God Told Me To (1976): RSR MOVIE REVIEW
Reviewed by Geno McGahee
We begin with a busy city and a sniper randomly taking people out. A poor guy on a bike is shot and killed, and then some poor sap just walking the street and minding his own business. One by one, people are killed. Detective Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) climbs up the tower to speak with the sniper and he asks him why he did it. “God told me to,” he notes before jumping to his death.
A police officer in a big parade opens fire on the crowd. As he lies on the ground after being shot, on the verge of death, he says: “God told me to.” A man kills his two young children and sits in his chair happy, and tells the police how beautiful it is because God told him to. This was incredibly compelling at first.
Nicholas is informed of a guy that is seen with all of the murderers, but nobody can seem to make out what he looks like. Some even say that he is “glowing.” Others say that he is a blur. Nicholas eventually gets the name of the guy and the story of a virgin birth arises. The story of a naked woman running to a car and claiming that something very strange happened to her makes this case even that much more odd.
Nicholas comes face to face with the mystery man and soon finds out just what he is and is also surprised to find out something about himself, and this is where the movie that was very interesting totally collapses. This reminds me of KNOWING with Nicolas Cage. The movie is outstanding until the ending. They just couldn’t think of a great way to end it.
GOD TOLD ME TO is so compelling at first but then loses it at the end. I highly recommend it, but I wish that they thought of another way to wrap it up.
RSR Rating: 7.5/10….could have been a classic if they ended it correctly.