God Told Me To

You cannot hate a film that uses Plymouth satellite's as cop cars just something iconic about them. There are a few featured as well as the Dodge version Coronet as taxis. This film was an interesting blend of Cop movie, Sc fi, Religious questioning and Schlock. All the acting was decent especially Sylvia Sidney and officer Peter Nicholas. It plays out like a made for tv movie and contains an interesting twist mid way. Look for Andy Kaufman playing a police officer in the St Patrick's Day parade. This feature was on a horror disc that purchased, I wouldn't have called it a horror but it is an interesting film.

Larry Cohen the New-York based director (Q-The Winged Serpent , Black Ceasar , Stuff) brings us this oddity. The title was changed to Demon after most television stations refused to run the trailer for the film. A deeply religious cop (Tony lo Bianco) is involved in the investigation of a series of seemingly unrelated sniper killings in the New York area. His investigations however only start when he tracks down a sniper and is given the answer "God Told Me Too" , thats about all I can say without ruining the film and giving away one of the most effective plot twists in years. Andy Kaufman (Latka in TAXI) turns up as a kill crazy policeman at a parade, with lots of other surprises along the way this little known gem is well worth the hunt if you can get a copy on video. And with we have the best of all excuses to watch it.."God Told Me Too"

Let me tell you, that if this was a movie that got done with a bigger budget to spend and some more well known names in it, this movie would had been absolutely considered to be a classic one within its genre.

You really probably beforehand don't expect much good to come from this movie. It's a '70's movie with the title "God Told Me To" and the main premise makes it sound as if this is your average typical exploitation flick about a killer on the loose. But you'll be surprised at what sudden turns this movie makes throughout. It actually starts to combine lots of different genre elements, such as horror, thriller but above all things also science-fiction. Here is mostly were the movie start to get interesting and surprising to watch. It's a real refreshingly original movie, that truly deserves some more attention and recognition.

But also simple fact about this movie remains is that it's a quite cheaply done one and you can really tell that. It's the sort of cheap '70's movie that for instance used different camera's, none of which were the same, so the movie its look changes throughout the movie a few times. The interior and exterior shots especially differ. It's cheapness can been seen back in basically about everything, such as also in the directing and acting and this is what mostly harms the movie.

But yet, once you really start to get into this movie, you'll start to forgive the movie for its cheap look and lesser moments. It simply has a great concept and a refreshing approach. This all should be good enough to still make you thoroughly enjoy watching this movie.

The movie can get quite messy and confusing to watch at times but it's hard to say if you can really blame the writer or director for this, since lots of '70's movies were basically just being that way. It also sort of adds to the style and atmosphere of this movie its unlikely and refreshing story and approach.

It's also fun to note that this movie features late comedian Andy Kaufman's first movie appearance. It's really about a 2 second part but it's fun to notice nevertheless.

A surprisingly good and refreshingly original movie.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I must have seen close to twenty movie written and/or directed by Larry Cohen ('Q', 'Black Caesar', 'Maniac Cop', 'It's Alive!', 'Best Seller', 'The Stuff', 'Uncle Sam',etc.etc.) and I have greatly enjoyed most of them, but 'God Told Me To' is without a doubt his best movie. It's an extraordinarily original picture, one of the best low budget horror movies of all time. Horror movie? Horror, mystery, science fiction, whatever you want to call it! Tony Lo Bianco plays a religious cop who is faced with a seemingly random series of murders committed by various people who, when asked why, simply say "God told me to". This is just the beginning of a very strange and fascinating story that will leave the viewer continually guessing! Lo Bianco was a last minute replacement for Robert Forster who was sacked after two days filming and a personality clash with Cohen. Lo Bianco gives a terrific performance, his best in my opinion after 'The Honeymoon Killers'. The movie features a strong supporting cast: Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, screen veterans Sylvia Sidney and Sam Levene, plus cult favourite Richard Lynch ('Scarecrow', 'Open Season', 'The Ninth Configuration'), and even the movie debut of the enigmatic comedian Andy Kaufman. 'God Told Me To' is one of the 1970s most underrated horror/exploitation movies. Any fan of the genre must, I repeat MUST, see it!

"God Told Me To" is in many ways Larry Cohen's best picture, which probably isn't saying all that much to people unaccustomed to the confines of schlock cinema. Viewers who never watch anything that doesn't play at the local Cineplex will look upon this picture with a sense of mounting dread over the low production values and haphazard plot lines. I, however, am the Queen of Bad Cinema, and my realm contains a round table where Sir Cohen sits with Lord Herschell Gordon Lewis, Baron William Castle, and Sir Roger Corman of New Concorde. I can take the offering that is "God Told Me To" and pronounce it good and godly. And I will, because Michael Moriarty appears nowhere in this film. Cohen seems to have a thing for the squirrelly actor of "Law & Order" fame, casting him in at least three of his major works--"The Stuff," "Q: The Winged Serpent," and "It's Alive." After anxiously looking around for Moriarty's name anywhere near this film and not seeing it, I settled in for what I hoped would become a wonderful experience.

Although far from perfect, "God Told Me To" is immensely entertaining. Did I mention I don't care much for Michael Moriarty? Here's a movie any B-movie fan can really sink his or her teeth into. Imagine New York City in the 1970s (I know, it's unpleasant, but do it anyway). The streets bustle with activity as people drive, walk, and ride their bikes to various destinations. Why, look there! Here comes a chap peddling along without a care in the world! Then we hear a shot ring out and the poor guy does a header into the pavement. Do angels ride bicycles? Anyway, more shots ring out and more people tumble to the pavement, presumably incapable of ever rising again. It looks like some guy channeling Charles Whitman is up on a wooden water tower playing target practice. Fortunately, tough cop Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) assumes the highly dangerous task of talking the hunter down. He fails spectacularly, but before he does the gunman tells Nicholas that "God told me to" murder all of these people. This cop will continue to hear this phrase in the coming days after a devoted father slaughters his family, after a police officer (Andy Kaufman!) goes off the deep end during a parade, and after a few other highly unpleasant incidents unfold in the Big Apple. In other words, what we see happening here is just a typical day in New York City. What's the big deal? Well, Larry Cohen isn't content to merely let his movie founder in the degradation of the typical police thriller genre. No sir! What starts out as a series of seemingly unconnected crimes turns out to be something so sinister that the human mind boggles while attempting to conceive of it. Turns out Nicholas is a highly devote Catholic with a wife (Sandy Dennis) and a young girlfriend (Deborah Raffin) who feels as though he's different from everyone else. The whole "god told me to" thing finds the detective discovering exactly why he never seemed to fit in. His investigation into the crimes turns up reports of an immaculate conception years before, a shadowy cult that worships some nut named Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch), and Mason Adams playing an obstetrician. Then things get really weird. Nicholas tracks down a woman who tells him a story he would rather not hear, complete with on screen flashbacks, about an alien abduction that took place years ago. Again, this type of stuff is par for the course in New York City, but you wouldn't know it by watching Detective Peter Nicholas's reaction. He races out of the building on a quest to track down the enigmatic Bernard Phillips, with good reason. The very future of the human race could well depend on our hero putting a stop to the supernatural shenanigans going on in his beloved city. Wow!

I'm not quite sure what to make of "God Told Me To." The film doesn't fit in any single cinematic genre, so I'm not sure it would appeal to fans of pure cop dramas, or pure science fiction, or pure apocalyptic films. You sort of need to transcend boundaries with this movie or you'll only end up liking chunks of it. I do think that Tony Lo Bianco did a wonderful job as the conflicted and tormented Detective Peter Nicholas. As proof of this assertion, I ask that you view closely the scene where he listens to the father talk about butchering his family. The rage slowly building in every fiber of Lo Bianco's being as he digests this string of spoken atrocities appears so genuine that I thought he was really going to deck that guy when he finally blows. So I guess you can say the acting isn't too bad. The special effects, on the other hand, ain't that great. You get a cheesy showdown between Phillips and Nicholas at the end involving a lot of camera shaking, collapsing walls, and flashing lights--hardly the stuff of big budget effects teams working with state of the art equipment. But ultimately, "God Told Me To" is entertaining because it's creepy and offbeat.

Cohen's films are seeing a big resurgence on DVD thanks in large part to Blue Underground. Included as extras on the disc are a commentary with Cohen, a poster and stills gallery, a trailer, a Cohen biography, and seven television spots. I learned by watching these extras that "God Told Me To" also went by the name of "Demon," which often means that the movie tanked under its original title so the distribution company slapped a new moniker on it in order to release it somewhere else. If you want to explore the Larry Cohen canon, this picture is a great place to start.