Release Date: July 19, 2022
Format: 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Company: Blue Underground

Synopsis:
A rooftop sniper guns down 14 pedestrians on the streets of New York City. A mild-mannered dad takes a shotgun and blows away his wife and children. A cop goes on a sudden shooting spree at the St. Patrick's Day Parade. And each of these unlikely killers makes the same dying confession: "God told me to."

Now a repressed Catholic NYPD detective must uncover a netherworld of deranged faith, alien insemination and his own unholy connection to a homicidal messiah with a perverse plan for the soul of mankind. This is the critically acclaimed cult classic written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen that remains one of the most disturbing and though-provoking horror films of our time: God Told Me To.

Review:
I am a longtime Larry Cohen fan. Whether it’s his ability to subvert societal niceties and norms through a seemingly endless, plethora of phenomenal, relevant ideas, his run and gun, guerilla style filmmaking, that looks and feels like nothing else, the eclectic and highly talented casts he works with, or just the fact he shoots seedy and scattershot 70s and 80s New York City better than anyone, Cohen is a true, genre original.

Almost nowhere more so than with God Told Me To. Coming off the back of some early, big exploitation hits like Black Caesar and It’s Alive, God Told Me To starts Larry Cohen’s run of independently and self produced, written and directed films that he would, mostly, make in his home town of New York City.

To try and describe the film, overall, is a fools errand but here we go - It’s initially got the format, almost, of a slasher film (except with guns replacing knives), with the detective-whodunnit undertones that many of the best slashers have, steeped in Catholic guilt and with the gnawing question being “Well if God told them to do it, who is God? or who do these crazies think is God and why? What purpose would it serve for God to just be killing random people?”. Add to that aliens, corporate conspiracy, film noir, a documentary, handheld style that’s way ahead of its time, a St. Patrick’s Day parade shoot out - featuring outsider, comic genius, Andy Kaufman - that needs to be seen to be believed, an androgynous demon/angel played by genre stalwart Richard Lynch, with a vagina on the side of his chest, featuring a shed load of cool, older, character actors and former Hollywood heavyweights doing sterling work, all somewhat inspired by the story of Superman and you are scratching joyously at the surface of yet another mind-bending Larry Cohen production.

The movie feels like you could take any part of it and make it into its own, whole movie, such is the fertile nature of each concept Cohen is playing with - like somehow there are 14 films and ideas all jostling together, amounting to something much more than just the sum of its parts.

Everything works so well together. The dynamic, realistic, performances, the incredible, brooding yet ethereal and, often, eerie score, the cinematography - especially when Cohen stops moving the camera for the moment and allows it to linger on something as large and bright as the St Patrick’s Day parade or as small, shadowy and evocative as a stairwell in a rundown, ancient apartment building, the driving mystery that throws up as many questions as it answers and the special effects - at once gloriously cheesy and throwback, like a 1950s sci-fi matinee and at other times skin crawling, Cronenbergian body horror.

Larry Cohen doesn’t seem to be interested in a satirical attack on religion either, but rather, simply, a very human take on belief and faith and what it can make us do or how it can make us act. Also the places where science, science fiction and religion might intersect. Cohen is a storyteller, one of the best, and so he only seems interested in exploring the stories that science, religion, myths and more might provide.

While, maybe, not as overly entertaining or as video rental friendly as later films like Q: the Winged Serpent or The Stuff , God Told Me To is the one I would urge you to see if you’re a casual fan of 1970s New York cinema but want to see something that will truly twist your perceptions of the world and moviemaking.

4K UltraHD/Blu-Ray review:
It goes without saying that Blue Underground releases, look and sound fantastic and God Told Me To is no exception. It looked great on Blu-Ray previously, as well. On a personal side note, not exclusively about this disc, but while I recently invested in a near-the-top-of-the-line Samsung 4K TV and already have a good LG 4K disc player, I am skeptical at the real difference to the eye that I can see between 4K and Blu. When both are mastered correctly and played on great equipment, I defy the average film viewer to really tell the difference. If you don’t own the film yet, then, obviously buy the 4K today but is it worth upgrading if you already have the Blu? That’s entirely down to personal preference and finances (if I am brutally honest).

As far as the sound goes, I listened through my new surround sound system to the Dolby Atmos track and it sounded excellent, with good levels, a nice bass rumble during the frightening and action sequences and left plenty of room in the mix for that delicious score to really breathe.

The extras are, as to be expected, wonderful but I can highly recommend the commentary with Larry Cohen and owner of Blue Underground, friend of and frequent collaborator with Larry, Bill Lustig. The two of them are consummate storytellers and Lustig knows just when to nudge Cohen to get him regaling the audience with another gem of an anecdote.

I did not, full disclosure, listen to the new commentary track with the film historians but having interviewed Steve Mitchell (and Larry for that matter) and frequently enjoyed his “King Cohen” documentary on the filmmaker, then I am sure it is well worth a listen and I will be doing that soon.

The best of the featurettes is the interview with Tony Lo Bianco, while the Cohen Q&As are great and worth a look, some stories are naturally repeated between the commentary and these extras.

EXTRAS:

• Audio Commentary #1 with Writer/Producer/Director Larry Cohen

• NEW! Audio Commentary #2 with Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Troy Howarth

• Heaven & Hell On Earth - Interview with Star Tony Lo Bianco

• Bloody Good Times - Interview with Special Effects Artist Steve Neill

• God Told Me To Bone - New Beverly Q&A with Larry Cohen

• Lincoln Center Q&A with Larry Cohen

• Theatrical Trailers

• TV Spots

• Poster & Still Gallery

OTHER DETAILS:

• All regions

• 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray

• 1976

• Run Time: 90 min

• Ultra HD Blu-ray (2160p) and HD Blu-ray (1080p) Widescreen 1.85:1 feature presentations

• Audio: Dolby Atmos (English); 5.1 DTS-HD (English); 1.0 DTS-HD (English); French (Dolby Digital 2.0)

• Subtitles: English SDH, Francais, Espanol