Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 20, 2008

SHOOTING STARS: Return of the 'Astro-Zombies'
by Carol Cling
(Excerpt)

You can’t keep a good astro-zombie down.

The same goes for grindhouse auteur Ted V. Mikels, at right, who recently premiered his latest horrorfest, "Demon Haunt," at the Clark County Library. (The debut was accompanied by a preview of the documentary "The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels," narrated by another cult fave, John Waters.)

Mikels, a longtime Las Vegan, begins production this week on "Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned" as a "sprawling ranch" in the southeast valley, where he can indulge his Area 51 fantasies to his heart’s content.

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SF360, September 18, 2008

Baloney Sandwiches with no cheese: Ted V. Mikels' wild world at the Clay
by Matt Sussman
(Excerpt)

It is only appropriate that Mikels’ life and work is being honored this weekend at the distinctly American forum for cinema’s lone wolves: the midnight movie. Landmark Theater’s Midnights at the Clay series is bringing Mikels to town, with his muse and partner Shanti, to screen his cult classics Blood Orgy of the She-Devils (1972) and The Corpse Grinders (1972) as well as Kevin Sean Michael’s new, John Waters-narrated documentary, The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels.

As evinced by Blood Orgy and Corpse Grinders, Mikels has a knack for titles. Scanning the list of over 20 movies he has directed, produced, written or been involved with in some way since 1963’s Strike Me Deadly, one comes across such fonts of imagistic suggestion as The Black Klansman (1966), The Astro-Zombies (1968, which horror punk band The Misfits named a song after), Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1972), Apartheid Slave Woman’s Justice (1997) and Cauldron: Baptism of Blood (2004). The titles also speak to the breadth of genres Mikels’ fervent imagination has covered: supernatural horror, science fiction, animals run amok, women-in-prison (Ten Violent Women, 1982), rape-revenge dramas (War-Cat, 1987) and Rambo-style shoot-em-ups (Mission: Killfast, 1991).

Mikels' vision has at times been prescient, even beating Hollywood to the punch—though often without receiving due credit. In Kevin Sean Michaels' documentary Russ Meyer vixen and Astro-Zombies star Tura Satana recounts bringing Aaron Spelling to a screening of Mikels’ buxom secret agent romp The Doll Squad (1973) at 20th Century Fox. Three years later "Charlie’s Angels" would sweep the Nielsen ratings and become a pop cultural force.

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AllMovie, September 18, 2008

The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
by Jason Buchanan

Vampira: The Movie director Kevin [Sean] Michaels explores the remarkable career of independent cinema pioneer Ted V. [Mikels] (no relation) in this documentary that manages to squeeze sixty years of cinematic innovation into one informative and entertaining film. The director of such beloved cult classics as The Astro-Zombies, The Worm Eaters, The Doll Squad, and The Corpse Grinders, [Mikels] gives his fans a tantalizing glimpse into his tried-and-true filmmaking techniques by demonstrating how to shoot a scene with actresses Masuimi Max and Black Betty, and then inviting the viewer into his studio for a look at his editing facilities. Additional conversations about the film industry, the fine art of showmanship, and his time spent living in an enormous mansion with a small harem of women reveal the true essence of this maverick filmmaker, and interviews with various actors who have worked with [Mikels] over the years highlight just what a formidable creative force he truly is.

Press release, June 2, 2008

John Waters to Narrate Documentary Film "The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels"

[Las Vegas, NV] "The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels," a new documentary by Kevin Sean Michaels ("Vampira: The Movie"), is a rollicking look at the independent cinema of Ted V. Mikels, who has been producing films for over 60 years. Mikels is considered a maverick of low-budget movie making and is still making movies at age 79. In "The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels," Mikels himself tells his fascinating life story.

Way before low-budget action films were termed "grindhouse," Ted was wowing audiences with his own special brand of guts, gore, humor, violence, and -- most of all -- style.

Filmmaker Ted V. Mikels was born on April 29, 1929 in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a child, Mikels was selected and cast out of a group of three hundred boys to play the son of Merle Oberon and William Powell in a Hollywood film. The film never went into production, but Mikels got the show business bug. At fifteen, Mikels began doing professional magic, ventriloquism, acrobatics and accordion solos. In 1960, the enterprising young Mikels relocated his wife and six children from Oregon to Hollywood with the film-cans of his first movie, "Strike Me Deadly." Mikels began steadily producing. "The Black Klansman," "The Corpse Grinders," "The Astro-Zombies, " Girl in Gold Boots" and "The Doll Squad" followed, and challenged the major movie studios by setting box-office records. Audiences for a Ted V. Mikels production were treated to gimmicks such as nurses and ambulances on hand at the theaters to assist "scared-to-death" moviegoers. His private life became legendary. In the 1970's, Mikels lived with a harem of women in a castle with secret passageways. In the 1980's, Mikels moved from California to Las Vegas, Nevada and opened a studio, where he has been producing movies ever since.

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