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Andrew Jackson Milligan Jr. (February 12, 1929 – June 3, 1991) was an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker, whose work includes 27 movies made between 1965 and 1988. Following a brief acting career, Milligan worked as a stage director in the off-off-Broadway milieu. He then turned to filmmaking, starting with an arthouse short but quickly moving to exploitation films. His works, all of them low-budget, include a number of horror films and are known for their violence, misanthropy and misogyny.

Key Information

Early life

[edit]

Andrew Jackson Milligan Jr. was born on February 12, 1929, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was a self-taught filmmaker and was responsible for much of the creative activity on his movies (including cinematography and costume design).

Milligan was an "army brat"; his father, Andrew Milligan Sr. (b. February 17, 1894, d. October 25, 1985), was an officer in the U.S. Army who served in the military for over 50 years (retiring in the mid-1960s holding the rank of captain). The family frequently moved around the country as a result of this. Milligan's mother, Marie Gladys Hull (b. June 10, 1900, d. November 12, 1953), was an overweight alcoholic with severe physical and mental health problems who served as an inspiration for some of Milligan's movie characters. Milligan's parents met and married in 1926. He was close to his father, who affectionately called him 'Junior', but had a troubled relationship with his mother who, according to family members, was both physically and mentally abusive towards all her children as well as her husband.[1]

Milligan had an older half-brother named Harley LeRoy Hull (b. July 10, 1924, d. February 17, 1998) and a younger sister named Louise Milligan Howe (b. May 27, 1931, d. January 2, 2021).

After finishing high school in 1947, Milligan enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving for four years. After his honorable discharge in 1951 he settled in New York City, where he acted on stage, and opened a dress shop.[1]

Career

[edit]

During the late 1950s, Milligan became involved in the nascent off-off-Broadway theater movement where he mounted productions of plays by Lord Dunsany and Jean Genet at the Caffe Cino, a small Greenwich Village coffeehouse that served as a hothouse for rising theater talent like Lanford Wilson, Tom Eyen and John Guare. Milligan also became involved with directing low-key theater productions at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During this period, he operated and designed for a clothing boutique named Ad Lib and used his dressmaking skills to costume many theatrical productions.[2]

In the early 1960s, Milligan began making movies. He met some of the actors for his early movies at Caffe Cino. His first released movie was a 30-minute black-and-white 16 mm short drama titled Vapors (1965). The movie, set on one Friday evening in the St. Mark's Baths, a gay bathhouse for men, portrays an emotionally awkward and unconsummated meeting between two strangers. Milligan was later employed by producers of exploitation films, particularly William Mishkin, to direct softcore sexploitation and horror features, many featuring actors known from the off-off Broadway theater community.[2]

Most of his early exploitation movie fell into the genre of morality play. Milligan's plays and movies explored topics of transgression and punishment, dysfunctional family relationships, repressed sexuality, homosexuality and physical deformity, and include such titles as Depraved! (1967), The Naked Witch (1967), The Promiscuous Sex (1967), The Degenerates (1967), The Filthy Five (1969), Gutter Trash (1969), The Ghastly Ones (1968), Seeds of Sin (1968), Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973), The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1973), and Guru, the Mad Monk (1970). Most of Milligan's early works are currently considered lost films.[2]

In 1966, Milligan set up his residence in a Victorian-era mansion located in St. George, Staten Island, within a mile walking distance of the Staten Island Ferry. The house soon became what he dubbed "Hollywood Central," where he filmed several of his movies. Milligan wrote, directed, built sets and sewed costumes for nearly all of his movies. His usual "stock company" often was supplemented by Staten Island locals.

Milligan's early movies were shot with a single hand-held 16-millimeter Auricon sound-on-film news camera. This technique was inspired by Andy Warhol and allowed Milligan to move the camera around at will, at times punctuating violent scenes with his "swirl camera" technique through which he would spin the camera and point it to the ground. Often working with budgets under $10,000, his movies feature very tight framing that helped cover his very low budgets, particularly in the case of the period pieces that were most of his horror movies. His ability to make movies with such low budgets is why Mishkin often hired him and Mishkin's influence on the 42nd Street grindhouse circuit meant that Milligan's pictures played there often. Milligan filmed all of his movies on short ends; using old and unused leftover film reels of 16 mm and later 35mm film that he acquired through various means from other film sets as a means to keep production costs down.[2]

In 1968, Milligan began to make horror movies featuring gore effects with The Ghastly Ones, a 19th-century period piece and his first color movie, produced by JER and titled by Sam Sherman. In 1969, he made his next horror movie, a medieval period piece titled Torture Dungeon, after which he moved to London, England to make movies there after having made a deal with producer Leslie Elliot. After directing the exploitation drama Nightbirds in London, his partnership with Elliot collapsed as he was working on The Body Beneath. Milligan then teamed with William Mishkin again where Mishkin produced and Milligan directed three more 19th-century period piece British horror pictures: Bloodthirsty Butchers, The Man With Two Heads, and The Rats Are Coming. The Werewolves Are Here (all shot in 1969). Milligan returned to Staten Island in 1970.

On his return to New York, Milligan wrote and directed another medieval period piece titled Guru the Mad Monk, which was shot for the first time with a 35mm Arriflex camera and filmed entirely inside the St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Chelsea, Manhattan. This movie was released in December 1970 on a double feature with The Body Beneath. Through the next years, Mishkin released Milligan's British-made pictures, some with additional scenes shot in New York. The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! was one of Mishkin's movies in which he had Milligan insert new killer rat scenes shot in New York, mostly at his new Staten Island house on Corson Street where Milligan lived during that time and filmed another horror period piece there in 1973, titled Blood.[2]

After directing the 1972 sexploitation drama Fleshpot on 42nd Street, Milligan's output was restricted mostly to gory horror movies as he moved to the southern tip of Staten Island in the Tottenville neighborhood where he lived in and owned and operated a dilapidated hotel located at the corner end of Main Street and Ellis Street right next to the southern end of Staten Island Railway (currently an Italian-themed restaurant named Vincent Angelina's Ristorante). On October 27, 1977, Milligan moved into 335 West 39th Street in Manhattan (a four-story building purchased for $50,000 by Milligan and stockholders), where he founded and ran the Troupe Theatre, an off-off Broadway venue above which he lived in a third-floor loft until he left New York City for good in March 1985. He moved to Los Angeles, where he briefly owned a dress shop on Highland Boulevard from late 1985 to early 1986. Milligan then directed three more independently produced horror movies in 1987 and 1988, which included Monstrosity, The Weirdo, and Surgikill as well as operated another theater and production company, called Troupe West, which ran until early 1990.[2]

In his non-fiction book about the horror genre titled Danse Macabre, Stephen King gives a short assessment of one of Milligan's movies: "The Ghastly Ones is the work of morons with cameras." Milligan developed a reputation as a maker of awful horror movies, featuring Herschell Gordon Lewis-type gore effects, both of which combined to give him a reputation as one of the worst directors of all time.[citation needed] The re-discovery of Fleshpot on 42nd Street—generally regarded to be his best work—in the 1990s by the Seattle-based video company Something Weird Video and the release of his biography in 2001 has made more widely known his theatrical background and the context to his work. Despite his modern-day recognition, most of Milligan's exploitation movies during the 1960s remain unseen because the prints were lost.

Personal life

[edit]

Milligan was openly gay, enjoyed S&M and had very few long-term relationships (all of which were with men).[1] In 1968, Milligan married Candy Hammond, a North Carolina stage actress and former "erotic dancer" who starred in several of his movies. The wedding service took place on February 24, 1968, at his Staten Island house located on 7 Phelps Place, which was still decorated for the movie shoot Seeds and attended by most of the crew people working on the movie as well as his father and Japanese stepmother (whom his father married in 1960 while Milligan Sr. was stationed in Japan). The wedding was not viewed seriously by any of the attendees because of Milligan's open homosexuality. According to Milligan's biographer Jimmy McDonough, Milligan decided to get married because he believed this could benefit his professional reputation. Candy divorced him the following year, apparently due to neglect as he was more focused on his film making career, and she shortly thereafter returned to her North Carolina hometown.[2]

Milligan had a reputation throughout his life of being demanding and bad-tempered, often provoking fights and arguments with actors, movie producers and financiers. It has been alleged that he was physically, emotionally, and sexually abusive to male and female actors on movie sets. Some have speculated that he had exactly the same mental health problems as his mother did (whom he always talked about in a negative light); either bipolar disorder or some type of schizophrenia or possibly Schizoaffective disorder which remained undiagnosed and untreated throughout his life. A non-smoker and non-drinker, Milligan was said to react badly and violently if those around him smoked cigarettes, drank alcoholic beverages or used any type of recreational drug. Milligan also never had a driver's license, relying on public transportation wherever he lived.[2]

One of Milligan's close friends was a Vietnam veteran and ex-convict named Dennis Malvasi (1950- ), who acted in Milligan's Troupe Theater in the late 1970s-early 1980s and also worked for Milligan as a crew person, transportation driver and even acted in one of Milligan's horror movies, Carnage in 1983. Malvasi was a former U.S. Marine and demolitions expert who was suspected in numerous abortion clinic bombings in New York state during the 1980s. After the Troupe Theater closed in 1985, Malvasi was the person who drove Milligan on a cross-country, four-day road trip during Milligan's move to Los Angeles. Later in 1987, Malvasi was arrested, convicted and served five years in a federal prison for the attempted bombing of another abortion clinic in New York City.[2]

Another one of Milligan's few close friends was character actor John Miranda (1926–2015), who starred as Sweeney Todd in Milligan's 1970 movie Bloodthirsty Butchers. Miranda later financially supported Milligan after his move to Los Angeles and assisted with medical expenses during Milligan's final years.[2]

Milligan's boyfriend in his later years was B. "Bobby" Wayne Keeton (nicknamed by acquaintances the "human toothpick" for his gaunt physical build) (1960–1989), a Louisiana-born hustler who worked as a slate man and even appeared in a small part in Monstrosity, one of Milligan's later movies, which he filmed in Los Angeles in late 1987. Keeton died from AIDS on June 20, 1989. It is probable that Milligan was infected with HIV by Keeton.[2]

Death

[edit]

In poor health from 1989, Milligan was diagnosed with AIDS some months after his lover Keeton died. He initially kept his condition a secret as he tried to continue working on writing stage play scripts and screenplays. Later, unable to find any more financial backers, he eventually closed down his theater and production company, Troupe West, in early 1990 and then completely withdrew from the public light altogether. In June 1990, Milligan confided in only two people the true state of his health; friend and actor John Miranda and writer-biographer Jimmy McDonough, who then became his part-time caregivers for the next 12 months.[2]

Andy Milligan died in the early morning hours of June 3, 1991, from complications to AIDS at the Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles, California, at age 62. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Los Angeles due to his poor financial situation on death.[2]

Filmography

[edit]

Actor

[edit]

Director and writer

[edit]
  • Vapors (1965, written by Hope Stansbury)
  • The Naked Witch (also known as The Naked Temptress, 1967, lost)
  • The Gay Life (1967, lost, documentary short film, co-directed by Clifford Solway; credited as Gerald Jackson)
  • Compass Rose (1967, released unfinished on the byNWR site)
  • The Degenerates (also known as Sex for Kicks, 1967, lost)
  • The Promiscuous Sex (also known as Liz, 1967, lost)
  • Depraved! (also known as Sin Sisters 2000 AD, 1967, lost)
  • Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me! (1968, lost)
  • The Ghastly Ones (also known as Blood Rites) (1968)
  • Tricks of the Trade (1968, lost)
  • The Filthy Five (1968, lost)
  • Seeds (also known as Seeds of Sin) (1968)
  • Gutter Trash (1968, lost)
  • The Bitch (also known as The Mongrel, 1968, unfinished, lost)
  • The Weirdo (original version, 1969 - unreleased, lost)
  • Torture Dungeon (1969)
  • Nightbirds (1970, released on DVD and Blu-ray as part of the BFI Flipside series, Milligan's last black-and-white movie, first UK production)
  • Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970)
  • The Body Beneath (1970)
  • Guru, the Mad Monk (1970)
  • Dragula (1971, gay pornographic adult movie - uncredited, lost)
  • The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1972, also known as Curse of the Full Moon - filmed in 1969)
  • The Man with Two Heads (1972, filmed in 1969 - last UK production)
  • Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1972)
  • Supercool (also known as Sharon) (1973, unfinished, unreleased, lost)
  • Blood (1974)
  • Legacy of Blood (also known as Legacy of Horror) (1978, remake of The Ghastly Ones)
  • House of Seven Belles (1979, released unfinished on the byNWR site)
  • Carnage (also known as Hell House, 1984)
  • Adventures of Red Rooster (1984 - unreleased television sitcom, six half-hour episodes)
  • Monstrosity (1987)
  • The Weirdo (1988)
  • Surgikill (1988, also known as Screwball Hospital Central)

Bibliography

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[edit]

References

[edit]
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Andy Milligan

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Andy Milligan (February 12, 1929 – June 3, 1991) was an American playwright, , , and independent filmmaker best known for directing around 27 low-budget exploitation, horror, and sexploitation films between 1965 and 1988. His work, often shot on 16mm film with minimal crews and budgets under $20,000, featured , , and misanthropic themes drawn from his personal life, earning him a cult status in and cinema circles. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Milligan served four years in the U.S. before moving to in 1951, where he worked in and became a key figure in the theater scene at venues like Caffe Cino starting around 1960. There, he pioneered and early queer-themed productions as a self-taught and director, transitioning to with his debut short Vapors (1965), shot in a , and his first feature (1967). Milligan's notable films include the gore-filled The Ghastly Ones (1968), the London-shot Nightbirds (1970), Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970), The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1972), and Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973), many of which explored sadistic family dynamics and sexuality amid chaotic, handheld . Openly and confrontational, his abrasive style and themes of cruelty—often linked to a troubled childhood with an abusive mother—reflected deep personal turmoil, including misogynistic tendencies and involvement in S&M. After a brief stint in from 1969 to 1970, Milligan returned to the U.S., founding theater troupes in , though his film career waned in the due to health issues and lost prints. His legacy has been revived through restorations by admirers like director , who acquired and preserved much of his work, and the 2025 documentary The Degenerate: The Life and Films of Andy Milligan. Milligan died of an AIDS-related illness in at age 62 and was buried in an .

Early Life

Birth and Family Background

Andrew Jackson Milligan Jr. was born on February 12, 1929, in St. Paul, Minnesota, as the son of a career U.S. Army officer, making him an "army brat" who moved frequently across the during his childhood. His father, Milligan Sr. (1894–1985), was a career officer in the U.S. Army, serving from to . His mother, Marie Gladys Hull (1900–1953), struggled with severe physical and issues, including , and was known for her overbearing and abusive behavior toward her husband and children. Milligan's childhood was marked by significant family dysfunction, growing up in an environment of emotional turmoil and resentment, particularly toward his , whose volatility shaped his early years. He had an older half-brother, Harley Hull (1924–1998), and a younger full sister, Louise Milligan Howe (1931–2021), with whom he shared a close bond until adolescence, but the household dynamics contributed to a deeply unhappy upbringing. These familial struggles later influenced recurring themes of , dysfunction, and familial in his films. As a child and adolescent, Milligan developed an early, self-taught interest in theater and costume design, pursuing these as hobbies amid his challenging home life. After his honorable discharge from the in 1951, Milligan relocated to to pursue greater artistic opportunities. His mother died in 1953.

Military Service and Early Influences

Andy Milligan enlisted in the in 1947 immediately after completing high school, serving for four years until his honorable discharge in 1951. His service occurred during the era, though specific details of his assignments or combat involvement remain undocumented in available accounts. As the son of a career officer, Milligan's family background likely instilled a sense of resilience that aided his adaptation to naval life, despite joining the partly as a rebellion against his father's influence. During his time , Milligan began exploring creative outlets without formal training, developing an interest in writing and playwriting as a means of personal expression amid the rigors of military routine. He also experimented with costume-making, honing rudimentary skills in and design that would later define his artistic endeavors. These self-taught pursuits were shaped by the isolation and structure of shipboard life, providing Milligan with unstructured time to cultivate his imaginative talents. Following his discharge, Milligan returned to civilian life and relocated to in 1951, where he immersed himself in the city's burgeoning underground arts scene. He dabbled in amateur stage acting during the early 1950s, joining informal theater groups in and contributing to experimental performances that emphasized raw, unconventional storytelling. This period marked the beginning of his deeper involvement in circles, where exposure to avant-garde influences like the works of and fueled his playwriting ambitions and costume design experiments for low-budget productions.

Career

Theater Beginnings

Andy Milligan entered New York's burgeoning theater scene in the early 1960s, nearly a decade after his discharge from the . After his discharge, Milligan developed self-taught skills in and through his work in , which later informed his theatrical contributions. He quickly became a fixture at Caffe Cino, the influential theater founded in 1958 by Joe Cino, widely regarded as the birthplace of . This intimate venue, known for its experimental, low-stakes productions, provided Milligan a platform to direct and design amid a vibrant community of emerging artists. His involvement extended to other key spaces like , where he staged works in the pre-Stonewall era. As a playwright and director, Milligan debuted several original pieces and adaptations that pushed boundaries, often exploring gay experiences and social taboos through raw, intimate narratives. Notable early efforts included his 1961 direction of Jean Genet's The Maids at Caffe Cino, featuring bold interpretations like a steamy lesbian love scene that challenged contemporary norms, and his 1962 adaptation of Tennessee Williams' short story "One Arm," which delved into homoerotic themes in a prison setting with revealing costumes. These productions reflected the era's underground spirit, blending personal anguish with societal critique in a time when such topics faced censorship and marginalization. Milligan also contributed as a costume designer, crafting outfits from scavenged materials to enhance the experimental aesthetic of these taboo-breaking shows. Milligan's theater work was marked by the harsh realities of economics, where he frequently self-financed productions through his dressmaking income and relied on ensemble casts of friends and aspiring actors performing multiple roles. Operating on shoestring budgets in cramped venues like Caffe Cino—described by biographer Jimmy McDonough as a "wild, taboo-smashing dive" akin to "" against Broadway's symphony—Milligan navigated constant financial precarity and logistical hurdles, yet his relentless output helped define the movement's DIY ethos from roughly 1961 to 1967.

Filmmaking Entry and Techniques

Andy Milligan made his directorial debut with the 1965 Vapors, a 30-minute gay-themed shot on 16mm that explores the emotional encounters of patrons at a New York bathhouse. Produced on a micro-budget of just $200, the was written by Hope Stansbury and featured tight close-ups and haphazard framing to evoke a claustrophobic intimacy, with sets constructed in an empty apartment near Milligan's Prince Street home. To keep costs minimal, Milligan adopted low-budget techniques that defined his early , including the use of an Auricon 16mm camera for direct recording and short ends—discarded snippets of from larger productions—which allowed him to shoot economically without purchasing full reels. He often handled multiple roles himself, directing, writing, and editing, while collaborating closely with actors such as Louis Abel, who served as both performer and , and Hope Stansbury, who contributed as and in several early projects. By the late , Milligan transitioned to feature-length films, drawn by the burgeoning exploitation market that rewarded quick, sensational productions on similarly tight budgets, often as low as $7,500, expanding his roots into commercially viable and horror genres. His prior theater experience at venues like Café La Mama equipped him with essential and writing skills that informed this pivot to cinema.

Notable Productions and Collaborations

Andy Milligan's most prominent work during his peak in the late and centered on horror-exploitation films that blended low-budget Gothic aesthetics with raw, visceral storytelling. One of his earliest and most representative entries, The Ghastly Ones (), marked his transition to color and featured a Victorian-era of familial inheritance disputes escalating into brutal violence, shot guerrilla-style on [Long Island](/page/Long Island) locations. This film exemplified Milligan's ability to produce period pieces on shoestring budgets, utilizing recycled props for graphic gore sequences that shocked audiences in underground screenings. During a brief stint in London from 1969 to 1970, Milligan directed films such as Nightbirds (1970), which explored themes of urban alienation and sexuality. By the early 1970s, Milligan expanded into vampire-themed horror with Blood (1974), a 35mm production filmed at his [Staten Island](/page/Staten Island) home, where a mad doctor and his Dracula-descended wife conduct gruesome experiments amid domestic strife. The story unfolds in a pseudo-19th-century setting, emphasizing surgical dismemberment and rituals that highlighted Milligan's penchant for intimate, claustrophobic horror. Similarly, Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973), his final collaboration with exploitation producer William Mishkin, shifted toward urban ploitation, following a desperate sex worker navigating New York's seedy underbelly in a hallucinatory descent into madness. Recurring motifs across these productions included excessive gore through practical effects like severed limbs and arterial sprays, intertwined with themes of dysfunction—often portraying rivalries, incestuous tensions, and emotional as catalysts for carnage. Milligan's narratives frequently incorporated undertones, reflecting his own openly identity through subtle explorations of outsider alienation and same-sex desire amid societal repression, particularly in urban tales like Fleshpot. Milligan's working relationships were pivotal to his output, with long-term ties to East Coast exploitation figures such as producer Michael Findlay, whose involvement in the ecosystem facilitated shared resources and distribution networks for Milligan's rapid-fire productions. He often assembled ensemble casts from theater circles and non-professional performers, fostering a repertory style that allowed for consistent, if amateurish, portrayals of tormented characters. Distribution posed significant hurdles for Milligan's films in the , as they were primarily funneled through New York's 42nd grindhouse circuit and urban theaters catering to midnight crowds seeking cheap thrills. Producers like Mishkin handled releases, but the era's lax enabled double bills yet led to frequent print degradation, lost negatives, and limited runs confined to exploitation venues. These challenges underscored the precarious economics of cinema, where Milligan's low-budget techniques—such as on-location shooting and minimal crews—enabled survival amid constant turnover.

Personal Life

Relationships and Marriage

Andy Milligan was openly gay and deeply embedded in New York's underground scene during the 1960s, a period when was criminalized and socially stigmatized. He frequented gay bars, bathhouses like the St. Mark's Baths, and venues such as the Caffe Cino, an theater known as one of the few openly spaces outside of bars or bathhouses. This environment influenced his early work, including the 1965 short film , which realistically portrayed the interactions and tensions among gay men in a bathhouse setting, drawing directly from his experiences in the pre-Stonewall era. In 1968, amid ongoing societal pressures against , Milligan married actress Candy Hammond, a North Carolina-born performer who appeared in several of his films, including (1968), where the took place on set. The union, described as a matter of convenience or business expediency rather than romantic commitment, remained unconsummated and ended in divorce after less than a year. Milligan continued to participate in social spaces, including bars, immediately following the ceremony. Milligan's romantic life primarily involved short-term relationships with men, many of whom were actors and collaborators from the theater and underground. He had few long-term partnerships, all with men, and often integrated these personal connections into his productions by casting lovers and close associates in roles, blurring the lines between his intimate life and creative output. This practice extended into the post-Stonewall , where greater visibility allowed him to explore themes more overtly in films like Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973), though his work retained the raw, transgressive edge shaped by earlier repression.

Personality and Health Struggles

Andy Milligan was renowned among collaborators for his demanding and tyrannical demeanor on set, often creating a hellish working environment characterized by and emotional manipulation. Biographer Jimmy McDonough describes Milligan as a "mean, crazy son of a bitch" who masochistically targeted casts and crews, particularly women, with cruel treatment that projected his own damaged . Accounts from those who worked with him, including long-term crew members, highlight his impatience and explosive temper; he would "go berserk" at suggestions for alternative approaches, driven by emotions seemingly beyond his control. Despite this, some participants returned repeatedly, drawn to the chaotic enthusiasm and total lunacy of his productions, though his self-destructive frequently alienated others. Biographies and interviews with contemporaries have led to speculation about undiagnosed mental health conditions underlying Milligan's volatile temperament and intense, beleaguered soul. McDonough portrays him as a "mass of contradictions," fueled by a deep-seated hatred for his alcoholic mother, which manifested in an angry, self-destructive personality that clashed relentlessly throughout his career. This troubled mind, as explored in McDonough's work, not only shaped his transgressive films but also contributed to his cantankerous yet occasionally kind interactions, revealing an emotional instability that pushed away potential allies. Such traits strained his personal relationships, often leading to isolation from partners who endured his domineering behavior. In his mid-career, Milligan's relentless and breakneck production pace resulted in physical exhaustion and , slowing his output and exacerbating his demanding nature. McDonough notes that Milligan's punishing schedules on low-budget shoots left him and his teams physically drained, with the director's refusal to compromise contributing to chronic fatigue amid the grueling demands of independent filmmaking in New York. In his later years, after moving to in 1985, Milligan's health deteriorated due to an AIDS-related illness, which contributed to the decline of his film career and increased his isolation. This fostered tendencies toward isolation, particularly during his time in New York and later in , where he lived in destitution with few close relationships, preferring the solitary pursuit of his art over social connections.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Passing

In the mid-1980s, Milligan relocated from New York to Los Angeles, hoping to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the home video market and low-budget production. There, he continued his filmmaking career with a theater company and several horror projects, adapting to the direct-to-video landscape that dominated the era's independent scene. His last works included Surgikill (1989), a slasher film set in a hospital where a masked killer targets medical staff, and The Weirdo (1989), a remake exploring themes of bullying and revenge. These productions marked Milligan's transition to quicker, cheaper video formats, reflecting the economic pressures of his later career while retaining his signature low-fi gore and social commentary. Following the death of his partner, Wayne Keeton, from AIDS in June 1989, Milligan himself was diagnosed with the disease in late 1989 or early 1990, entering a period of rapid health deterioration amid the ongoing AIDS epidemic. His personality struggles, including chronic anger and isolation, intensified during this time, leaving him increasingly withdrawn and dependent on friends for support. Milligan passed away from AIDS-related complications on June 3, 1991, at age 62, at Queen of Angels Medical Center in Los Angeles. Due to his impoverished circumstances, he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave in Los Angeles.

Critical Reception and Rediscovery

Andy Milligan's films initially received scathing criticism for their low production values, amateurish execution, and gratuitous content, often dismissed as inept exploitation cinema. In his 1981 book Danse Macabre, Stephen King lambasted Milligan's debut feature The Ghastly Ones (1968) as "the work of morons with cameras," encapsulating the broader contemporary view of Milligan's work as crude and unworthy of serious consideration. During the and , Milligan's oeuvre experienced a resurgence through releases by , which unearthed and distributed many of his long-obscure titles, fostering a dedicated among fans of and underground cinema. This revival highlighted Milligan's raw, idiosyncratic style and his place within New York's countercultural filmmaking scene, transforming him from a punchline into a icon appreciated for his unfiltered vision. Scholarly attention further elevated Milligan's reputation, with Jimmy McDonough's 2001 biography The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan providing an in-depth exploration of his life and artistic demons, drawing on interviews and archival material to contextualize his provocative output. Similarly, film critic Tim Lucas offered detailed analyses in Video Watchdog magazine and his subsequent writings, portraying Milligan as the "horror genre's unwanted weirdo" whose films captured a unique, bile-filled essence of outsider artistry. The rediscovery culminated in 2025 with the documentary The Degenerate: The Life and Films of Andy Milligan, directed by Josh Johnson and Grayson Tyler Johnson, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and featured interviews with collaborators, rare footage, and clips to celebrate Milligan's enduring influence on and exploitation cinema. This film underscored the ongoing reevaluation of Milligan's contributions, positioning him as a trailblazing, if tormented, figure in independent horror history.

Filmography

As Director and Writer

Andy Milligan directed and wrote 27 films between 1965 and 1988, predominantly low-budget horror and exploitation features characterized by , period settings, and amateur aesthetics shot on 16mm or 35mm with limited resources. His original screenplays frequently delved into themes of , familial dysfunction, and descent into madness, drawing from his own tumultuous life experiences. Many productions involved a recurring "stock company" of non-professional actors and were filmed in locations like a Victorian mansion or cemeteries, emphasizing raw, unpolished storytelling over technical polish. While most survived, several early shorts remain lost or unreleased.

1960s

Milligan's early work established his signature style in underground New York cinema, blending sexploitation with emerging horror elements on shoestring budgets often under $10,000.
  • Vapors (1965): Drama/exploitation, 30 minutes. A short exploring gay subculture in a Manhattan bathhouse; Milligan directed but did not write the screenplay. Shot in black-and-white 16mm, it marked his feature debut and screened at underground venues.
  • The Degenerates (1967): Sexploitation, 60 minutes. An original screenplay depicting urban moral decay and sexual deviance; directed and written by Milligan, filmed with a handheld Auricon camera emphasizing gritty realism.
  • Depraved! (1967): Sexploitation/horror, 55 minutes. Milligan's original story of lust and violence in a boarding house; low-budget 16mm production noted for its explicit content and chaotic editing.
  • The Naked Witch (1967): Horror, 59 minutes. A pseudo-documentary on witchcraft revenge; Milligan directed an original screenplay, using narrated folklore with staged rituals in upstate New York woods.
  • Tricks of the Trade (1968): Drama, 20 minutes (short). Original screenplay on street hustlers and betrayal; lost short, known only through scripts and stills, highlighting early themes of urban madness.
  • The Filthy Five (1968): Sexploitation, 65 minutes. Milligan's original tale of criminal underworld revenge; 16mm shoot with improvised dialogue, partially lost but reconstructed from prints.
  • Seeds (1968): Horror/drama, 84 minutes. Original screenplay about a family's descent into insanity and violence; shot in a Staten Island mansion, featuring practical gore effects like severed limbs.
  • The Ghastly Ones (1968): Horror, 72 minutes. Milligan directed an original screenplay of cannibalistic family revenge in a 19th-century setting; his first color film, budgeted at $9,000, with period costumes from thrift stores.
  • Gutter Trash (1969): Drama/exploitation, 60 minutes. Original screenplay following a prostitute's mad spiral; 16mm New York street filming, emphasizing raw dialogue and social critique.
  • Torture Dungeon (1969): Horror, 80 minutes. Original medieval tale of tyrannical revenge and madness; shot in England on 16mm, using historical sites for atmospheric torture scenes.

1970s

Relocating briefly to , Milligan produced several period horrors before returning to New York, incorporating British actors and gothic elements while amplifying gore and thematic intensity.
  • Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970): Horror, 90 minutes. Adaptation of with original revenge elements; directed by Milligan, filmed in 1969 on a $15,000 budget with razor-killing sequences.
  • The Body Beneath (1970): Horror, 77 minutes. Original screenplay involving cult madness and resurrection; shot in , , featuring Milligan's stock company in undead roles.
  • Nightbirds (1970): Drama/horror, 85 minutes. Original story of nocturnal urban paranoia; production blending sex and suspense, with improvised night shoots.
  • Guru, the Mad Monk (1970): Horror, 58 minutes. Milligan's original of a corrupt monk's vengeful rampage; 35mm shoot in a church, noted for its black humor and .
  • The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1972): Horror, 91 minutes. Original family curse narrative with revenge motifs; filmed in with added New York rat attack footage for hybrid effect.
  • The Man with Two Heads (1972): Horror, 83 minutes. Original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde riff on split-personality madness; 1969 shoot, retitled by distributors, emphasizing prosthetic gore.
  • Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973): Drama/exploitation, 71 minutes. Original of a woman's descent into despair; 16mm handheld shoot capturing authentic 42nd Street grit.
  • Blood (1974): Horror, 87 minutes. Original period piece on vampiric family revenge; highest-budget effort at $20,000, filmed entirely in Milligan's home with effects.
  • Legacy of Blood (1978): Horror, 87 minutes. Original of haunted inheritance and madness; mansion setting, featuring ghostly apparitions and familial betrayal.
  • House of Seven Belles (1979): Horror, 85 minutes. Original gothic tale of seven sisters' vengeful s; low-budget period drama with elaborate costume designs from rentals.

1980s

In his later years, Milligan shifted to for more contemporary horrors, maintaining themes of psychological torment amid declining health and resources.
  • Monstrosity (1987): Horror, 81 minutes. Original involving a Golem-like creature and revenge; shot in , blending 1980s action tropes with monster elements.
  • Carnage (1984): Horror, 90 minutes. Original story of ghostly family and ; 35mm production in an abandoned , noted for atmospheric .
  • The Weirdo (1989): Horror, 90 minutes. Original on a reclusive killer's vengeful outbursts; shoot emphasizing isolation and sudden violence.
  • Surgikill (1989): Horror, 88 minutes. Original of surgical revenge and madness; final feature, shot in with practical effects like organ removal scenes.
Among Milligan's early shorts, such as Steam Heat (1968) and (1968), several are considered lost, surviving only in fragments or descriptions from contemporaries, underscoring the ephemeral nature of his underground output.

As Actor

Andy Milligan began his career in the 1950s as an actor in New York City's theater scene and , where he showed early promise before shifting toward directing. His involvement in the nascent movement included acting roles in experimental productions at venues like Caffe Cino and , contributing to the avant-garde milieu that emphasized raw, unconventional storytelling. These early stage appearances were part of a brief but notable phase, marked by Milligan's immersion in the free-thinking collective of downtown artists, though specific play titles and character details remain sparsely documented in historical accounts. Transitioning to filmmaking in the mid-1960s, Milligan frequently took on acting duties in his own low-budget productions, often in uncredited cameos or minor ensemble roles that underscored his hands-on, multi-hyphenate approach. These appearances, typically brief and serving narrative or production needs, totaled several known instances across his filmography, reflecting his intense, amateurish performance style—characterized by raw energy and a domineering presence that mirrored his directorial control. For example, in The Ghastly Ones (1968), Milligan makes a subtle cameo, with his voice and presence audible off-camera during key scenes, enhancing the film's gritty, improvised atmosphere. Similar small parts appear in later works, such as Legacy of Blood (1978), where Milligan plays an uncredited kleptomaniac postman in a fleeting but eccentric sequence that adds to the remake's chaotic family intrigue. He also features in a cameo as a man bitten by a in The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (), a rare on-screen moment that highlights his willingness to embody the grotesque elements central to his horror output. Other documented appearances include a minor role in Monstrosity (1987) and a cameo as a in an early , demonstrating how Milligan's acting contributions often blurred the lines between performer and creator in his insular filmmaking world. These roles, while not central, exemplified his commitment to total artistic involvement, with performances that prioritized visceral impact over polished technique.

Lost and Unreleased Works

Andy Milligan's prolific output in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly his early sexploitation and horror features produced on shoestring budgets, resulted in numerous films that are now considered lost due to the ephemeral nature of exploitation cinema distribution and poor archival practices. Many prints were likely destroyed or discarded by distributors like William Mishkin, who reportedly melted down film stock to extract silver, leaving only fragments or second-hand accounts of their content. Among the most notable lost works are several early sexploitation titles from 1964 to 1969. Similarly, The Depraved (1968) depicted grappling with , while The Promiscuous Sex (1967), The Filthy Five (1968)—of which only a single reel from a German source survives—and Tricks of the Trade (1968) are all unaccounted for, representing Milligan's raw, low-budget explorations of taboo themes. Gutter Trash (1969), a gritty urban drama, is another casualty, with no footage or detailed synopses beyond production notes. Additionally, hardcore features like Fever (1971) were never commercially released and have vanished. Other unreleased or unfinished projects include The Bitch (1969), a lost drama starring Jacqui Colton, and The Weirdo (1969), featuring Michael St. Shaw, both of which exist only in anecdotal references from Milligan's collaborators. Supercool (1973) stands out as an unfinished film, abandoned during production and never completed. Legacy of Horror (1978), a of Milligan's earlier The Ghastly Ones, was briefly released on by Gorgon Video but is now and effectively unavailable, stripped of its gore elements in . In a significant development for Milligan scholarship, two long-lost films were recovered and restored in 2K by in 2025, marking their first public screenings at the after over 50 years in obscurity. The Degenerates (1967), a post-apocalyptic sci-fi tale where three nomadic men encounter murderous women in a farmhouse, was discovered in damaged condition at the Royal Film Archive of Belgium and meticulously repaired. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me! (1968), following a married woman's amid unraveling secrets, was found intact at Amsterdam's Eye Museum. As of November 2025, these restorations have been screened publicly but have not yet been commercially released, offering hope for further recoveries from Milligan's elusive canon.

References

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