On October 30, 2006, the archival photo shows writer, director Larry Cohen and his wife Cynthia Cohen arriving for the Comcast, Sony and Lionsgate launch party for FEARnet, a multi-platform network dedicated to the digital world. horror, which is held at Boulevard 3 nightclub in Los Angeles. . Cohen, the non-conformist director of cult horror films "It's Alive" and "God Told Me To", has passed away. He was 77 years old. The actor and spokesman for Cohen, actor Shade Rupe, said that Cohen had died on Saturday, March 23, 2019 in Los Angeles, surrounded by loved ones. (Photo: Phil McCarten, AP)

NEW YORK – Larry Cohen, the maverick director B of cult horror films "It's Alive" and "God Told Me To", has passed away. He was 77 years old.

Actor and actor Shade Rupe, Cohen's friend and spokesman, said that Cohen had died Saturday in Los Angeles, surrounded by his loved ones.

Cohen's films were sneaky, low-budget films that developed cult content, gave rise to sequels, and were prized for their genre reflections on contemporary social issues.

His "It's Alive" of 1974 on a murderous mutant baby dealt with the treatment of children. Bernard Herrmann, frequent composer of Alfred Hitchcock, provided the score.

His 1976 New York satire, "God Told Me To", depicts a series of shootings and murders perpetrated with religious fervor. Andy Kaufman played the role of a police officer who launches into a shootout during the St. Patrick's Day parade. There were also extraterrestrials.

In Cohen's 1985 film "The Stuff", he embodies consumerism with a story inspired by the rise of junk food. It is a sweet substance that looks like yogurt slipping out of the soil, then bottled and marketed as an ice cream without calories. The "substance" turns out to be a parasite that turns the consumer into zombies.

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"It was not just going into a studio like a factory worker, taking pictures and coming home every night," said Cohen at Ringer last year. "We were in the jungle doing these movies, improvising and having fun, and making movies out of nothing, without a lot of money.

"You have to make the photo your way and not otherwise," he added, "because it can not be done otherwise."

Cohen's approach – he often shot extreme scenes in the streets of New York City without permission, nor to alert the locals – made him, like Roger Corman, revered among the following generations of independent filmmakers. A documentary published last year, "King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen", paid tribute to Cohen.

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"Larry Cohen was truly an independent film legend," scriptwriter and director Edgar Wright said on Sunday ("Shaun of the Dead", "Baby Driver"), praising him "for so many fun crazy and big ideas more concepts. bigger than budgets ".

Originally from New York, Cohen started on television, where he wrote episodes for series like "The Fugitive", "The Defenders" and "Surfside 6." New York would be the setting for many of Cohen's films, including "Q, 1982". "In which a giant flying lizard nestles atop the Chrysler Building.

The drama "Black Caesar", written by James Brown in 1973, was about a Harlem gangster. Fred Williamson and his star met next year for "Hell Up in Harlem".

Cohen later directed Bette Davis' latest film, "Wicked Stepmother," in 1989. More recently, he wrote the 2002 thriller "Phone Booth" and Colin Farrell's "Cellular" with Chris Evans.

Cohen was often his own producer, director, screenwriter and sometimes builder of accessories and production manager. "Otherwise," he told Village Voice, "I should sit down with the producers, and the producers are really painful, believe me."

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