God Told Me To
(1976) 91 Min.
Rated: R (Nudity)
Country: USA
Director: Larry Cohen
Stars: Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★☆☆
After a rash of mass killings, a detective investigates the cause and finds that they are connected by one phrase: “God told me to”.
Synopsis:
Downtown New York in 1976. A man randomly starts shooting people while on a water tower atop a building. Detective Peter J. Nicolas (Bianco) climbs the tower and talks to the man. He proclaims that “God told me to do it” before jumping off the building and committing suicide.
Peter lives with his girlfriend Casey Forster (Raffin). He plans to visit his estranged wife of whom he wishes to divorce. Casey is worried Peter won’t divorce Martha (Dennis). Martha, meanwhile knows that Peter is a highly devout Catholic. Peter is reluctant to divorce for religious reasons and he fears Casey will leave him because he will not get a divorce.
Peter visits a man in a hospital bed who has murdered people at a market. He asks the man why he killed all those people and the man responds that God told him to just as he dies.
It’s the St. Patrick’s Day parade and someone calls the police station claiming to know that at least five more people will die during the parade. Peter listens in on the call and tries to stop the massacre from happening. It’s one of the policemen in the parade. Just like clockwork he guns down random people despite other police officers trying to hold his arm away. Just as Peter arrives, the gun man lies on his back after being shot. His last words are “God Told Me To”.
After interviewing witnesses, Peter learns that there was always a young blond man seen with the killers. The man’s name is Bernard Phillips. When Peter attempts to visit the apartment where Bernard’s mother lives she attacks him with a razor. She falls down some flights of stairs and dies.
The coroner does an autopsy of her and says that Mrs. Phillips was a virgin. It seems that her son was birthed by c-section. Peter talks to the doctor who performed the c-section and he tells Peter that when Bernard was born there seemed to be no sexual gender as if it had not been determined yet or developed.
Peter interviews a man who shot his entire family. The man claims that he’s the happiest he’s ever been because what he’s done is so little compared to what God has done for him. Peter asks him if he’s a religious man. The man says that he wasn’t just until today and that he was spoken to very suddenly.
Jersey Police had a case where the lady said “God did it” as far as making her pregnant. Peter goes to investigate and asks the man who found Mrs. Phillips. He recounts (in flashback) about the night he was driving down a rainy road and a nude Mrs. Phillips stopped his car and asked for help. She told him how she was walking on the beach on Nantucket Island and she ended up near Jersey City only after being enveloped in a warm light. Peter believes that she became pregnant from this event.
Peter asks a science editor, Everett Lukas, to write about what he knows. Everett at first objects, but then agrees. He prints an article with the headline: “Suspended Police Lieutenant Exposes Religious Motive For Mass Murders”.
Meanwhile Casey is being asked questions about Peter by the police department.
In the world people start to protest and fight not sure if the killings are caused by God or something else. Police forces struggle to keep order against the crowd.
One of Peter’s police officer co-workers is killed by a thug who he had dealings with and writes “God” on the wall. The chief calls Peter, but Peter shrugs it off and feels like it’s not part of the case.
Meanwhile in an office building somewhere. Men in business suits gather in a meeting. They believe that a person who contacted them is who he says he is. This person has proven their control over human beings. This person has informed the men of his intentions before each of the murders. They talk about how this person wants the group to convince Peter to join them.
One of the men meets with Peter and tells him how the deity reached inside each of these men’s minds and told them to gather at the first of the month without them knowing each other. Peter tries to relate the story of how Mrs. Phillips became pregnant and the man instantly grows sick and dies before Peter can help him.
One of the group, Logan, who had previously warned Peter about the St. Patrick’s Parade shooting, tries to right his betrayal by pushing Peter onto the tracks of a subway train. Peter catches him and forces Logan to take him to wherever Bernard, AKA God, is.
Logan takes him down to the underbelly of a building where there are furnaces. He leaves Peter there and takes the elevator back up alone. On the ride back up the man leans forward and presumably decapitates himself by will of Bernard.
Once down near the furnaces, Peter sees fleeting glances of Bernard. Finally Bernard appears as a golden, glowing being whose looks can’t really be discerned. Peter asks why Bernard is afraid, but Peter feels that he’s different, too. Bernard tries to push him through his will into one of the furnaces, but when Peter looks up he realizes he’s surrounded by fire and Bernard is gone. Peter then makes an escape from the building.
Peter starts to investigate his own parentage. He was born an orphan so he goes to the orphanage. He finds out that only his mother’s information is available and her name was Elizabeth Mullins. Peter goes to the home she’s living in and talks to her.
Elizabeth recounts how she was pulled into the air and felt something pass into her. She tried to talk to authorities, but no one believed her. Eventually she was sent to live with her aunt until the baby was born and given to the orphanage. Elizabeth realizes that Peter is her son and the result of her horrific experience. She wants nothing to do with him and screams. Peter runs out of the building in horror.
Casey meets up with Martha and they talk. Martha tells Casey how Peter had always been afraid of having children and that she had been pregnant three times with each one ending in miscarriage. Martha said that doctors found nothing wrong with her and that every time Peter seemed to be relieved.
Peter shows up at Martha’s house and essentially says goodbye to both of them and hopes that they are strong enough to help one another.
Peter goes into a pool hall and makes the pimp/thug who killed his co-worker kill himself with Peter’s new psychic mind powers.
Peter then locates Bernard in an abandoned building. Bernard tries to convince Peter that Peter has dominant human genes while his own are the reverse. Bernard offers to have children with Peter so that they can create their own race of beings. Bernard lifts his tunic to reveal a vaginal-like opening on his chest.
Peter then attacks Bernard, first by choking him. Bernard, never having experienced pain, isn’t sure how to react. Eventually the building collapses and Bernard is killed while Peter escapes.
He is, however, arrested and when asked why he killed someone he replies “God told me to” with a smile. In a note it’s revealed that Peter was sent to a mental institute.
Review:
At first glance this is a pretty unassuming sci-fi horror. Honestly, during the first couple of minutes it seemed more made-for-TV movie than anything, but the smart writing kept me interested and slowly but surely the tale was told and I was, for the most part, spellbound.
I think part of the appeal for me was the sheer ludicrous nature of some of the events that unfold. They’re unbelievable, but within the realm of the film it becomes believable and even something like an alien god battle to the death becomes a serious threat. I’m sure there are some people who would simply scoff at the film and find it silly. And honestly if one is to watch it in pieces and not get engrossed, then, yes, it’s silly. Seeing a golden glowing alien god is kind of amusing.
I can see why this film was dusted off recently and given a re-release. It’s quirky and definitely memorable. The horror of otherworldly beings toying and controlling humans as pawns in a game is a nightmare unto itself.
This film isn’t going to scare anyone outright, but it will definitely leave a lasting memory in some form. In that respect it’s definitely worthy of at least one viewing. Thanks to this film I’ve now seen a hip vagina.