“I’m Monica, the middle sister, the bitch.” Andy Milligan is more hateful than AM from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream 🐀 

Andy Milligan has been the true treasure of blu ray label finds. There’s something not only deliciously hateful, but punk and queer about his work. It doesn’t sing to you - IT SCREAMS. Milligan embodies both the messy, slapdash side of queerness through these cheap productions, but also its grandeur (the elaborate costumes, the theatre acting). Andy Milligan is JOY. 

I went from never knowing about Milligan to placing him in my top 5 directors of all time. There’s no one else like him in the history of film. Paul Morrissey never descended to these hells. John Waters had larger budgets and filming times. In his hate, Milligan destroys and reconstructs horror and the gothic film.  

I’ve rewatched this movie several times while drawing and it has guided me so much. I should honestly curate an exhibit themed around Milligan. 

It’s fun to see mainstream horror fans watch this movie on Shudder (since it got added with House of Psychotic Women titles). This movie is like an alien being to most. Maybe it will bore you. Maybe you’ll hate it. But Milligan doesn’t care. 

I wish Shudder picked up more Milligan titles. The same could be said for other auteurs like Jess Franco. You shouldn’t have to dig or already know about these titles to find them.