By MICHAEL GINGOLD
It’s the latest in the company’s long series of docs celebrating the underside of film history.
As reported earlier today, Severin Films’ documentary. THE DEGENERATE: THE LIFE AND FILMS OF ANDY MILLIGAN will have its world premiere at this summer’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It will screen June 11, 12 and 14 at the fest; tickets go on sale April 29 at the fest website. Severin has now released more details on THE DEGENERATE, which it produced with Monocular Films.
“He was a pioneer of avant-garde theater, trailblazer of early Queer cinema, and remains one of the most divisive talents in exploitation/horror history. But what is the truth behind Andy Milligan and his ‘depraved, desperate, and damned’ (Time magazine) legacy? THE DEGENERATE: THE LIFE & FILMS OF ANDY MILLIGAN explores the bile, brutality, and intermittent brilliance of ‘The Fassbinder of 42nd Street’ (Artforum).
“The picture is directed by Josh Johnson (REWIND THIS!) and Grayson Tyler Johnson (BOB MORGAN’S JUST GOING TO TELL SOME STORIES) and features interviews with Gerald Jaccuzo, Hope Stansbury, Jimmy McDonough, Stephen Thrower, Sam Sherman, John Borske, Robert Berlin, Ken Lane, Bob Likola, and Alex DiSanto–as well as excerpts from a recently discovered interview with Milligan himself, the only one known to exist. The film is produced by Josh Johnson; executive produced by Carl Daft and David Gregory; and co-produced by Andrew Furtado, Nicole Mikuzis, and Deanna Rooney.
“Milligan’s low-budget productions–on which he served as writer, director, cinematographer, editor, set decorator, and costume designer and included such ‘classics’ as THE GHASTLY ONES, BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS, GURU THE MAD MONK, TORTURE DUNGEON, and THE RATS ARE COMING! THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE!–were predominantly period melodramas fueled by themes of sadism, incest, and misogyny bathed in bottom-of-the-barrel gore effects, filmed on Staten Island (and for a brief period, London) and forever consigned to grindhouse purgatory. Yet via revealing interviews with a gallery of Milligan’s performers, enablers, co-conspirators, and his biographer–along with copious clips from his deranged oeuvre–a portrait emerges of a gutter auteur who battled and antagonized his own demons to become one of the most transgressive outsider artists of the 20th century.
“Joining THE DEGENERATE at Tribeca 2025 are the World ‘Re-Premieres’ of two lost Milligan films, vanished for over a half-century: 1967’s THE DEGENERATES and 1968’s KISS ME, KISS ME, KISS ME! Lovingly remastered by Severin Films in 2K, the double feature of lost exploitation are an absolute must-see on the big screen for fans of avant-garde cinema.”
