God Told Me To (1976)

Somehow, some way, God Told Me To (1976) a sci-fi/horror flick by veteran genre director Larry Cohen, escaped my notice until summer of this year.  I caught the end of it on an obscure cable channel late one night.  I was so intrigued, I had to go off on a search to find the film on my own, on-demand, to watch it later.
My knowledge of Cohen's movies includes Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) a sci-fi-fi/horror tale about a giant prehistoric creature-visualized through stop-motion effects-terrorizing New York City.  This film has no less than Kung-Fu and Kill Bill's David Carradine, Shaft's Richard Roundtree, American Graffitti's Candy Clark, and Law and Order's Michael Moriarity standing in the way of the monster.  Also, I associate Cohen for the film of which he is best-known,  It's Alive!(1974) a horror film focusing on the aftermath of the destructive path of a mutant baby(!)
I decided to write about God Told Me To in my religious movie blog, because of the thread of religious themes woven throughout the movie.  Truth be told, the resultant film indicates the director is not entirely sympathetic or positive, when it comes to the supernatural nature of religion.
I doubt that God Told Me To could be made today-or, at the very least, could open the way it opens-with a literal bang.  At the start of the movie, we see crowds of people walking the streets on a sunny, busy afternoon day in New York City.  Suddenly, we hear a series of random shots fired-and folks start dropping like flies on the sidewalks.  It appears that a hidden sniper is picking off civilians left and right, and frightened people run every-which-way for cover.
In the wake of national firearms-related tragedies, like the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, where a hidden sniper massacred a crowd of concert-goers outside the Mandalay Bay Casino, it is not hard to understand why a film scene such as this sniper scene could be considered in bad taste.  Little wonder that God Told Me To languishes in obscurity on late-night cable television today.  In the interest of fairness, this scene does not define the movie.
The location of the hidden gunman is quickly revealed to be a perch atop a tall water tower amongst the skyscrapers.  The police, including NYPD detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) quickly rush to the tower to confront the gunman.  In a questionable move, Nicolas volunteers to risk his life to climb to the top of the tower to confront the gunman-and hopefully, talk him down from his perch.
Nicholas manages to get in the gunman's face as he is preparing to re-load his .22 caliber rifle.  The shooter is revealed to be a young, disheveled white male in his 20s.  When Nicholas asks why he is shooting people, the young man replies "God told me to," and, without warning, jumps off the tower to his death.  The young man's horrified mother witnesses the entire spectacle from down below, and swears this murderous behavior is completely out-of-character for her son.
Over the next several days, Nicholas is charged with investigating a diverse series of random, unplanned murders.  There is a knife massacre in a supermarket; a shooting at a St. Patrick's Day parade (perpetrated by a cop, in a distracting cameo by legendary comedian Andy Kaufman!) and a father's slaughter of his own family.  One common element to these seemingly-unrelated murders?  The assailant in each case claims "God Told Me To" when asked for a motive for the slayings.
A mysterious anonymous phone call received by the police before the St. Patrick's Day parade murder indicates that these killings may be less unplanned than the public is led to believe, but, the police have nothing further to go on.
Nicholas is able to find a connection between one of the killers and a long-haired man named Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch).  It appears that Phillips is the leader of a religious cult, and the members of this cult are the perpetrators of these murders.  Phillips is influencing the murderers via strange psychic powers-the members feel they are being contacted by God, but it is Phillips who is manipulating them.
In a very interesting story development, we find out that Nicholas, in a confrontation with Philips, has more to play as a central part in this story than we first believe.  We see it all has something to do with the two men's (possible) extra-terrestrial origins (!) Thus, we are gradually led to a final confrontation between the "angelic" Nicholas (who we learn, despite an extra-marital affair, is a devout Catholic) and the "demonic" Phillips.
Director Cohen also produced and wrote this film.  The director appears to delve into the rhelm of scientism, using science-in this case, the existence of aliens, alien abduction, and ESP-to explain what was previously believed to be supernatural aspects of religion.  Cohen is on record as stating that, along with the Bible, an inspiration for this movie is Chariots of the Gods?, author Erich von Daniken's 1968 novel hypothesizing that the religions of ancient civilizations were given to them by ancient aliens mistaken for gods.
God Told Me To is an entertaining movie, misunderstood by critics on its initial release.  It's definitely a cult classic in it's own right, like Cohen's other movies.  It's filled with a good amount of action, thrills and chills, and surprising plot-twists.  Don't think for a moment though, that you'll be convinced by Cohen's explanations for the supernatural, and the origins of religion.  Just enjoy the ride :-)