Cobra (1986) – What Happened to This Horror Action Movie?

What do you get when you mix parts of an unrealized Beverly Hills Cop script, romantic thriller novel ‘A Running Duck’, and a leading man named Marion? Well, naturally…. a film with a body count of over fifty. A film where the original cut was so violent and so brutal it had to be heavily edited to avoid an X-rating by the MPAA. All starring Sylvester Stallone at the height of his popularity; cutting pizza with scissors in his apartment unreasonably close to an outrageously large neon Pepsi sign and murdering the bejesus out of some really bad dudes. Today, not knowing what the f*ck happened to Cobra is the disease… and we’re the cure. This is WTF happened to Cobra.

We’re not trying to make you fall for the old “banana in the tailpipe” when we tell you Stallone was originally supposed to star in Beverly Hills Cop. The Italian Stallion full of hubris had been cast as the loveable prankster Axel Foley, later iconized by Eddie Murphy. Stallone though, decided to rewrite the script to his liking resulting in the studio balking at the elaborate action sequences and inflated budget. Stallone would instead pair these ideas with the themes from the aforementioned 1979 romance thriller novel, ‘A Running Duck’ by Paula Gosling; An unexpected inspiration so inspirational, it ended with Gosling being given a writers credit on the film.

Stallone would once again team up with future Tombstone director George P Cosmatos who he had just worked with on Rambo: First Blood Part II. Though he would later lament not directing the film himself, saying, “Cobra, to me, was half baked. I could have done better but I wasn’t concentrating enough. I felt as though that’s something I should have directed, and I didn’t, and I regret that.”

Stallone came into Cobra fresh off Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part II. He had found himself regrettably engulfed in political conversation due to the violence in his films and their impact on the cultural fabric of America. Not only had Soviet leaders held an entire press conference complaining about the content in Rambo II, but he was facing heat at home as the media continuously misrepresented his work. Stallone complained, “I find it incredible, every time some local atrocity happens where a man puts on fatigue pants and takes a rifle and goes into a shopping center, it’s ‘Rambo murderer slays three’. Rambo doesn’t kill innocents.” One wonders if that sort of thinking inspired the opening to Cobra.

In the scene, a supermarket killer attempts to go on a rampage before Police Lieutenant Marion Cobretti shows up, swigs a beer and blasts him. Beforehand though, he specifies to the shooter, “I don’t deal with psychos. I put ‘em away”, followed by the classic line, “You’re a disease, and I’m the cure”. He mocks the lunatic’s poor shooting accuracy and reminds him they are nothing alike. “You wasted a kid….for nothing. Now I think it’s time to waste you.” It’s also worth mentioning that in Stallone’s original script this scene takes place in a movie theater and features far more innocent casualties before Cobra arrives.

It appeared thatrather than shying away from the violence or gore, Stallone embraced it even more. Seemingly in an attempt to show the stark contrast between the horrific violence committed by evil and the type of heroic violence his characters must employ against it. Violence against the innocent? Horrific. Violence against evil? Heroic. You can see both sides of this in Cobra when it veers in between the worlds of action and horror; Daytime or night.

Or maybe not. Stallone didn’t like for his characters thoughts to be divisive on these topics, saying, “The hardest part in doing a film like this is not to become too preachy with it. I let people kind of decide what they want from it. I think that you cannot lay out a ten course meal. You’ve got to lay out a buffet and let people take what they want.” But he would also hint at his own thoughts, admitting, “I have a great deal of sympathy for people that have been victimized and the perpetrator seems to just go free. The jungle has been totally reclaimed. You might say by the animals.”

The original script had driven this point further home as Marion’s backstory featured a girlfriend brutally murdered by a criminal he’d been unable to put away.

In the movie on screen, Marion Cobretti (named after John Wayne’s birth name Marion Robert Morrison) and his junk food loving partner Gonzales (played by a loveable Reni Santoni) are part of a “zombie squad” that handle the gnarliest of jobs other cops can’t. The fellas end up tasked with protecting a supermodel (played by Stallone’s wife at the time and supermodel herself, Brigitte Nielsen) who unknowingly witnesses a murder. She then ends up being attacked nightly by the perpetrators: A killer dubbed the Night Stalker and his cult, the “New World”.

Which, brings us to the shockingly potent horror aspect of Cobra. The villains. Sure, this flick is unmistakably a mid-80s, one liner dropping, kiss stealing, action extravaganza. Hell, there’s even one of the weirdest montages you’ll ever see when the needle drops on Rocky collaborator Robert Tepper’s ‘Angel of the City’. All as Cobra combs the city tattoo parlors for criminals and Bridgett Nielsen dances with robots. Seriously. But make no mistake about it: Cobra is dealing with some of the most horrific bad guys in all of action lore. Led by the physically imposing Night Slasher, played by Brian Thompson.

Thompson had the looks of a wrestler who ate NFL players for breakfast. Built for the 80s silver screen of larger than life characters. He had began his career in 1984’s Terminator and he wasn’t just physically imposing in Cobra. Between the characters demonic voice and weird sh*t they had him saying, he’s rather terrifying. You’d never guess that he almost missed out on the role because Stallone and Cosmatos thought he seemed “too nice” in early auditions. He and Cosmatos never did end up as fans of each other with Cosmatos once telling the actor, “You could have been good if you had listened to me”. Citing the fact that Thompson had repeatedly tried to get advice on his character’s backstory from an uninterested Stallone. Who would just reply that the character was “simply evil”.

Whether it’s the wild camera zooms on Thompson’s panty hose covered mouth as he delivers one of his lines, or just the batshittery of it all….he was unforgettable. A perfect villain for a movie like this because it truly feels like the type of bad guy only a Stallone-type character could stop.And we haven’t even gotten to the cult like force of “evil” behind him.

The film never gets very deep into the “why” of the “New World” criminal faction. These are just anarchy loving nut-jobs who are fueled by the blood of the innocent. The Police and press both believe it’s the work of a lone serial killer brutally murdering random people. But it’s actually a large cult that includes at least fifty people (who we see Cobra mow down by films end). There’s a “Cult of Thorn” like presence. Where even one of Cobra’s fellow detectives ends up a mole for their evil operation.

A previous script had Hellraiser’s Andrew Robinson (a needle-nosed detective in the film) as the true leader of the “New World”. He’s discovered when Cobra rips off his shirt during a scuffle to reveal a satanic tattoo. Instead, if you thought you felt bad watching Larry be emasculated in Hellraiser by his cheating wife? Wait until you see what a perfect sniveling little prick they make him in Cobra. Another undesirable role turned into a great performance by Robinson.

In the version we received, Cobra shows us plenty of the New World’s murder spree set against the nighttime backdrop of California, where most of it was filmed. Multiple haunting scenes take place where we see the group overtake innocent in their cars, homes, and parking garages. Murdering them with knives and axes. It’s pretty scary stuff.

The Night Slasher’s main weapon, a knife with sharp brasses knuckles, was designed by Herman Schneider, who says Stallone asked for a knife audiences would never forget. If you pay attention to the trailer for upcoming slasher Heart Eyes, you’ll see a weapon that appears to be inspired by it. But with horror, murder, and knives come the MPAA, who marked Cobra with the dreaded “X” rating due to extreme violence. It’s relatively easy to spot the moments where the camera cuts away from a sure to be brutal kill in a way that’s reminiscent of more than a few Friday the 13th sequels.

Then there’s the third act of the film where Marion mows down a Commando number of bad guys. Even then, there’s a creepy aspect to it all as panty hose clad bad guys drop from hotel skylights or suicide propel themselves into hotel rooms via motorcycle. Naturally, all of this ends in a one on one showdown in a fiery industrial plant. Where men settle sh*t.

It’s also where some haunting dialogue from Night Stalker “Do you want to go to Hell, Pig?” is followed up by an only in the 80s one liner “This is where the law stops and I start, sucker!” Ending with Cobra hanging the killer on a giant hook like we’re in some sort of Terminator/Leatherface crossover fever dream as the killer is sent to burn to death in the shooting flames. All this metal badassery was backed by a Sylvester Levay soundtrack that…. stop me if you’ve heard this before….fits both the action and horror genres of the 80s and 90s like a glove.

Speaking of gloves, you might also notice the stylistic choices of our psychopaths and neon lighting choices during certain scenes that lend an almost Fulci or Argento vibe to the production. Cobra fan Nicolas Winding Refn certainly took notice of the aesthetic. He even incorporated Ryan Gosling’s toothpick as an homage to Cobra’s match chewing habit in his hit film Drive.

Winding Refn or no, you won’t be surprised to learn Cobra didn’t win any “Critic’s Choice Awards” when finally released on Memorial Day weekend of 1986. Detective Monte’s snobby review of the character Cobra’s work may as well have been a “Rotten Tomatoes Consensus” when he said, “You kind of overdid it here. I personally would have looked for a more subtle solution. But that’s not your style.” But the box office responded the same way Cobra had responded to Monte. It punched them so hard in the face, they disappeared from the next frame.

Despite the critics disdain, Cobra came in #1 at the box office on opening weekend, landing $160 million overall on a $25 million dollar budget.

Fair or not, the movie was still looked at by some as a failure for failing to reach the heights of Stallone’s previous blockbuster franchises. Stallone himself said of the film that he’d wished he gave more, saying, “That’s one thing about making movies, aside from watching your hairline recede. You go, ‘God, Why didn’t I try harder?”.

He came close to having another go at the property in 2019, when he mentioned the possibility of making a Cobra television series with noted action director Robert Rodriguez. Sadly, for whatever reason, it hasn’t been brought up since.

There is still hope that the X-rated version of Cobra shows up somewhere. After all, Stallone famously recut and delivered his version of Rocky IV. Why not the same for Cobra? I know some horror fans who would definitely like to check out the cut that allegedly includes a slew of more violence and gore. Possibly up to 30 or 40 more minutes worth.

Scenes that include victims body parts being sent to the LAPD, extended kill sequences, and shots of the New World members at their day jobs integrated amongst society. Many of which replaced with clips of the cult doing their weird, axe touching, workout rituals in the theatrical cut. Basically, the horror version of what happens in Wayne’s World when he opens the door to people being trained like in James Bond movies.

It wasn’t just violence missing from the cut, either. After the success of Top Gun at the theaters the week before, Stallone and company decided to heavily cut the film even further to ensure one more screening per day at movie theaters, equaling more box office. It appears there’s an entire “Snyder cut” situation possible with this neglected horror action masterpiece. We’ll keep our axes touching and our fingers crossed.

Cobra may not have been for everyone. But neither was Marion Cobretti. Neither are a lot of the most entertaining horror and action films of the 80s and 90s. And they just don’t make them like this anymore.

A couple of the previous episodes of the show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!