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Larry Cohen, the maverick director of cult horror movies "It's Alive" and "God Told Me To", has pbaded 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, created sequels, and were popular with their genre reflections on contemporary social issues.
His "It's Alive" of 1974, about a murderous mutant baby, dealt with the treatment of children. Bernard Herrmann, frequently composer of Alfred Hitchbad, provided the score.
His 1976 New York satire "God Told Me To" describes a series of shootings and murders perpetrated with religious fervor. Andy Kaufman played a police officer in a shootout at the St. Patrick's Day parade. There were also extraterrestrials.
In Cohen's 1985 film "The Stuff", Cohen embodied consumerism with a story inspired by the rise of junk food. It is a sweet yogurt-like substance that has run off and is then bottled and marketed as an ice cream without calories. The "material" turns out to be a parasite that turns the consumer into zombies.
"It was not just going to a studio as a factory worker, taking pictures and going home every night," Cohen told 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, or to alert locals – did, like Roger Corman, revered among the generations of independent filmmakers. A documentary published last year, "King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen", paid tribute to Cohen.
"Larry Cohen was truly an independent independent film legend," screenwriter and director Edgar Wright said on Sunday ("Shaun of the Dead", "Baby Driver"), praising him "for so many fun crazy and high-gender concepts. bigger than budgets. "
A native of New York, Cohen started on television, where he wrote episodes for series such as "The Fugitive", "The Defenders" and "Surfside 6." New York would be home to many of Cohen's films, including "Q," in which a giant flying lizard nestles atop the Chrysler Building.
The crime 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 then directed Bette Davis' last film, "Wicked Stepmother," in 1989. Most 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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