The Cohen Case Files: Bone (1972)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: Q [aka Q: The Winged Serpent] (1982)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: I Deal in Danger (1966)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: It’s Alive [Remake] (2008)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: It’s Alive (1974)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: The Stuff (1985)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: Scandalous (1984)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: Guilty as Sin (1993)

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 […]

The Cohen Case Files: Body Snatchers (1993)

Screen Story by Larry Cohen How many film adaptations of Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers are needed?  By the time Body Snatchers was released in 1993 (after sitting on the shelf for roughly two years), there had been two official adaptations and numerous films that had taken inspiration (ripped off) from Finney’s yarn about alien […]

The Cohen Case Files: Black Caesar (1973)

Written, Produced, and Directed by Larry Cohen Larry Cohen’s first excursion into the blaxploitation genre (unlike many people, I don’t consider 1972s Bone to be a blaxploitation film), Black Caesar is a solid morality tale with gangster film trappings.  If not for the profanity, nudity, and graphic violence on display, it could be a Warner […]