God Told Me To (1976) (Stomp Visual) (NTSC)

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Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 6.1 ES Discrete (768Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    New York Police lieutenant Paul Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) is called in to assist in a siege, during which a sniper on a rooftop water tank has shot and killed 15 people. Nicholas climbs to the top of the water tower where the sniper tells him calmly that God told him to do it, before jumping to his death.

    A man who attacked his family tells Nicholas with his dying breath: "God told me to". A police parade turns into a bloodbath when a police officer (played by comedian Andy Kaufman) runs amok. Another connection with God. While the rest of his colleagues are unconvinced by the religious aspect, the devoutly Catholic Nicholas is swept up with the idea. A thread running through the stories of each of the killers is of a man with shoulder-length blond hair, but none of the witnesses are able to recall his face. In investigating the man's past, Nicholas uncovers stories of a virgin birth. Is there really a vengeful God on the loose in New York City?

    Belying the low-budget nature of this film is the quality cast that director-producer Larry Cohen managed to put together. Aside from Lo Bianco, Sandy Dennis appears as his estranged wife, Deborah Raffin as his lover, Mike Kellin as his boss, Richard Lynch as the mysterious Bernard Phillips and Sylvia Sydney as an old woman with a dark secret. There are also cameos by veteran actors such as Harry Bellaver and Sam Levene. The production values seem quite good, with Cohen making a virtue of having to shoot on location. One such sequence involved shooting outdoors during a real St Patrick's Day parade, having gained permission to do so by telling the authorities he was shooting a documentary. On the other hand there is some inserted stock footage, some of which comes from Space 1999 of all things: if you've seen that series you will recognise the interior of an Eagle transporter.

    Cohen also manages to include in his script a whole raft of themes and ideas, most of which are never fully developed. For example there is police corruption, powerful men in conspiracies, alien abduction, gender confusion, attitudes towards pregnant women, guilt over the deaths of unborn children and much more. Despite this mishmash of ideas the movie works. It isn't always clear what is going on, and I did find the ending a little unsatisfying, but Cohen does treat the viewer as having some intelligence and the film was obviously made by a highly enthusiastic filmmaker. It zips along at a good pace and is never boring. Unlike many horror movies made since the early 1960s, there is no reliance on gore or sudden shocks. This must be one of the best movies to deal with supernatural religious themes that appeared in the wake of The Exorcist, and as Cohen notes in his informative commentary it seems to have inspired works as diverse as The X-Files and Unbreakable.

Video

    The film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is an NTSC transfer.

    The video quality is variable but generally good. Most scenes are sharp and detailed. Contrast levels are adequate though shadow detail is not very good. There is little detail for instance in dark hair or dark suits. The colour is good, though in lower level lighting flesh tones take on a brownish hue. There are some bright sequences with coloured lighting that are quite effective.

    The film material used for this transfer was in good condition, with only a few specks and spots here and there. Grain levels varied considerably, from very little to a lot. For example the early scene with Mike Kellin speaking directly to camera is heavily affected by grain.

    There are no subtitles provided. The disc is RSDL-formatted, with the layer change visible but not disruptive at 48:24.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are several soundtracks on offer here, from the original mono through to a DTS ES 6.1 track, the first such track I have heard. I listened to this track in full and sampled the others.

    The DTS ES soundtrack is reasonably well done, though dialogue is often at a low level in comparison to the other channels. The rear channels get a bit of use, with ambient sounds, crowd scenes, gunshots and so on. The centre back channel is used as a discrete channel rather than to support the sound image created by the rears - for example, the sound of an overhead helicopter during the siege sequence from around the seven minute mark moves between the three back speakers.

    I was not quite as impressed with the use of the main front speakers, as they were used more for directional effects than to create a realistic sound stage. The low frequency effects channel is used sparingly, and only kicked into life a couple of times, noticeably during the fire in the basement of the apartment building. Overall the DTS ES soundtrack is enjoyable to listen to, but given that some of the dialogue is difficult to understand, the lack of subtitles is a problem.

    The dialogue is easier to understand in the original mono soundtrack. While it provides less of an aural feast, it is perfectly adequate for the film. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is not dissimilar to the DTS ES soundtrack - the only difference I could detect was that the absence of the centre back channel led to the audio being slightly less enveloping. The difference is not that great, but if you have the extra speaker and a receiver capable of decoding DTS ES it is worthwhile listening to the audio in that configuration.

    The film is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Herrmann but the music is by Frank Cordell. Herrmann was to score the film and in fact Cohen screened it to him. Unfortunately that same night Herrmann died in his sleep, so this was the last film he saw. In style Cordell's work seems to be a tribute, very similar to a Herrmann score though perhaps not quite as memorable. It ranges from sinister sounding choral music to sinister rising chords and is often very effective. There are also snatches of music heard outdoors such as from a radio or in the military band parade.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Introduction

    A brief introductory sequence before the menu is displayed.

Menu Audio

    Some music from the soundtrack.

dts Trailer

Audio Commentary-Larry Cohen (Writer/Director)

    A good commentary where Cohen is joined by fellow director Bill Lustig. As if to prove American film is incestuous even outside Hollywood, Cohen remarks that he heard of Bernard Herrmann's death from Martin Scorsese, whose picture Raging Bull was a biography of Lustig's uncle Jake La Motta. Anyway, Cohen doesn't need much prompting to tell stories about how the film was cast, his abortive attempt to start the film with Robert Forster, the problems of shooting on location and around Lo Bianco's absences and so on. Well worth a listen.

Theatrical Trailer (1:03)

    The trailer is quite effective and is in widescreen.

TV Spots (3:50)

    Seven TV spots of varying lengths, from 32 to 33 seconds. These are all widescreen, though I doubt whether they were ever shown like this.

Gallery-Poster And Stills

    Posters, publicity stills, novel and video covers, behind-the-scenes stills and the pressbook.

Biographies-Crew-Larry Cohen

    A multi-page text biography and filmography of the director.

    This release appears to be an import of the Blue Underground US release, which is coded for all regions. The cover does not indicate any local content whatsoever, and the now obligatory defacement by the OFLC rating system seems to have been achieved through the use of a sticker.

    This is a thought-provoking and entertaining horror movie with good performances and is quite well made for a film of this type.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    There are plenty of extras, though the commentary and the biography are the only substantial ones.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall