GOD TOLD ME TO

Tony Lo Bianco

GOD TOLD ME TO (1976). Written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen.

In New York City a sniper crawls atop a water tower and starts picking off innocent pedestrians. Another man goes berserk with a knife. A uniformed cop (Andy Kaufman in a very early role) starts shooting people at the Irish parade. In each case the perpetrator says "God told me to" and then commits suicide. Detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) investigates the multitude of murders and discovers that one particular individual may link them all: Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch), a man whose mother (Sylvia Sidney of Death at Love House) was possibly taken aboard an extraterrestrial spaceship! Phillips is a hermaphrodite with strange mind control powers. Confronting the man, Nicholas realizes that he, too, may have an extraterrestrial origin. 

Richard Lynch as Phillips

God Told Me to has some interesting notions and a decidedly interesting cast: in addition to those named, we also have the ever-quirky Sandy Dennis as Nicholas' estranged wife; Deborah Raffin as his live-in girlfriend; Mike Kellin as the dyspeptic Deputy Commissioner; Sam Levene as businessman Everett Lukas; and John Heffernan as a man named Bramwell. Larry Cohen has assembled a great cast, but if only he had spent more time on his half-baked screenplay, which drops in some intriguing ideas but never develops them in any compelling fashion. This is especially a shame because the characterizations are well-delineated, Frankly the movie only works at all because of the score by Frank Cordell, which consistently imbues scenes with suspense and tension that would not have existed without it. (Ironically, the film is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Herrmann, who actually worked on one of Cohen's films, It's Alive.) Richard Lynch (of Miner's Massacre) probably has the most unusual role of his career. Tony Lo Bianco's performance is solid, but the script lets him down.

Verdict: A little too odd for its own good. **1/4. 

DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE

Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson

DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE (1976 telefilm). Director: E. W. Swackhamer.  

Joel Gregory Jr. (Robert Wagner) is the son of a man who was once the lover of the late movie star Lorna Love (Marianna Hill). Joel and his pregnant wife, Donna (Kate Jackson), move into the Love estate to work on a book about the great romance between Lorna and his father. Mysterious people run about the estate at night, and there is an attempt on Donna's life. Conan Carroll (John Carradine), who worked with Lorna and loathed her, is attacked and killed on the grounds, not far from a vault where Lorna's perfectly preserved corpse (!) is on display. Then Joel starts acting all weird ... 

Dorothy Lamour

Death at Love House sets up an intriguing situation but it's one of those movies where characterization and common sense are sacrificed so there can be inexplicable and unlikely plot twists. If anything, the denouement raises more questions than it answers. However, Wagner and Jackson give good performances, and along with Carradine we have appearances by Sylvia Sidney as a housekeeper, Joan Blondell as an obsessive aging fan, and Dorothy Lamour as Lorna's old rival in pictures. Marianna Hill proves no great actress in her brief scenes as Lorna Love. Wagner plays his father in sepia flashbacks. Laurence Rosenthal's score helps a bit. 

Verdict: You won't love this love house. **1/4.