Larry Cohen is one of those kinda self-made filmmakers that I can't help but have a healthy amount of respect for. He's not quite Roger Corman-level self-made(though interestingly Samuel Z. Arkoff "presented Q), but he's darned impressive nonetheless. I think that one of the things that impresses me most about him is his skill as a writer. Not to say that his films are best picture material or anything, but almost all of them are solid genre/exploitation films that are interesting and stand out amongst a ton of less-than-impressive efforts I've come across from his contemporaries. It's clear that at a certain point(& certainly today), a filmmaker does not have to make a good film for it to be successful, but Cohen is a much more thoughtful dude than that. His stories are often quite unique or at least take familiar material and bring something new to it. I know that's a big part of the reason he's become the cult director he is today. Another of Cohen's great talents is his ability to work in a bunch of different genres. Horror, drama, action; he is equally adept at each.
Another part of Q's particular cult appeal is the cast. David Carradine and Richard Roundtree play a couple cops investigating a series of bizarre murders. That right there is enough to get my attention. Then you've got Michael Moriarty, the crown jewel of Cohen's stock company of actors. The two worked together a bunch, always to great effect. Moriarty is a great fit for Cohen in that he too is a very versatile guy. Here he plays a small-time thief who stumbles upon the nest of some kind of giant flying creature in the dilapidated upper-regions of an old skyscraper. Said creature is gobbling up New Yorkers in bunches each day so needless to say, the cops are a bit desperate to find it. Moriarty's character, Jimmy Quinn, finally sees an opportunity to capitalize on his exclusive knowledge of the creature's whereabouts.

DARK ANGEL aka I COME IN PEACE(1990; Craig R. Baxley)
Dolph Lundgren. There can be only one such fellow. Ivan Drago, The Punisher, He-Man. He is all these things and much more. I must say I've been pleased to see him get a bit of a renaissance via THE EXPENDABLES movies in recent years.

The disc includes a nice 25 minute retrospective featurette on the making of the film, featuring director Craig R. Baxley, Dolph Lundgren, & Brian Benben. Early on, Baxley talks about how the film was initially sold to him as a $25-30 million production, but that that budget was substantially reduced to $5-7 million as soon as he actually signed on. Thankfully, Baxley comes from stunt work as does his family so they had the knowhow to get things done action-wise safely and cheaply. The stunts & action in the film have always been memorable for me and I'm all the more impressed to know the budget level this film was what is was and what they pulled off.
Both films can be purchased via Shout Factory's website:
http://www.shoutfactory.com/
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