Pick your favorite horror film directed by Larry Cohen. I only included movies that he directed. 1) The Ambulance (1990) 2) God Told Me To (1976) 3) It's Alive (1974) 4) It Lives Again (1978) 5) It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) 6) Masters of Horror episode: Pick Me Up (2006) 7) Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) 8) Return to Salem's Lot (1987) 9) The Stuff (1985) 10) Other
God Told Me To followed by Q and Return to Salem's Lot. Try as I might, I couldn't get into The Stuff or the It's Alive films.
It's Alive totally works for me. 1/2 b-movie, 1/2 70s social commentary. The boom mic under the table in Part 2 is awesome. Gold Told Me To was also very, very good.
Q: The Winged Serpent gets my vote and will definitely be included in my October horror marathon. I love It's Alive, God Told Me To, and The Stuff pretty much equally.
God Told Me To ... KILL!!! I've always loved the structure of that one the most out of his director portfolio. The Stuff and It's Alive would follow closely after.
I like most of his movies. My favorite horror film of his at the moment is RETURN TO SALEM'S LOT. I would have picked BONE but it isn't horror.
Too hard to choose. It always changes. My favorite used to be The Stuff until I saw Island of the Alive. Sometimes it's QtWS because of the amazing writing and fun aeriel camerawork. And the scenes where the serpent kills that black cop and the cops on the sky-scraper. Serves them right for not paying Michael Moriarty.
Cohen is pretty consistent with the quality of his movies. I enjoy a lot of his movies in other genres, especially Black Caesar and Hell Up In Harlem. Just saw Bone for the first time last year actually. Yaphet Kotto was great in that movie. I was going to include a more complete listing of Cohen's movies, but decided to keep it a horror based poll since it's October and he has done a lot in the horror genre.
I'm partial to Q. I'm aware that Larry Cohen is more well-known for his It's Alive trilogy in which the first installment is the popular vote. But my vote goes to Q, because despite its cheesy effects and exploitation subject matter, it really is a well-written and acted story, with tons of charm. Michael Moriarty is fantastic as the low-life, two-bit crook who tries to bank on his knowledge of the serpent as well as David Carradine as the intrigued, yet wise-ass detective. Great stuff! -UJ