 Thank you for checking out this no spoilers movie review. This is for the 2018 documentary film King Cohen the wild world of filmmaker Larry Cohen This is currently streaming on the shutter streaming service when this video is going up So check that out if you have interest. I am a big fan personally of documentaries overall In particular, I really like horror documentaries that kind of give you a lot of cool behind-the-scenes information about Films that you enjoy and just kind of the horror industry in general, so This was very interesting one to me I think it was well executed One of the cool things to kind of note is the man who wrote and directed this is named Man by the name of Steve Mitchell and Steve Mitchell wrote a horror film that is notoriously Awesome bad. I think it's like a bad film, but like so bad. It's good Chopping mall the 1980s chopping mall about killer robots with people trapped in a mall Yeah, awesome when I found that out. I was like, oh sweet. He did a really good job with this documentary I will say I'm also very very glad that he was able to put this film together before Larry Cohen passed away he passed away earlier this year if people did not know and That's a pretty big loss for film and television to be honest because he was heavily involved in both The guy had a very lucrative career I didn't know a whole lot about him or his career Prior to maybe a few years ago like two years ago or so It was is when I kind of like caught up to some of his stuff And I will say personally some of my favorite films of his actually my two favorite films Although I haven't seen everything he's done the stuff which a lot of people seem to really like and Cue the winged serpent now the main reason I really like those two films by him are two two things One I think the stories are a lot of fun and interesting and kind of crazy And two the acting of Michael Moriarty who shows up in this documentary Is so delightful. He's such a character actor I've heard he's very very hard to work with in real life But the man just has screen magic. It's something about this guy the way he does roles Amazing so cue the winged serpent and the stuff if you have not seen those films You should definitely watch those films are a lot of fun They're not like amazing films as far as like Cinefiles are concerned, you know, someone who's like very serious in the film It's just like oh Is this an amazing film? Is it very well written? Is it very well acted and executed? Those aren't the types of films he did. He did he was unbelievably independent Larry Cohen did things his way He didn't really want to deal with Hollywood all that well Although he had really good connections to make sure he got things done Real guerrilla style filmmaker, which when I was watching the the documentary they cover that extremely well That's kind of one of the main themes of it talking about how much of an independent and guerrilla style filmmaker He was he would literally Not get permission to to get shots He would not go out and get permits that he needed to get shots for films And that's crazy and it actually ended up causing some potential Problems at times where he would shoot scenes and there would be people in the background Who didn't know he was shooting a film and they would react naturally Which is great for actual film footage to get natural reactions of people in the background But is potentially really bad for society when people see some crazy things going on and can overreact But this was a different time. It kind of covers his career. I think through the 60s up until the 90s and then Yeah, but the the times were different back then it's it's way more hypersensitive now and people go really freak out You could be arrested for this stuff. Things were kind of let go a lot more back then. So very lucky for larry cohen Yeah so really good film Some of the some of the best names in this who come up as um as other people being interviewed about larry cohen Obviously larry cohen is interviewed in this. He's a large portion of this talking about his own life Which is really cool to kind of hear things from his perspective Um, some of the best names in my opinion martin scorsese is in this, which is kind of crazy I I didn't have known him to really do documentary stuff mcgaris who I really like john landis joe dante yafit koto rick baker and fred williamson and All the stuff with fred williamson like the guy seems super cool. That's something I wrote down I was like that guy seems so cool. I just want to hang out with him fred williamson seems like a Awesome awesome dude And they also have jj abram show up in it, but only in the beginning And I was just like if you want to grab people's attention And start a film off right having jj abram's talk to the camera Is a pretty good way to make that happen. So So one of the big things I wrote down first is that larry seems like a very quirky individual Like I said, he was fiercely independent wanted to do things his way, which I I have a lot of respect for One of my film heroes is a local guy because I'm kind of in the baltimore area john waters So watching this documentary made me think a lot about john waters because larry cone is that kind of like I said Fiercely independent person wanted to do things his way Gorilla style filmmaker and john waters is the same although. I don't think he's made anything john waters recently so Uh, like I said, I was glad this was done before larry cone passed away Although it also is kind of sad to watch it now because you're like, oh, he's not with us anymore Because some people make comments in the documentary like it'll be interesting to see what he could keep doing and he was like, oh because he can't He has a really good quote in it about knowing that a script is good He's basically like if everyone turns your script down You know, it's a good script and it's very original because people are afraid to make it And that is kind of a really good point that he makes about hollywood in general Is they are more comfortable going with what they already know and if there's something that's very original and very Forward thinking and then they're very afraid of it. They're like, oh, we don't even know how to market that There's not already a built-in audience for that and they're too cautious with things But when they end up taking risks Things go well from time to time Uh So I looked it up on internet movie database just to give people an idea of how prolific larry cone has been Throughout his career. He has 21 directing credits on there 20 producing credits and 86 writing credits he was a very prolific writer for film and for tv and um Yeah, 86 writing credits. That's huge granted that spans some decades, but That's success. That's a lot of success. But even with that said one of the problems is it seems like he's He doesn't feel like he got enough credit And I would agree with that like a lot of people don't know the name larry cohen And with all those credits that I just told you they probably should and so it shows him at like conventions and stuff And it seems like he's very attention seeking He was kind of like Love me. Love me. Love me type guy. Like I did all this stuff I I I reached celebrity status according to what should make you celebrity status And yet still people I can walk through a crowd and no one knows who I am And he seems kind of sad about that which was kind of sad to watch in this and be like Just wish he had gotten that credit But with something like this documentary it really helps to kind of build this awareness Which is why the documentary is so good So it walks through all the aspects of his writing and filmmaking And it paints him as very funny odd smart And all those things roll together very very well and it's really cool because I Even though I don't know that it was it seems very comprehensive as far as all the Kind of like types of films that he did throughout his career And it goes from earliest to most recent and I really really like how it kind of like charts his career And they go in depth with some cool behind the scenes stories with a lot of those films And I think that's kind of my favorite part of it is not necessarily like hearing people's love for Larry Cohen But hearing people's stories about like what happened on set like this crazy thing went wrong This this thing went wrong and he was very adaptive is what it seems like there were so many stories that were told in this documentary that um I mean it would have it happens because he didn't plan a whole lot That was kind of his thing because he felt like inevitably something's going to go wrong So even if you plan you're going to run into issues So just kind of wing it and be adaptable and it seems like his adaptability was outstanding And things did go wrong though Which made for these awesome stories that were like behind the scenes And a lot of them kind of spawned from the fact that he wouldn't get permits to shoot in places So but it made for great entertainment in this in this documentary because like I said Those were my favorite portions is when people were telling these stories The other interesting thing is that Larry himself would tell these stories about some of the actors And then he would ask the actors about it in their interview portions And they would be like Now that never happened if he told you that he's lying So it's kind of this weird thing is like How much is he lying about like I don't know But it's not like lying like maliciously or anything. It's just about like small funny things And you'll see what I mean if you watch the documentary or if you've already seen it I didn't realize Larry's role in the black exploitation film movement I haven't really seen many of those types of films, but Seeing this documentary it kind of piqued my interest a little bit And I yeah, I didn't know that he was so influential in black exploitation films But he kind of put it as like I guess I don't think he really liked some like the moniker of black exploitation. He was kind of just like I mean it was Black actors getting work and especially back in that time That was a very good thing Because it was it was getting us closer to like equality and film for black actors And so I found that a very interesting idea that he was talking about that like it was kind of labeled It's like black exploitation, but he was kind of like I was you know writing films about a black cast And these people had these jobs. So like what's wrong with that? I was like, yeah, no, I mean, it's it's a good thing in general um The okay, so the grill of filmmaking are ripped out. Oh this yeah the stories of his low budget Like this that kind of like goes along with the antics of like him not getting permits and the girl's style shooting and stuff like that The things they had to do because of having such low budgets Uh, this just kind of goes along with the adaptability. I was talking about like Those are cool stories and there's a lot of those that come up Yeah, and the other thing I wrote down is he seemed to wing it a lot Which I mean it ended up working a lot of times and he he kind of even said in in one of the One of the interview pieces that he was kind of like, you know, I got lucky in times This worked out like okay Um, so I also I have a lot of respect for this guy Um and and kind of the way he is he he seems to be one of those people who's Very compelled to create and I understand that you know I'm doing these these movie review videos because I feel compelled to create I also do a craft beer podcast and been doing it for about six and a half years now And I don't do that because I'm making money because I'm not Um, and I don't do that because of like, oh, I want fame or anything like that it's just this this compulsion to create and there's a lot of that theme to this documentary saying that Larry You know Larry Cone was just a guy who liked to create things. He liked Uh, first thing is he really liked to write he really liked to create stories And then later on he started directing and and bringing his visions to the actual screen And I don't know I just really connect with that in this film And I think that kind of enhanced my experience of it for that reason Um, uh real quick they covered the masters of horror Short film that he did for that series, which I was very very excited about I didn't know if they're gonna do that or not because it wasn't like a feature length Everything else they covered were mainly kind of like feature length things that he did That had Michael Moriarty Moriarty in it. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely seen it It was it's called pick me up I believe it was yeah pick me up. Um, the other thing is I did a review video on this channel of all the masters of horror Films and I ranked them in my opinion the the worst to the best and did like a little a few little sentences worth On each one. I was I'm very proud of that video If you liked masters of horror want to know about it because it is no spoilers go and check that video out I would appreciate that Oh, yeah, and Michael Moriarty shows up being interviewed in this a lot like I told you I really like him as a character actor He's a quirky dude. He seems like but it's a lot of fun when he's being interviewed um because of the things he says about Larry Cohen and he's very he I mean he has a high opinion of Larry Cohen, which is great Uh, but also just like you get the idea that he's a quirky dude, and I I like that. Um Yeah, and that and that's basically it overall I think this was really good if you like documentaries, especially if you like horror documentaries that kind of give you a background into people's Careers, but also, you know the behind the scenes on films. I think you'd really like this granted This isn't all about horror it covers some horror stuff like it's alive and uh cue the wing and serpent and the stuff But it also like I was talking about it covers like the black exploitation films They did it covers uh the show branded he worked on Also things like he tried he wanted to do like a lot of like fbi kind of spy films and stuff like that So it covers those things. So it's it's a mix, but um if you want to know about Larry Cohen, definitely check this out So out of five stars with half stars in play. I'm going to give this a four star rating. I think it's a very solidly good Um documentary and I would highly recommend it to people to check out, especially if you don't know a whole lot about Larry Cohen Check it out seemed like a great guy. Um Sad that he's gone, but thanks everyone for checking this out Please do me a favor hit that subscribe button literally takes you a second and it's totally painless Uh put it some comments down there if you've seen this and you want to talk about it Or if you haven't seen it and you want to talk about I don't know just do it Or if you just want to talk in general you can give me some thumbs up But please hit that subscribe until next time keep it brutal