The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels

This could have been so much better with a little more effort, but it's just a breeze through look at the man and his career with little effort to probe deeper or even talk about money, distribution, etc. Needed more facts and less of Ted rambling.

Wild World of Ted V. Mikels, The (2008)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Enjoyable documentary about the 60+ year career of director Ted V. Mikels who is best known for his low-budget flicks like THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES, THE CORPSE GRINDERS and BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE DEVILS. This film runs just over two hours and they actually have John Waters doing the narration and Mikels himself gets quite a bit of screen time. The director discusses the previously mentioned films as well as THE DOLL SQUAD, his 80s war films and of course his most recent work like THE CORPSE GRINDERS 2 and MARK OF THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES. There's certainly nothing overly terrific about this documentary but at the same time it's the only thing we currently have that takes a look at Mikels and his work. What makes the documentary worth watching is the interview with Mikels where he shares his stories about the making of his films as well as some of the criticism he has received over the years. The director comes across as an entertaining and charming person and certainly someone you'd love to discuss films with. It's that same thing that left me somewhat disappointed that the film didn't focus more on his long career. We brief get shown his editing equipment and we hear him say a couple times where he had to sell everything he owned to get a movie made. These stories are the most interesting thing here so I really wouldn't have enjoyed more of this stuff. This guy stuck around the business long after most had went into something else or simply retired so it would have been more entertaining hearing some of the stories about the trouble with low-budget films and how money did have to be raised. Francine York, Shanti and Tura Satana are among those interviewed.

THE WILD WORLD OF TED V. MIKELS is a straight documentary exploring the career of the cult Z-grade American director, directed by his own son. It takes a traditional approach to the narrative, beginning with Mikels' origins as a stage magician before moving on to his film career in a chronological order.

As usual, copious clips from the films discussed are the order of the day here, along with interview footage. Mikels himself is a verbose character and the likes of Tura Satana show up to add insight. It's an entertaining career retrospective, and dare I say it, more enjoyable than pretty much all of the films actually directed by Mikels himself.