The Cohen Case Files: It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987)

Based on Characters Created by, Written, Executive Produced, and Directed by Larry Cohen Considering the fact that I regard the original It’s Alive as one of my favorite films of all time, it would be very easy for me to hate It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive. Even viewers who do not care about […]

The Cohen Case Files: Perfect Strangers (1984)

Executive Produced (uncredited), Written, and Directed by Larry Cohen While watching Perfect Strangers, Larry Cohen’s train wreck of a romantic thriller, I was reminded of a snippet of Roger Ebert’s review of Death to Smoochy, which I quoted in my Movie Defender piece on that misunderstood film: “Only enormously talented people could have made Death […]

The Cohen Case Files: As Good as Dead (1995)

Written, Produced, and Directed by Larry Cohen Even if you went into As Good as Dead without the knowledge that it made its premiere as a made-for-USA-network film, even casual viewers unaware of Cohen’s career could quickly figure out that fact. From the generic thriller title to the mostly anemic casting (save a little edginess […]

The Cohen Case Files: Original Gangstas (1996)

Directed by Larry Cohen Some ideas are better in the abstract than in actual execution. The Expendables films, for example, sound like they should be cheesy fun, but filtered through the egos of roughly a dozen aging—outright elderly, in some cases—action stars, the idea goes from fun to boring faster than Jet Li’s exit from […]

The Cohen Case Files: I, the Jury (1982)

Written and Produced (Uncredited) by Larry Cohen Through print interviews, commentary tracks, and in person question and answer sessions, I feel like I may have heard more about I, the Jury than any other film in which Larry Cohen has had a creative hand. The problem is that most everything Cohen has to say about […]

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: 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: Full Moon High (1981)

Written, Produced, and Directed by Larry Cohen For how much he has dabbled in various genres (horror, science fiction, blaxploitation, mystery, thriller), Cohen has largely steered clear of straight forward comedies.  There is plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor in films like The Stuff, Q, and his script for Maniac Cop, but for the most part, he […]