The Degenerate

NR | 109 min

The history of New York filmmaking has several lauded names that instantly come to mind: Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Spike Lee, among others. In the specific world of NYC genre filmmaking, names like Larry Fessenden, Abel Ferrara, Frank Henenlotter and Bill Lustig instantly ring bells. But there’s one infamous name that will strike a chord with many of those directors but with too few others: Andy Milligan. From the late 1960s through the ’80s, the exploitation filmmaker churned out dozens of insane, not to mention largely inept, films with titles like The Naked Witch, The Promiscuous Sex and Gutter Trash that earned him an Ed Wood-esque reputation. As John Waters once asked about Milligan, “Can a genius be untalented, too?”

What made Milligan tick, and what was it about his personal life that fed his penchant for cinematic depravity? Putting a long-deserved spotlight on the late and prolific grindhouse purveyor, co-directors Josh Johnson and Grayson Tyler Johnson utilize a wealth of bonkers Milligan film clips and insights from collaborators to immortalize a true underground legend in a comprehensive and entertaining fashion. Long live Milligan!—Matt Barone