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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The setting is today, in a small rural area. The school is small and a neighborhood grocery store sells hardware and other miscellaneous items to the locals. Nearby there is a small country store that sells grain to farmers and has a corner table where locals come to drink beer and play poker. Houses are old and unpretentious, suggesting a lower income community.
The home Timmy and Alina live in is a bit of a structure that has seen better days, a shack, almost secluded and lost in the unkempt trees and brush that surround it. The road in front is paved, but only occasionally busy with passing traffic.
Grandpa Theo, who is close to Timmy and Alina by mutual adoption, lives next door. Theo is retired and uses his social security income to help Timmy and Alina with their needs.
Timmy was born to Alina out of a rape situation, and has an undeveloped heart valve that will require a transplant if he is to survive. This is the story of the often heart-breaking ordeal and endless pursuit of a new heart to keep Timmy alive.
The interactions with the townspeople, neighbors who care, those who control the organ transplant processes, evil and greedy people who would do anything for money, and the playboy who turns sympathetic to the plight of Timmy and the efforts of Theo to secure the transplant for Timmy keeps you wishing, wanting, crying and caring for the outcome.
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