Review by Peter Syslo
GOD TOLD ME TO (1976) is another DVD release from the company that specializes in B-movies, Cheezy Flicks (www.cheezyflicks.com). As with their other DVDs, this one has excellent AV quality and it features film trailers and commercial spots, for a nostalgic drive-in type of experience. I admit that I am quickly becoming a “bad movie” junkie; there is just something irresistible about finding one of these gems and popping it into my DVD player. GOD TOLD ME TO is one of those gems and it satisfies B-movie viewing urges, on several levels. I did feel that the film started to unravel a bit in the second half but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the film.
GOD TOLD ME TO is written and directed by Larry Cohen, who has done a lot of writing and directing over the years. The film stars Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, and…Andy Kaufman. Also, it features nice musical scoring by Frank Cordell.
The film is a little complicated but it is basically about a religious NYC Police Detective (Lo Bianco) who investigates several occurrences of ordinary people just “snapping” and going on killing sprees. When he asks why each person committed the crime, each winds up saying “God told me to”. His first encounter is with a sniper and the Detective finds that the violence just snowballs, from that point. A bizarre twist occurs when the police are tipped off (by an informant) about an officer (Kaufman) who is going to start killing people at the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Even more of a bizarre twist is the fact that the detective notices a connection between all of the people who “snapped” – they all were observed talking with a long-haired Christ-like guy. Fearing that God may really be playing a role in the crimes, the detective decides to find this guy. Through further digging, he learns that the Christ-like guy was the product of a virgin birth. From this point on, the film takes a sharp detour as the detective learns more about the virgin birth, about the circumstances of his mother, and about his role in the matters of God, Earth, and mankind.
GOD TOLD ME TO was a very interesting idea. All of the elements of the film did fit together, in a bizarre manner, but things didn’t seem to be totally resolved, in the end. For me, the first half of the film – with the normal people “flipping out”, going on killing sprees - was excellent. Actually, I loved the film up until the point where the question of the virgin births came into play. I don’t want to give away the truth behind it, but I thought that the explanation took a little away from the initial half of the film. Despite that, I really enjoyed the religious nature of the picture and the scenes with the detective and the Christ-like guy are darkly enticing. Basically, if the film stuck more to the first storyline, with the religious slant, and steered away from the virgin birth explanation (and some of the vice-squad drama) it would have been more of an “airtight” thriller.
Concerning other elements of the film, I though that the acting was pretty good – in fact, it is very good for a B-type movie. Lo Bianco, as the detective, was very convincing and he had an intense, brooding look about him. All of the supporting cast were pretty good, as well, and they added some nice texture to the film – notably, Raffin as the detective's girlfriend and Dennis as his ex-wife. Also, all of the actors who played the spree killers were excellent – especially the guy who killed his wife and son. He spoke in a controlled, soft-spoken manner which was reminiscent of real-life serial killers. Apart from the acting, the cinematography was excellent, conveying the grittiness of the NYC streets and contrasting it with the pious, domineering look of the religious settings. The set where the Christ-like guy resided (in kind of a boiler room) was very creepy and the lighting techniques used were awesome. He had sort of an angelic glow about him, where his face was obscured (until the end) – very effective scenes which reminded me of the end of CARRIE, where the mother is posed Christ-like while the house is collapsing. Overall, the effects were very good; the religious atmosphere was chilling, there was a fair amount of blood, and the shooting sprees looked very realistic.
Gnawing through the flesh: GOD TOLD ME TO was a very enjoyable and surreal film. Honestly, I liked the first half of the film more than the second, but there are common threads which link both halves together. Speaking of the film content, just be forewarned that the shooting sprees are very realistic; if you are upset by things like that, especially in light of recent, real-life shootings it may disturb you a bit. But, if you are okay with that, then the film is an interesting B-movie journey. The best parts for me were the people turning to killing sprees while under the religious influence. The twisted religious content was awesome, dark, creepy and something that is right up my alley. I give GOD TOLD ME TO a 7/10.