God Told Me To (1976)
…………………………………………………
God Told Me To Movie Review
God Told Me To is a 1976 science fiction horror film directed by Larry Cohen. It’s a cult movie from the seventies, but one that did not appeal to me in the slightest.
………………………………………………….
“People who are too goddamned religious
make a lot of trouble for everybody“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
Various residents of NYC perpetrate murders which do not seem to have any motive. A detective then investigates these cases and witnesses the killers claiming that a divine force told them to do so. This premise sounded super interesting to me, but the execution was so mediocre that I did not care for the movie at all. It had nothing to say about religion despite a promise to do so.
It also incorporated a twist that firmly put it within the science fiction genre, but it came way too late in the game and it, thus, wasn’t effective. I did like some of the crazy imagery on display in this very odd and unique film, but it wasn’t enough to save it from the feeling of utter boredom and befuddlement.
God Told Me To is thoroughly confusing from beginning to end. It consists of scenes that make no sense and only in the final third does the film reach some sort of explanation. But the mystery detective elements were so forgettable that the movie did not suffice even on that front.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
The characterization is quite poor and the dialogue was just okay. This is my first time seeing a work of the director Larry Cohen and I am quite unimpressed. I find his directorial style to be rather cheap and uninteresting. Its blaxploitation overtones made it rather dated for today’s audiences.
God Told Me To has a very unique premise, but the movie’s execution of that strong premise was quite poor – the dialogue is weak, the characterization non-existent and the thematic depth thoroughly lacking in a very pedestrian script. It has some strong imagery, but otherwise it was thoroughly uninteresting and too confusing to watch.
My Rating – 2.5
Results
