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Larry Cohen — news, coverage & facts — IJR

1970s

Although Cohen continued to write TV and film scripts during the 1970s – such as Columbo – he further turned his hand to directing. His directorial debut was the 1972 comedy film Bone (aka Beverly Hills Nightmare) starring Yaphet Kotto. Cohen directed Dial Rat for Terror (1973) and Housewife (1973) before creating the It's Alive series in 1974. He wrote, produced and directed the horror film It's Alive, about a mutant monster baby that embarks on a killing spree. The film – an initial commercial failure – was re-released with a new and sharper advertisement campaign; it went on to become a moderate success, earning over $7 million for Warner Bros. and spawning two sequels, It Lives Again (1978) and It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987).

Cohen followed-up It's Alive with the science-fiction serial killer film God Told Me To (1976), in which a New York detective investigates a spate of killings by apparently random people who say that God told them to commit the crimes. He concentrated his work predominantly within the horror genre throughout the 1970s and 1980s, often incorporating elements of crime, police procedural, and science fiction with scathing social commentary.

Cohen's It's Alive tells of a couple, Frank and Lenore Davis, who give birth to a mutated baby. The doctors and nurses at the hospital attempt to end the life of the deformed child, but it instead kills them and escapes. A police manhunt ensues as the fleeing mutation leaves dead bodies in its wake. Frank sees the child just as Dr. Frankenstein saw his monster and assists the police.

The emphasis in It's Alive is on the potential effects of chemicals to the ecosystem, and experimental prescription drugs that can be harmful to unborn babies. The score for It's Alive was composed by Bernard Herrmann, known for his contributions to many Alfred Hitchcock films, including Psycho, North by Northwest, and Vertigo. The welling strings, horn arrangements and harp glissandos throughout the film prefigure the soundtrack to Herrmann's final film score two years later for Taxi Driver. The cast includes John P. Ryan, Sharon Farrell, James Dixon, and Andrew Duggan.

It Lives Again (1978) picks up where the first one ended. More mutated babies are appearing around the country. Frank has now joined a renegade mob who are attempting to stop the government from killing these strange mutations. The emphasis in It Lives Again is on accepting one's child, even if it is born with deformities or disabilities. The score is again provided by Bernard Herrmann. The cast includes John P. Ryan, James Dixon, Andrew Duggan, and Frederic Forrest.

2000s

Cohen's output after the 1990s was less prolific and concentrated solely on scriptwriting, except for a brief return to directing with the Masters of Horror episode "Pick Me Up" (2006). His first project, Phone Booth (2002), became involved in a Hollywood bidding war, the script eventually ending up in the hands of Joel Schumacher. Phone Booth was a commercial success with an estimated budget of $13 million and a worldwide gross of $98 million. The film starred Colin Farrell, Katie Holmes, Kiefer Sutherland, and Forest Whitaker; it was produced by David Zucker.

His next film, another action-crime thriller titled Cellular (2004), also featured phones and, like Phone Booth, it was a modest commercial success with an estimated budget of $25 million and a gross worldwide return of $50 million. Cellular starred Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, William H. Macy, and Jason Statham. Cellular was later re-made as Connected (2008), Cohen being credited with the story. He then scripted the horror-thriller films Captivity (2007) and Messages Deleted (2009); however, both films fared poorly on a critical and commercial level. Cohen nevertheless received acclaim for the above-mentioned Pick Me Up, which he directed for the Mick Garris TV series Masters of Horror (2006). The episode was written by splatterpunk-horror author David Schow, and starred Cohen regular Michael Moriarty.

In 2003, Cohen, together with production partner Martin Poll, was at the center of a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming the company had intentionally plagiarized a script of theirs titled Cast of Characters in order to create the Sean Connery-starring League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003. According to the BBC, the lawsuit alleged 'that Mr. Cohen and Mr. Poll pitched the idea to Fox several times between 1993 and 1996, under the name Cast of Characters.' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an adaptation of the 1999 published comic book series by Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill.

In 2006, Cohen was included in the Masters of Horror TV anthology, which also included – but was not limited to – writers and directors as diverse as Dario Argento, Clive Barker, John Carpenter, Richard Chizmar, Don Coscarelli, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, Joe Dante, Guillermo del Toro, Ernest Dickerson, Stuart Gordon, James Gunn, Sam Hamm, Tom Holland, Tobe Hooper, Lloyd Kaufman, Mary Lambert, John Landis, Joe R. Lansdale, Bentley Little, H.P. Lovecraft, Joe Lynch, William Lustig, Peter Medak, Lucky McKee, Kat O' Shea, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, David Schow, and Tim Sullivan. It was created by Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Cohen's contribution was the segment Pick Me Up, based on a short story by David Schow, who also wrote the teleplay. It stars Fairuza Balk and Cohen regulars Laurene Landon and Michael Moriarty. Pick Me Up is the story of woman traveling on a bus that has broken down along a stretch of lonely two-lane blacktop. Enter two serial killers: Wheeler (Moriarty), a driver who picks up hitchhikers with the sole intent of killing them – and – Walker (Warren Kole), a hitchhiker who accepts lifts in order to find his victims. The two killers pair up and inventively murder all the passengers on the bus, save for Stacia (Balk), who has since gone her own way. Stacia eventually winds up in the middle of a serial killer turf war, a war over which killer will get her first. Pick Me Up signaled a brief return to the director's chair for Cohen.

Josef Rusnak remade Cohen's It's Alive in 2009. Still awaiting a score on Rotten Tomatoes, the existing reviews are also very poor. Even Cohen admitted that the remake was dreadful and states: 'It's a terrible picture. It's just beyond awful'. Cohen offered his 1974 script but remarks that it was completely ignored: "I would advise anybody who likes my film to cross the street and avoid seeing the new enchilada."