God Told Me To (1976)

“IT WILL GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES FOREVER” [1]. New York police detective Peter Nicholas (Tony LoBianco) is investigating a series of killings in New with the only consistency between them is that they all say that the reason they did it was because “god told me to.”

This was essentially a precursor to the X-files series, with many of the same elements that appear in the show-alien abductions, religion, the cop that believes and won’t let go of a case, the superiors who don’t believe him, powerful elements, and unexpected and bizarre twists.

Written and directed by Larry Cohen, who is known for several other cult films including Bone, Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem, It’s Alive, and The Stuff. Cohen has been able to create a rich and complex world consisting of vivid characters, realistic dialogue and situations, a weird story, all in vibrant New York City locations. Cohen typically looks at social situations and dilemma’s affecting the characters, similar to the way that Alfred Hitchcock did [2]. The film borrows from Hitchcock in many ways, using motifs and recreating some scenes but using them in an unfamiliar way in order to explore new and unfamiliar territory [2].

All of the actors are great and very believable, even ones with very minor parts which is not typical for most low budget movies. LoBianco stands out in his lead performance. He has had a long career and is still an active actor, but this has to be one of his best performances. He also appeared in The French Connection, and the cult film The Honeymoon Killers. There are many great and interesting shots with rapid editing. The score is incredibly done and is reminiscent of old Hitchcock films, most notably Psycho. Bernard Hermann was supposed to score the film; he had done most of Hitchcock’s films, but died before completion of the film. Frank Cordell completed the score with some help from the notes that Hermann had left behind.

Andy Kaufman makes his first appearance in this film as the cop that goes on a shooting rampage at the parade. Kaufman is a comedian mostly known for his appearances on the early seasons of Saturday Night Live, and as Latka on the television show Taxi. TimeOut conducted a poll with various horror experts in the horror genre to vote for the top horror films; this included notable authors of the genre, directors, actors, and critics [3]. This film ended up being ranked 94^th on that list [3].

The film is notable for its early Kaufman appearance, excellent New York location, and unusual X-file like story. If you like the X-Files, or the horror genre, then you may enjoy this.

Works Cited

[1]	"IMDB," IMDB, 24 2 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075930/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1. [Accessed 24 2 2016].
[2]	T. Williams, Larry Cohen: The Radical Allegories of an Independent Filmmaker, rev. ed., Jefferson: McFarland & Company, inv, 2014.
[3]	"Timeout," Timeout, 14 4 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.timeout.com/london/film/best-horror-films. [Accessed 14 4 2016].