• PDI Press

    PDI Press

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 2

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

    PDI Press
    January 16, 2022

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

    PDI Press
    January 15, 2022 3

    Featured

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    John E. Meredith
    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 2
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Marvel at the Movies
    • Muppets 101
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews

    Reviews

    Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

    Movies
    June 8, 2025 6

    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025)

    Reviews
    June 7, 2025 14

    Until Dawn (2025)

    Reviews
    June 5, 2025 8

    Featured

    Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    Movies
    June 8, 2025 6
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews

    Interviews

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397

    David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

    Interviews
    March 7, 2017 223

    Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

    Interviews
    September 29, 2016 8

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

    Interviews
    July 28, 2016 61

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

    Interviews
    July 27, 2016 3

    Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

    Interviews
    April 16, 2016 3

    Featured

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    The Final Girl
    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397
  • News

    News

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    News
    February 9, 2025 19

    “PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT” UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR – A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON!

    News
    November 15, 2023 74

    Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

    Shot for Shot
    February 1, 2023

    Featured

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    Paul Brian McCoy
    News
    February 9, 2025 19
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Shop
Breaking
  • Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
  • From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025)
  • Until Dawn (2025)
  • Havoc (2025) / Novocaine (2025)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
    Home
    Movies

    Advance Review – King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen

    Mike Burr
    Movies
    July 12, 2018

    As multiplexes become ever more populated with super heroes, sequels, and sequels to super hero movies, the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on each behemoth are settling to deliver the same bombast under a different title. While some theater goers are still plugged in to this Hollywood hamster wheel, seeking even bigger thrills amid countless shared universes, remakes, and licensed properties, others have become nostalgic for the heady days of the Seventies and Eighties, where the market was structured such that someone with a minimum of funding, some hungry actors, and the right amount of chutzpah could get a film made. Drive-ins, grindhouse theaters, and the VHS market were driven by cheap, lurid product. While a great number of these films were dreck and have justifiably become as extinct as VCRs and Saturday double-features, a few of these films, owing to their inventiveness, audacity, and occasional quality have weathered the test of time and await discovery by movie hounds exhausted by mega-spectacle overload. The work of the maverick filmmaker Larry Cohen is an exemplar of this kind of material. The documentary King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen offers a retrospective on the man, his work, and the idiosyncrasies that made both great.

    The “fondly remembering genre films” documentary has become a genre unto itself, with reverent features being produced to laud the B-movie godfather Roger Corman, two separate chronicles of Cannon films, in-depth studies of the Filipino and Australian grindhouse scenes, and process pictures as varied as Best Worst Move (about the making of Troll 2), Burden of Dreams, and the still unequaled American Movie. King Cohen fits easily in among these films, given the length and breadth of Cohen’s career and the many leaps of faith he has taken to create and maintain it. There are plenty of excellent talking heads, including Martin Scorsese, John Landis, Joe Dante, Rick Baker, and many of the actors from Cohen’s films, including muse Michael Moriarty. Both Cohen’s ex and current wife are also on hand to give a picture of the creator away from the set. Director Steve Mitchell, whose writing credit on Chopping Mall indicates his familiarity with Cohen’s province in the film industry, has done the legwork to give each of the director’s films its due.

    Though getting the background on the baby effects in It’s Alive from Rick Baker and the iconic Andy Kaufman scene in God Told Me To is invaluable for Cohen fans, the real star here is the man himself, first glimpsed pining for recognition at a sci-fi convention. He later holds forth like Robert Evans in The Kid Stays in the Picture, relating seemingly impossible stories of his rise through the golden age of television and the frustration with the Hollywood system that motivated his decision to work on the margins of the film industry. Here Cohen is truly in his element, dropping names and details on his triumphs and failures.

    Early in the film, he reveals his original desire was to be a borscht belt comedian. He uses these impulses to good effect, whether talking about shaming Fred Williamson into doing stunts for Black Caesar or offering with a straight face that Q the Winged Serpent is the second best giant monster movie ever made. The tone, even when discussing the Bette Davis misfire Wicked Stepmother or two whiffs at establishing a Mike Hammer franchise, is a blend of New York pragmatism and Catskills yuks, overlaid with an “ain’t life grand” nostalgia.

    The one real drawback to the film is that this tone seems to permeate the film, from the director’s remembrances to the testimonials offered by actors, contemporaries, and even his ex-wife. As a seasoned viewer of show business documentaries, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the accolades kept coming. The one holdout here is Fred Williamson, who calls bullshit on some of Cohen’s stories from Black Caesar and also speaks freely about his experience working with Cohen on 1996’s Original Gangstas. Williamson’s frank assessment of Cohen’s take on events and refusal to go along with the saccharine sentiments of the other interviewees hint at another, more compelling film that might have existed. Though King Cohen is fine as a reverent tribute, putting Cohen in the same room with Williamson for ninety minutes would have been riveting.

    The same goes for the discussion of “stealing” scenes, a practice that enhanced the realism of Cohen’s films and helped them come in under budget. It is treated with kid gloves during the discussion of Cohen’s method, though more than once in the film, it is mentioned that unsuspecting civilians were endangered and that such shenanigans would not be possible in a post 9/11 world. Interviewees offer a smile and a shrug, perhaps wishing for the good old days, but some of the footage looks genuinely reckless and the false alarm Cohen triggered on the set of Q is no laughing matter in the age of swatting and mass shootings. Again, a more critical eye on the subject would elevate the film and silence the nagging doubt that King Cohen might just be another Larry Cohen production.

    That said, King Cohen is a worthy entry into the movie documentary category, and a fine introduction for film buffs looking to up their knowledge of malicious yogurt and homicidal babies. Cohen’s filmography has and will continue to speak for itself, but the filmmaker and his assorted family and associates do an excellent, if somewhat sanitized job of depicting how this singular filmmaker’s unique brand of magic has traveled to the silver screen.

    King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen hits theaters July 20!

    (Visited 134 times, 1 visits today)

    Related

    Fred WilliamsonKing CohenLarry CohenMichael MoriartyMike BurrSteve Mitchell

    FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
    Previous The Xeno File: Bakumatsu Taiyōden / Sun In The Last Days Of The Shogunate
    Next Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel
    monsterid
    Mike Burr
    Mike Burr is a dedicated social democrat, handyman, and physical science teacher who currently resides in the Deep South. He can often be found prowling the streets of his neighborhood with his canine companion, wreaking havoc on property values. A recent addition to his has necessitated moving most of his movie viewing online. Some current picks from his queue include Out of the Furnace, Blue Ruin, Prince Avalanche and This Must Be the Place. Mike has written mostly about music, and has interviewed everyone from Bootsy Collins to Josh T. Pearson to Jay Reatard to Katy Perry. He is excited to be trying his hand at film reviews, even though his last try ended in an internet beef with Wil Wheaton.

    Related Posts

    Q Clearance

    Mike Burr
    PDI Press Writers
    March 4, 2021

    In Memoriam: Sir Sean Connery (1930-2020)

    psychodr
    Shot for Shot
    November 15, 2020 3

    Daily Top Ten

    • nightmare-07Freddy’s Sweater: Revisiting A Nightmare on Elm St… by The Final Girl
    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • Superman-II-headerSuperman II (1980) by John Clark
    • Uzumaki_3Uzumaki (2000) by Matthew Fantaci
    • Punisher_RedA Work in Progress: The Punisher (1989) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • night-specterAnything Joes: Backstock Blacksite – Night… by Greg Engle
    • Alien POVThe Darkest Hour (2011) Blu-ray Review by Paul Brian McCoy
    • Evil-Dead-13-08Lost in Translation 132: Evil Dead by Scott Delahunt
    • Hannibal – Season 2Hannibal 2.05 “Mukozuke” by Amanda Lafond
    • final-girl-scream4-12Scream 4: Sidney’s Final Kill by The Final Girl
    400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

    Weekly Top Ten

    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • AT606-visionAdventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
    • DS-headerDungeons & D-Listers: Deathstalker (1983) by Alex Wolfe
    • ballerina-headerFrom the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • MacbethShakespeare’s Macbeth (2010) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • hills-have-eyes-02The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
    • one-eye-headerPOPCORN CINEMA 23: THEY CALLED HER ONE EYE (aka,… by John E. Meredith
    • nightmare-07Freddy’s Sweater: Revisiting A Nightmare on Elm St… by The Final Girl
    • babylon-5-blu-ray-04Babylon 5 Complete Series Blu-ray Review by Paul Brian McCoy
    • predator-killer-of-killers-headerPredator: Killer of Killers (2025) by Paul Brian McCoy

    psychodrivein

    We came here to chew bubblegum and write intelligent reviews and commentary on cult TV and movies! And we're all out of bubblegum!

    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Predator: Kill Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

With Predator: Killer of Killers, Predator fans are feasting, baby!!
—
Read more of Paul’s review at the link in our profile!

#Predator #PredatorKillerOfKillers #KillerOfKillers #DanTrachtenberg #LindsayLaVanchy #DamienCHaas #LouisOzawa #RickGonzalez #MichaelBiehn #JoshuaWassung #MichoRobertRutare
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com From the World Today at https://psychodrivein.com

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025)

I can’t wait to see more Ballerina films. Seriously. I want one right now.

—

Read more of Paul’s review at the link in our profile 

#Ballerina #JohnWick #FromTheWorldOfJohnWickBallerina #AnaDeArmis #KeanuReeves #IanMcShane #AngelicaHuston #GabrielByrne #DavidCataneda #LenWiseman #ShayHatten #ChadStahelski #NormanReedus #LanceReddick
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 05: Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 

Join Paul and John in the fifth episode of the Psycho Drive-In podcast, where they delve deep into the universe of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
—
Listen to the guys at the link in our profile!

#PsychoDriveIn #ThePsychoDriveInPodcast #KillBill #QuentinTarantino #LadySnowblood #Arena #FemalePrisonerNumber701Scorpion
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Until Dawn (20 Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Until Dawn (2025)

If you’re going to be Until Dawn in name only, why not just be that original horror idea and let someone else actually adapt Until Dawn as it was? 
—
Read more of Nate’s review at the link in our profile!

#UntilDawn #DavidFSandberg #PeterStormare #EllaRubin
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 04: Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning (Part One)

In this week’s Psycho Drive-In Podcast, Paul and John delve into the world of espionage and high-octane action with a focus on Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.
—
Listen to the guys at the link in our profile!

#PsychoDriveIn #PsychoDriveInPodcast #MissionImpossible #MissionImpossibleDeadReckoning #ArmyOfShadows #TheBourneLegacy
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Havoc (2025) / Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Havoc (2025) / Novocaine (2025)

Both Havoc and Novocaine are fairly enjoyable escapes and reminders that action cinema can be some of the most gleefully transporting sensory experiences.
—
Read more of Nate’s reviews at the link in our profile!

#Havoc #TomHardy #GarethEvans #Novocaine #JackQuaid #AmberMidthunder #ForestWhitaker
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 03: Sinners

In this episode, Paul and John discuss their recent film binges, and review Sinners.
—
Listen to the boys at the link in our profile!

#ThePsychoDriveInPodcast #PsychoDriveIn #Sinners #RyanCoogler #MichaelBJordan #JackOConnell #HaileeSteinfeld #MilesCaton #DelroyLindo #WunmiMosaku #LiJunLi
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S02E28 - File Card Focus: Recoil

Greg and Jaren take a deep dive into the world of Recoil?
—
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoes #FileCardFocus #Recoil
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Thunderbolts* Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Thunderbolts* (2025)

But damn, the Thunderbolts* really got to me.
—
Read more of John’s review at the link in our profile!

#Thunderbolts #MarvelStudios #Marvel #FlorencePugh #SebastianStan #DavidHarbour #HannahJohnKamen #JuliaLouisDreyfus #LewisPullman #OlgaKurylenko #WyattRussell
    Follow on Instagram

    Look Who's Talking

    Shawn EH
    Shawn EH - 5/4/2025
    Thunderbolts* (2025)
    Yep, very well done; avoiding the big flashy battle that these heroes (can any of you fly?)...
    Ideonova
    Ideonova - 12/26/2024
    Page to Screen: F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep
    Not living up to the source material? What source material? The book is a predictable, at times...
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr. - 8/17/2024
    Cahiers du Horror 03: Frank Henenlotter and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die
    I need to see that again. Maybe make it a double feature with All of Me. Steve Martin is someone you...
    RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

    Archives

    Large_rectangle_336X280
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    Type to search or hit ESC to close
    See all results
    Username
    Password
    Remember Me
    Lost password?
    Create an account
    Username
    Email
    Cancel
    Enter username or email
    Cancel