Stay_away_from_the_Metropol I am 33 years old and I think this is the first time in my life that I have ever watched a movie twice in a row on the same night. As I watched the film for the first time, each scene had me thrown off and confused, but fully intrigued. The movie continuously stepped into territory I could never have expected it to, once past the first 20 minutes. I had a hard time keeping up with how each of the characters were relevant to what was happening, and often to what was happening in general, but never to the film's error - the progression of the plot is just that far out there that it's a lot for anyone to take in the first time. I knew immediately as I reached the second half of the movie that I would need to give it another viewing. Everything about this movie is...mystical - what begins as a very simple reality-based concept blossoms into an eerie flower so bonkers it must be experienced to be explained.I expected this to play like most of Cohen's movies I've seen: a rather serious concept but full of laughs induced by witty satire, but this movie is different...there's not much to laugh about here! What it does offer is seriously ambitious, daring filmmaking. It's a slow-creeping disease that you'll want to get. The film eventually offers some visually stylistic choices that I feel are unlike anything else I have ever seen. I'm largely a fan of the cast as it is very versatile and unique. Most every actor in the film has the ability to take the absurd and keep it anchored in the realm of believability for the viewer. Psychologically, the movie has so many layers - there are so many different elements to think about!Looking at the movie as a whole, the ONLY movie that I could say it is even REMOTELY similar to in any way is Nicolas Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW from 1973, another film I am a huge fan of. Mix in elements of early Cronenberg, at times Dario Argento's "Mother trilogy", and all the elements that make Larry Cohen films his own - and you start to get a loose idea of what kind of film you are dealing with here.It's completely one of a kind, completely insane, and after watching this and Bone (his debut film from 1972) for the first time I am officially ushering Larry Cohen into my personal category of the great film directors of our time. I grew up loving b-horror masterpiece THE STUFF (1985) but had no idea what else his catalogue would have to offer! I am so excited to explore the rest! Black Caeser, It's Alive, Q, etc...

Scott LeBrun "God Told Me To" is a typically offbeat and individualistic effort from the legendary independent filmmaker Larry Cohen. While its screenplay (by Cohen himself) is ultimately rather muddled, it's still utterly fascinating in its own loopy way. Tony Lo Bianco ("The Honeymoon Killers", "The French Connection") stars as Peter J. Nicholas, a NYPD detective who's also a repressed Catholic. Peter is on the case(s) of ordinary NYC citizens who are all of a sudden going insane and going on violent murder sprees. And they all end up saying the same thing: "God Told Me To". In his ensuing investigation, Peter discovers the existence of an extremely strange, Messiah type character named Bernard Phillips (the late, great screen heavy Richard Lynch), and ultimately the fact that his own story isn't far removed from Phillips's own.This may not be an entirely successful film, but give Cohen credit for being so ambitious. He incorporates religion, UFO abductions, and police thrillers into a highly provocative mixture. He populates the cast with some top notch players: Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, Sylvia Sidney, Sam Levene, and Mike Kellin, with a role for his longtime collaborator, actor James Dixon. It's particularly fun to see the memorably quirky comedian Andy Kaufman in a straight role, as a uniformed officer who becomes unhinged at the St. Patrick's Day parade. Lo Bianco is remarkably sincere and effective in a role originally intended for Robert Forster. Lynch is spooky in a role confined to two major scenes, and these scenes are extremely atmospheric.The camera work is excellent (especially those overhead shots), and Frank Cordell supplies a wonderfully ominous music score. Cordell was brought in to replace Bernard Herrmann, who died after seeing a cut of the film without music; the film is dedicated to Herrmann.Those people who think they've seen everything are advised to give "God Told Me To" a try. Once it's over, its effect is not something one can easily shake.Eight out of 10.

Theo Robertson One morning a sniper opens fore on pedestrians in New York City . Detective Peter Nicholas talks to the sniper who tells Nicholas that God told him to carry out the murders before he jumps to his death . Later on Nicholas receives a phonecall from someone saying that they're going to kill five people and that God has told them to do it There's something intriguing about this premise . People go on killing sprees in New York and the common denominator is that they've all been sent on a mission by God . I spent the early half of the film rubbing my chin wondering how writer/director Larry Cohen would reveal how a bunch of strangers with nothing in common would be connected in to going on an ecclesiastical mission of murder and mayhem . When it is revealed as to why people are doing this it's not exactly a cheat but it's not something this audience member expected or could take entirely seriously Apart from the denouement there's a bit of the problem with the pacing . It gets off to a great start by being incredibly mean as innocent passer-bys are shot down by a mad sniper similar to the Peter Bogdanovich film TARGETS . Shortly after we see a massacre at a NYC Irish parade which is good news if you know how the provisional IRA got its funding in those days , but then the film slows down greatly and we get a large number of scenes composed of characters talking . That's the problem with this slightly bonkers film in that it's a bit too talkative to be considered a forgotten classic

lastliberal If you like horror, you know Larry Cohen (It's Alive, It Lives Again, Maniac Cop (I, II, & III) It's Alive III). But he is a prolific writer, director and producer who also did Black Caesar, Return of the Seven, and one of my favs from early TV, "Branded." Now, here he is with Tony Lo Bianco & Sandy Dennis, and the film debut of Andy Kaufman.The film is shot in a documentary style to make us believe that it is real. Lo Bianco is a police Lieutenant trying to solve apparently random killings. They do all have one thing in common. The killers all say, "God told me to." It's not and easy film. It seems to jump around, and I could never figure what Sandy Dennis was doing.It's a cult film about a cult, and it gets pretty weird at times. Thankfully, there's a naked chick running around to keep your attention.