American filmmaker Ted V. Mikels holds a unique position as one of the most unconventional directors of exploitation cinema. Famous for his eccentric home life (he once lived with a harem in a castle with secret passageways) and promotional gimmicks (he was known for having nurses and ambulances on hand to assist "scared-to-death" moviegoers), Mikels is now considered a pioneering master of low-budget movie making.
Examples of Mikels' influence can be seen everywhere: from music (punk band The Misfits wrote a tribute song called "The Astro-Zombies"), to Mikels' film The Doll Squad being the template for the television series Charlie's Angels, to inspiring the look of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.
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When it comes to staging mass terror at some of the world's most recognizable landmarks, Martin Schmitt knows how to make it all look very real - and definitely very scary.
Schmitt is the second unit director in London and Berlin for TVM Global Entertainment's upcoming blockbuster movie, Astro Zombies M4: Invaders From Cyberspace. The film is the fourth in the immensely popular Astro Zombies franchise, first created back in 1968 by director Ted V. Mikels.
"Martin created absolute sheer panic at the Brandenburg Gate," said associate producer Richard Lester. "He assembled a huge crowd of extras and had them flee on foot, on bicycles, mini-vehicles - all in total chaos. I wouldn't be surprised if a few real tourists got caught up in the crowd and started running alongside the actors as well!"
"In the past, we had the Astro Zombies attacking various places in America," said Mikels from his headquarters in Las Vegas.
"Now for the first time, they have been spawned over the internet and are rampaging across the globe."
"I know they definitely raised the concern level of the German police on security detail at the historic Reichstag Building in Berlin," said Lester. "I think the officers' pulses started racing when Martin had the Astro Zombies pull out machetes and start chasing people down in front of the building."
Meanwhile, in the United States, assistant director Gary Lester is quietly preparing to blow up an Astro Zombie infestation on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
"When you're working with Ted V. Mikels, there is no limit on what the imagination can conjure up for the screen," said Lester. "I have no doubt that this production will be the crown jewel in Ted's collection."
For more information about Astro Zombies M4: Invaders From Cyberspace, please visit Ted V. Mikels' official website at www.tedvmikels.com.
Be sure to watch the teaser trailer on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCav5pBwdzk.