the film share some additional stories from working with Larry.
• Monsters on the Table – a brief discussion of some props.
• Hello, World – some introductions by Larry Cohen for film festival screenings.
• Theatrical Trailer

A Soundtrack CD of Joe Kraemer’s score is also included.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

King Cohen is a fascinating documentary on Larry Cohen. It is also very funny and entertaining. Cohen lived an incredible life and looking at his work from a young age to old with stories told by the director himself and his close friends and crew is an enjoyable experience. I highly recommend checking this film out. The Blu-ray features good technical specs and great special features. A soundtrack CD of Joe Kraemer’s score is included.