A film that has long been a major omission in my journey through cinema, considering how much praise I have seen heaped upon it over the years, God Told Me To is, as I am sure you are already aware, another excellent film from writer-director Larry Cohen. Sometimes I might use a movie review to highlight some other work from people involved, either behind the camera or in front of it, and to contextualise different stages of their career, but Cohen is someone that I just encourage everyone to check out for themselves. His ideas were often brilliant, and his creativity and daring helped elevate his material into genuinely great movies that were able to overcome fairly limited budgets.
Things begin here with a man sniping random people. He will kill others and then kill himself. Before he completes that last task, however, he explains himself to Detective Peter J. Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) by saying “god told me to.” More people start to commit random murders, and they often offer the same explanation, which leads Detective Nicholas down a strange rabbit hole that has him encountering the enigmatic Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch), as well as his own past.
Considering the many ways in which God Told Me To could have gone, the film that we ended up getting is one of the most brilliantly bonkers ‘70s American horror movies you will ever see. And I implore people not to leave it as long as I did to get around to this. I watched this film a few days ago and am still processing various moments, plot points that now feel like a fever dream. Whether it’s Andy Kaufman appearing as a killer in the middle of the St. Patrick’s Day parade, tales of alien abduction and virgin births, or the many moments that somehow retain a small ounce of ambiguity, despite what viewers are told and shown about the power of the figure at the heart of the film, God Told Me To is many different things, but dull is not one of them.
Lo Bianco is very good in the lead role, a very typical New York cop who ends up on a most extraordinary journey. It helps that he is cast in front of many familiar faces making up groups of his colleagues and peers, all adding that grounded realism that Cohen often used to underpin even his most fanciful stories. Lynch is as strange and riveting as usual (and so good in this kind of role, which he played on a few different occasions), and the scenes between him and Lo Bianco have enough intrigue and energy to distract from elements that would seem more preposterous if not handled by actors committed to playing the whole thing straight. Deborah Raffin and Sandy Dennis both do well in their small roles, and both Sylvia Sidney and Jo Flores Chase portray women who may have greatly influenced the lives of the two main characters.
Maybe not a film I would recommend to people looking to check out their first film from Cohen, thanks to a potent mix of heady ideas that may leave unprepared viewers feeling a bit blindsided by the whole experience, this is definitely one that everyone should get to once they have dipped their toes into other highlights from his filmography. It’s a crudely-assembled masterpiece, underlining how great Cohen was at playing to the strength of his writing, and I could happily sit down and rewatch it right now.
9/10
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