LARRY COHEN: THE STUFF OF GODS AND MONSTERS (SOFTCOVER EDITION) by Michael Doyle
Best Film Book - The Phantom's Annual "B"wards 2017
Larry Cohen: The Stuff of Gods and Monsters traces the extraordinary career of the legendary writer/producer/director responsible for such cult and classic films as Black Caesar, It's Alive, God Told Me To, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, Q - The Winged Serpent, The Stuff, Maniac Cop, and Phone Booth. Creator of some of the most diverse and thematically rich genre films that have been made in American independent cinema, Cohen's oeuvre has embraced horror, science fiction, thrillers, Westerns, comedies, the biographical film, and blaxploitation gangster movies. At turns provocative, disturbing, and humorous, his distinctly personal works in film, television, and theater are distinguished by their ferocious intelligence, biting satire, and powerful emotionalism. Over the course of 28 chapters, this in-depth career-length interview is an entertaining, enlightening, and gripping account of the singular career of a true American original.
"For
those of us who love the works of Larry Cohen, this is the most
revealing and informative material ever published about him. And if by
some chance you don't know about Larry's remarkable career, take this
opportunity to learn how one maverick writer/director/producer has been
able to survive and flourish in the ever changing madhouse of show biz."
"Basically a 600-page Q&A followed by extensive notes and
appendices, Larry Cohen delivers the longtime maverick moviemaker’s
story straight from the auteur’s mouth. Following a recounting of
Cohen’s youth, early success as an episodic TV writer, and subsequent
work as a big screen scenarist, Cohen and Doyle explore the
writer/director’s prolific output film by film, from his provocative
1970 racial fable, Bone, and subsequent Blaxploitation fare (Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem), through such subversive scare classics as the It’s Alive trilogy, Q:The Winged Serpent, The Stuff, and the Maniac Cop series, up to his 2005 Masters of Horror episode, “Pick Me Up.” Having interviewed the auteur during his Phone Booth and Cellular
thriller resurgence (VS #48), we can attest to the filmmaker’s
storytelling skills, on more than ample display in this massive volume.
Cohen-heads will not want to miss."
-- Videoscope
"This amazing, 702-page book is essentially one gigantic interview
conducted over a three year period, covering every niche of Larry
Cohen's life, beginning with his Washington Heights childhood, sneaking
into the NBC Studios, early television writing gigs, and his fondness
for tackling controversial themes. Containing dozens of photos from
Larry's personal collection and over 100 pages of footnotes and credits,
this is an absorbing, in-depth celebration of Cohen's unique brand of
guerilla filmmaking."
- Shock Cinema