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.

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.

Harmless biography and appreciation of Ted V Mikels and his out put of films that is narrated by John Waters. Mikels is a legendary schlock miester who specialized in films like The Undertaker and His Pals, Corpse Grinders (1 and 2), Astro Zombies, 10 Violent Women among others. Sure his films range from pretty good to utter garbage (most of his recent films fall into that category) but at the same time you have to hand it to the man for continuing to plug away at the age of 81. Mikels is a jovial man who turned his love of performing into a film career and a house full of beautiful women (Hugh Hefner has nothing on this guy). This film on the man and his movies is an enjoyable way to spend an hour (the DVD release lists the running time as two hours but I think that includes the deleted scenes). Its full of clips, interviews with the man and his women (including legendary Tura Satana –who really needs a film made about her) who talk about the movies and how they were made. Heavy its not. Its more a pleasant diversion about a bunch of movies that are likewise a diversion. Worth a look if the subject interests you.