“Enough is never enough.”
Larry Cohen was the inspiration for our first zine, and the only filmmaker who we’ve devoted an entire issue to. He gave up his time for a lengthy transatlantic phone call from a fan with minimal credentials, and was funny, forthcoming and patient with some extremely geeky questions. He answered all of them before he had to sign off, but we could’ve picked his brains for hours more, on Black Caesar, God Told Me To, It’s Alive, Q, The Stuff and Wicked Stepmother.
And we could’ve written so much more – on the still unsung The Private Files of J Edgar Hoover, Special Effects, The Ambulance, the much-too-easily overlooked sequels A Return to Salem’s Lot and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive – because, thankfully, his filmography – especially as a writer (and so many unproduced scripts!) – has so much more great stuff to discover.
Larry wrote like a demon, could finish a script almost as quickly as it took him to dictate it, but he had a 700-page autobiography on the shelf, “Because I think that there’s more to write, there’s more to tell. So, I haven’t finished yet.” It was hard to believe he ever would, but if it’s anything like his films, it’ll be one hell of a book.
RIP, maestro.
What’s the best film you’ve never heard of? Our new Show + Tell event (at ISO Design, Glasgow on 23/10) invites guests simply to share a trailer and some of their unique perspective on cinema. Confirmed guests for the first Show + Tell include:
Physical Impossibility 