Watch This: Low Budget Horror Auteur Andy Milligan’s Bizarre TV Sitcom

Andy Milligan was a virtual hurricane of creativity – he wrote and staged plays for years and then switched his focus to making micro-budget horror and erotica films. He also happened to inspire an uneasy combination of terror and loyalty among the members of his stock company.

His films, while not for everyone, can be enjoyed on many levels. While they have very low budgets, the production values are better than could be expected in some ways, especially in the costume department – Millington himself made many of the clothing items. They are also very well-written, and Milligan’s virulent misanthropy really shines through. It’s his special gift, and the bickering sequences in his films are always highlights.

There’s an excellent biography of Milligan called “The Ghastly One” by Jimmy McDonough. It’s been hard to find in recent years but a new edition is coming out on April 15, presented by director and Milligan superfan Nicolas Winding Refn. The films are a little out there too. AFS Programmer Lars Nilsen recommends his Sweeney Todd adaptation BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS and the rancorous THE RATS ARE COMING, THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE starring the amazing Hope Stansbury.

One Milligan rarity Lars had never seen until today was his sitcom project, made in conjunction with playwright Donald Tobey. It is called THE ADVENTURES OF RED ROOSTER and has been posted to YouTube by star George Meyers. It’s a highly unusual and, one would think, deeply non-commercial, series about a group of wacky characters who are marketing a get-rich patent medicine called the Red Rooster Rejuvenator, sort of a proto-Viagra.

As the great Michael Weldon of Psychotronic Video Magazine has written, “if you’re an Andy Milligan fan, there’s no hope for you.” This is unlikely to add many names to that list of the doomed, but for those who are already over the fence, you may enjoy it.

You can follow the continuing adventures of Red Rooster on Meyers’ YouTube page.

Note: this page has been updated with new info about the new edition of the book “The Ghastly One.”