From Larry Cohen, who brought us It's Alive and what my friend describes as "the best blaxploitation movie ever," Black Ceasar, comes God Told Me To, one of the strangest and most compelling horror/sci-fi movies I know of.
The movie begins with a beautiful and creepy credits sequence showing these things floating through liquid. It reminded me a bit of the beautiful but equally inexplicable credits sequence from eXistenZ. Then we quickly move on to an average day in 70s Manhattan, where a sniper suddenly begins taking out random people on the sidewalk. This is an awesome scene, which gains a lot of resonance from recent events, creating a very creepy and surreal scene that one (who lives in Manhattan) could very easily imagine happening. Anyway, Peter, our hero, climbs up the water tower where the sniper is, receiving extensive ass coverage on the way, and tries to talk him down. The guy tells him that "God told him to" kill the people, then tosses himself to the ground. And we're off! Peter is played by Tony Lo Bianco, the hot hot hot protagonist from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Honeymoon Killers. And, as he was supposed to be smokin' hot in that movie, in this movie he is also treated as somewhat of a sex object, which is no problem for me. Why can't I date a hot Italian detective who lounges around the house in sheer pants with white bikini briefs underneath? Anyway, soon the plot point start getting piled on. Peter is super religious, it's apparently like an addiction with him. He's dating this woman who inexplicably wears these ludicrous glasses at all times (even in bed), and has a wife who is, shall we say, a bit dour. The police station where he works is littered with hot daddies. There are more inexplicable murders, and the killers all say "God told me to" before dying.
One of these sequences takes place during the St. Patrick's day parade, where we get extensive coverage of the hot hot cops (back when cops had mustaches and weren't all burgeoning metrosexuals). One of the cops freaks out and begins shooting. The thing is, this cop is played by ANDY KAUFMAN. You barely notice it, but it's just one of the interesting factoids about this movie. Another, that we learn from the trivia section, is that what we're watching is actual footage from an actual parade, shot on the sly by Cohen, who told the police that he was shooting a documentary. That means that all the hot cops are actual hot cops. Ahh, better days.
As it all goes on it starts getting stranger and stranger. I'm going to stop, because if you're going to watch the movie (which you should), it's good to be surprised by where this all I headed.
-- Hey, check out Cinema de Merde, my website devoted to bad and cheesy movies. You can get the url from my email address above...
The movie begins with a beautiful and creepy credits sequence showing these things floating through liquid. It reminded me a bit of the beautiful but equally inexplicable credits sequence from eXistenZ. Then we quickly move on to an average day in 70s Manhattan, where a sniper suddenly begins taking out random people on the sidewalk. This is an awesome scene, which gains a lot of resonance from recent events, creating a very creepy and surreal scene that one (who lives in Manhattan) could very easily imagine happening. Anyway, Peter, our hero, climbs up the water tower where the sniper is, receiving extensive ass coverage on the way, and tries to talk him down. The guy tells him that "God told him to" kill the people, then tosses himself to the ground. And we're off! Peter is played by Tony Lo Bianco, the hot hot hot protagonist from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Honeymoon Killers. And, as he was supposed to be smokin' hot in that movie, in this movie he is also treated as somewhat of a sex object, which is no problem for me. Why can't I date a hot Italian detective who lounges around the house in sheer pants with white bikini briefs underneath? Anyway, soon the plot point start getting piled on. Peter is super religious, it's apparently like an addiction with him. He's dating this woman who inexplicably wears these ludicrous glasses at all times (even in bed), and has a wife who is, shall we say, a bit dour. The police station where he works is littered with hot daddies. There are more inexplicable murders, and the killers all say "God told me to" before dying.
One of these sequences takes place during the St. Patrick's day parade, where we get extensive coverage of the hot hot cops (back when cops had mustaches and weren't all burgeoning metrosexuals). One of the cops freaks out and begins shooting. The thing is, this cop is played by ANDY KAUFMAN. You barely notice it, but it's just one of the interesting factoids about this movie. Another, that we learn from the trivia section, is that what we're watching is actual footage from an actual parade, shot on the sly by Cohen, who told the police that he was shooting a documentary. That means that all the hot cops are actual hot cops. Ahh, better days.
As it all goes on it starts getting stranger and stranger. I'm going to stop, because if you're going to watch the movie (which you should), it's good to be surprised by where this all I headed.
-- Hey, check out Cinema de Merde, my website devoted to bad and cheesy movies. You can get the url from my email address above...