This review is the fifth and final in a Larry Cohen retrospective commissioned by Nate Biagiotti. It'll feature some fairly necessary spoilers. Many thanks to Nate for supporting Post-Credit Coda through our Patreon. All other film reviews in this retrospective can be found here.
Director: Larry Cohen
Writer: Larry Cohen
Cast: Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, Richard Lynch
Runtime: 91 mins.
1976
The New York streets buzz with activity. Crosswalks, business suits, herds of hustling feet. Chaos regulated by rhythms of normalcy. This immense dead-eyed choreography is shattered by a gunshot that flings a biker to the pavement. Like divine retribution raining down from above, victim after victim are shot dead as the intermingling throngs erupt in panic.
An unthinkable number of bodies later, police surround the lone shooter. He is hunkered up on a water tower, clinging to a rifle that had no business killing with such accuracy. Our protagonist Peter J. Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) rushes to the scene, informing his colleagues that he intends to talk with this man. After a nauseating climb, he engages the shooter in conversation, shares facts about his life. "We don't kill people we know, right?" The shooter gives off middle management vibes; he speaks with an alarmingly soft, high-pitched voice. What is the meaning of all the mayhem? "God told me to," he placidly informs Peter as a predatory helicopter hovers in the background. Then, in a confluence of sudden sound and jarring edit, he flings himself from the building.
