Written by Larry Cohen As the direct-to-DVD market proliferated in the ‘90s and into this century, it was only a matter of time before a Larry Cohen script was given the slapdash, bare bones treatment and dropped into the nearest bargain bin (of course, I am ignoring films like Uncle Sam that Cohen had a […]
Category Archives: Cohen Case Files
Written, Produced, and Directed by Larry Cohen Bone holds several distinctions in Larry Cohen’s filmography. It’s his first feature film as a director. It’s a straight social satire, eschewing many of the genre trappings on which Cohen often likes to hang his social commentaries. It’s also one of his few films where the female lead […]
Story by Larry Cohen There’s a subtext to Cellular that is inadvertent and generally more interesting than the actual movie. Even though the filmmakers weren’t trying to make a film that points out how quickly technology changes and becomes obsolete, the space of a few years has turned the film into just such a story. […]
Written, Produced, and Directed by Larry Cohen Q (aka Q: The Winged Serpent) hit theaters in 1982. But for me the film came along circa 1984-85. You see, that’s when the film was in heavy rotation on cable. I was a terribly impressionable ten year old, watching in shock and disgust by peeping through the […]
Screenplay by Larry Cohen Before he was a prolific spec screenwriter, he was a prolific independent filmmaker, and before he was a prolific independent filmmaker, Larry Cohen was a prolific television writer. In the ‘60s alone, he created four series and wrote episodes of thirteen other series, including such popular programs as The Defenders and […]
Based on the 1974 film written and directed by Larry Cohen, Screenplay co-written by Larry Cohen When I started this blog, I made a promise in the first post: I know for certain that two recurring items will make appearances: First, I plan to watch and write about all the films of the immensely talented […]
Written, Produced, and Directed by Larry Cohen Larry Cohen has the ability to take himself seriously at times. For most filmmakers who traffic in genre pictures and satire, this can be a recipe for disaster. In Cohen’s case, this led to arguably his two best films: God Told Me To and It’s Alive. Where God […]
Executive Produced, Written, and Directed by Larry Cohen Sometimes Larry Cohen’s penchant for genre films mixed with social satire leads him into situations where those elements fail to gel. Such is the case with The Stuff. But despite the fact that the film doesn’t fully work as a satisfying whole, it’s still very entertaining and well […]
Story by Larry Cohen The rules of the WGA can be rather arbitrary when assigning credit for a film that was worked on by multiple writers. This can lead to a writer who contributed heavily to what wound up on screen not receiving any credit on the finished product. More often, a writer who did […]
Written by Larry Cohen Considering Larry Cohen’s ability to coax strong performances out of his casts at the same time that he embraced the absurdity of his often ridiculous, lurid plots, it’s not a surprise that his scripts, when directed by others, would result in the occasional bad movie. That Sidney Lumet, one of the […]
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