Special Effects (1984)

Directed by

Larry Cohen

Genre

thriller film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 33m

Rated

R

Rating

4.8 of 10 from 46 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A struggling director murders a woman and then casts a lookalike in a film based on the crime. The new actress gets drawn into his twisted scheme as reality and fiction blur.

suspensefuldarkmetauneasygrittytwistedslow-pacedmanipulative

What happens

Special Effects is a 1984 American psychological horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Zoë Lund and Eric Bogosian. Its plot follows a New York City woman who is cast in a film by a struggling director based on a murder he committed and captured on film. Cohen based Special Effects on a screenplay he wrote in 1967 titled The Cutting Room. The film was shot on location in New York City in early 1984. The film received a limited theatrical release in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 30, 1984 through New Line Cinema before being released to home video in 1985. It was later screened as part of a retrospective on Cohen's films at The Public Theater in New York City in 1986. The film has been noted by some film scholars for its self-reflexive elements and references to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, particularly Juno and the Paycock (1930) and Vertigo (1958). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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