Directing

Gary P. Cohen

Born 1952-03-11 · New York

Gary P. Cohen is the producing director of Plays-in-the-Park, a respected summer theater in New Jersey, where he has directed more than fifty plays and musicals. In the early 1970s he founded a 100-seat semiprofessional theater, where he honed his craft before joining Plays-in-the-Park in the 1980s. He is the author of The Community Theater Handbook (Heinemann, 2003). Cohen has co-authored Off-B'way's Frankenstein, A New Musical and A High School Monster Musical with Mark Baron, as well as The Reluctant Dragon. A former William Morris agent, Cohen has also written and directed three 80's cult shot-on-video horror films: Video Violence Video Violence Il, and Captives, currently on DVD & Blu-ray.

Acting credits

VHS Revolution poster
6.3

Using testimonies by pioneers and witnesses of the times, delve into the feverish visual culture the media generated – with far-fetched examples of canine television games, seduction manuals, aerobics class while holding a baby, among others.

VHS Revolution

2017

Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector poster
6.5

A documentary capturing the modern day VHS culture and VHS collectors.

Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector

2013

Video Violence Part 2 poster
5.8

The killers are back and now hosting their own TV show broadcast secretly from their basement. They examine the fine art of murder, letting other aspiring psychos send in videos of their handiwork for the world to enjoy.

Video Violence Part 2

1988

Pizza Party Massacre poster
10.0

Petey Monahan, or as the bullies call him, "Pizza Face," is a quiet, acne faced boy who loves working at his father's pizza shop, Pizza World. But, after a childish prank goes awry, Petey gets trapped in a burning pizza delivery car and is left for dead...or so they thought. Now, Petey is back with a brand new look and is hungry for revenge. Who gets the last slice? Find out...in PIZZA PARTY MASSACRE!

Pizza Party Massacre

2024

Captives poster
5.0

Referred to as “the most accomplished SOV horror film from this era,” Captives, is the sophomore effort of director Gary Cohen (Video Violence 1&2). Three weirdoes invade the home of a well-to-do family while the husband is at work. They aren't there to steal anything; they have a video they want to show the wife. On it is the past life of her husband, something much more violent and drug-fueled than she ever could have expected. When things go wrong for the invaders and blood gets shed, the wife must reconcile what she has seen and what she knows, and her new knowledge of the past makes her future unthinkable.

Captives

1988

S.O.V. The True Independents poster
NR

Series dedicated to preserving the legacy of shot on video horror movies. Hear the true stories from the innovators themselves on these important works in cinema history.

S.O.V. The True Independents

2018

Halloweenville poster
10.0

Join Gary P. Cohen, director of Video Violence, Video Violence 2, and Captives aka Mama's Home as he travels to the seemingly normal small town of Lambertville, NJ and watches it transform into Halloweenville.

Halloweenville

2011

Frankenstein (I Swear on My Mother's Eyes) The True Story poster
8.0

A shot-on-video straight-to-television comedy adaptation of the Frankenstein story. Co-written by, and starring Gary Cohen (director of Video Violence).

Frankenstein (I Swear on My Mother's Eyes) The True Story

1983

Holiday Horror poster
NR

An anthology film featuring three tales of Halloween hijinx, Thanksgiving terror, and Christmas carnage.

Holiday Horror

2027

Behind the camera

Video Violence poster
5.9

A couple open a video store in a new town, and come to find out that the locals only rent horror films and the "occasional triple X'er", and make their own snuff videos.

Video Violence

1987

Video Violence Part 2 poster
5.8

The killers are back and now hosting their own TV show broadcast secretly from their basement. They examine the fine art of murder, letting other aspiring psychos send in videos of their handiwork for the world to enjoy.

Video Violence Part 2

1988

Video Violence Part 2 poster
5.8

The killers are back and now hosting their own TV show broadcast secretly from their basement. They examine the fine art of murder, letting other aspiring psychos send in videos of their handiwork for the world to enjoy.

Video Violence Part 2

1988

Frankenstein - A New Musical poster
10.0

A faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley's original novel, Frankenstein, The Musical is a thrilling, new interpretation of the classic tale of horror and romance. The story follows Victor Frankenstein, the scion of a wealthy Swiss family, whose scientific genius leads him to a great, audacious experiment: to create a human life.

Frankenstein - A New Musical

Captives poster
5.0

Referred to as “the most accomplished SOV horror film from this era,” Captives, is the sophomore effort of director Gary Cohen (Video Violence 1&2). Three weirdoes invade the home of a well-to-do family while the husband is at work. They aren't there to steal anything; they have a video they want to show the wife. On it is the past life of her husband, something much more violent and drug-fueled than she ever could have expected. When things go wrong for the invaders and blood gets shed, the wife must reconcile what she has seen and what she knows, and her new knowledge of the past makes her future unthinkable.

Captives

1988

Captives poster
5.0

Referred to as “the most accomplished SOV horror film from this era,” Captives, is the sophomore effort of director Gary Cohen (Video Violence 1&2). Three weirdoes invade the home of a well-to-do family while the husband is at work. They aren't there to steal anything; they have a video they want to show the wife. On it is the past life of her husband, something much more violent and drug-fueled than she ever could have expected. When things go wrong for the invaders and blood gets shed, the wife must reconcile what she has seen and what she knows, and her new knowledge of the past makes her future unthinkable.

Captives

1988

Halloweenville poster
10.0

Join Gary P. Cohen, director of Video Violence, Video Violence 2, and Captives aka Mama's Home as he travels to the seemingly normal small town of Lambertville, NJ and watches it transform into Halloweenville.

Halloweenville

2011

Halloweenville poster
10.0

Join Gary P. Cohen, director of Video Violence, Video Violence 2, and Captives aka Mama's Home as he travels to the seemingly normal small town of Lambertville, NJ and watches it transform into Halloweenville.

Halloweenville

2011

Frankenstein (I Swear on My Mother's Eyes) The True Story poster
8.0

A shot-on-video straight-to-television comedy adaptation of the Frankenstein story. Co-written by, and starring Gary Cohen (director of Video Violence).

Frankenstein (I Swear on My Mother's Eyes) The True Story

1983

No artwork available
NR

Documentary about the cult Shot On Video Horror flick Video Violence, it's fans and it's legacy.

Video Violence: The S.O.V. That Wouldn't Die

2020