God Told Me To

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God Told Me To

Directed by	Larry Cohen
Produced by	Larry Cohen
Written by	Larry Cohen
Starring	Tony Lo Bianco
Distributed by	New World Pictures
Release date(s)	October, 1976
Running time	91 min.
Language	English
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IMDb profile

God Told Me To (released in some theatrical and video markets as Demon and God Told Me to Kill) is a 1976 sci-fi/horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen. Like many of Cohen's films, it is set in New York City and incorporates aspects of the police procedural. It stars Tony LoBianco as Peter Nicholas, a Catholic police detective investigating a series of murders being committed by various random, seemingly normal assailants, who claim that God told them to kill. Nicholas finds that the murderers have been influenced by a religious cult leader, Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch) whose origins (and perhaps even species) are a mystery.

Andy Kaufman appears in a cameo as the killer at the Saint Patrick's Day parade — Kaufman's first role in any film. Sylvia Sidney appears as the detective's traumatized mother.

Bernard Herrmann, who had scored Cohen's earlier film It's Alive, was originally assigned to score God Told Me To as well, and Cohen claims on the DVD commentary track that Herrmann saw the first cut of the film immediately after completing the recording sessions for his score to Taxi Driver and made notes on how he believed it could be scored. However, within the next 15 hours, Herrmann died. Frank Cordell composed the score heard in the released version of God Told Me To, and both it and Taxi Driver were dedicated to Herrmann.