About the film
- Directed by
- Larry Cohen
- Released
- October 22, 1976
- Certification
- R
- Country
- United States of America
- Starring
- Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, Sylvia Sidney, Sam Levene
More credits
- Language
- English
- Origin
- US
- Studios
- Larco Productions
- Written by
- Larry Cohen
- Produced by
- Larry Cohen, Roger Corman
- Cinematography
- Paul Glickman
- Music
- Frank Cordell
- Also starring
- Robert Drivas, Mike Kellin, Richard Lynch, Sammy Williams, Jo Flores Chase
A Catholic detective hunts a cult leader who may be his half-brother, born from the same extraterrestrial visitation.
This film is a police procedural, then a religious thriller, then a science fiction film, finally combining all three into a conspiracy of alien virgin births and psychic messiahs.
Larry Cohen wrote, directed, and produced GOD TOLD ME TO (1976), shooting guerrilla-style on the streets of New York City. The St. Patrick's Day Parade sequence was filmed at the actual parade, with Andy Kaufman - in his first film appearance - antagonizing real crowd members until some of them tried to climb the barricades and attack him.
Cohen said he drew inspiration from the Bible because he considered God one of the most violent characters in literature.
Bernard Herrmann - fresh off Taxi Driver - had agreed to score the film. He came to see an early cut and within fifteen hours he was dead.
Cohen asked Miklós Rózsa to step in. Rózsa declined, saying: "God told me not to."
How to see God Told Me To (1976)
Streaming
United States
Also available internationally
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Source: JustWatch
Physical media
Movies they don’t want you to see
Related movies only streaming in other territories
Movies we wrote about
6 commentsAlice, Sweet Alice (1976)
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9 commentsThe Visitor (1979)
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Love this Larry Cohen film.
Has one of my favorite actresses in it. The very beautiful Deborah Raffin❤️
Tony Wolff Aint NO WAY Harold was a teenager
Such a great film, but you gave away the twist. I went in knowing nothing and was blown away by the reveal.
Robert Riley You’re absolutely right! That’s not like me at all to spoil a movie. I’ll do better next time. But yes, great movie. I recently watched it for the first time on an old laserdisc I picked up from somewhere and couldn’t believe I’d never seen it before.
Anywhere But Hollywood even with the reveal, the movie was so good that it deserves screening just due to its gritty style, locations in the city and strong writing. It’s such a brilliant sleeper. I think it was way ahead of its time.
There’s nothing else like this one. I love it.
I have this on dvd
Is that. . . Andy?
It is! It was his first film role!
Sounds awesome. Same director of Q The Winged Serpent? That’s a great one too
Does the movie portray Christianity in a negative way?
Strong first sentence!
‘A Catholic detective hunts a cult leader who may be his half-brother, born from the same extraterrestrial visitation.‘
Yeah, it’s a spoiler but how could I not start with that!
Andy