If you would have told me a decade ago that I would be praising the work of Staten Island bottom of the basement auteur Andy Milligan, I would have said you’re crazy. I had known about him and a few of his titles but just wrote him off as another low-budget schlocky filmmaker. But a couple of years ago, Severin Films did an amazing thing by releasing a massive box set of Milligan’s work, with a ton of extras. These films looked better than they probably did if/when they played in theaters. As I started to go through the set, I realized that while they are still very low budgeted films, and weren’t the best on the technical side, there was a charm to them that I really started to enjoy. I’ve always said that the more you know about an artist, it will make you appreciate their work a little more. And between that box set and Jimmy McDonough’s book The Ghastly One, I really started to enjoy what I was seeing.

And now, Severin is back again with another Milligan set, featuring two of Milligan’s films that were once thought completely gone from existence, as well as the new documentary Severin made last year, The Degenerate: The Life and Films of Andy Milligan. The two films, The Degenerates (1967), which is a “post-nuke nihilism film”, and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me! (1968), an “underground psychodrama”, are both restored from their only surviving film elements. Plus, as extras you get Compass Rose (1967) and House of Seven Belles (1979), as well as hours of extra special features. There are commentaries and interviews from people that have studied Milligan’s work or actually worked with. You get Team Degenerate, which is a Q&A with the directors John Johnson and Grayson Tyler, along with Jimmy McDonough, and Milligan collaborators Hope Stansbury, Matalie Rogers, Ken Lane, and John Borske. There is also an interview with Stephen Thrower, and even an audio interview with Milligan himself, recorded in Oct. 1975. In other words, you’re going to get even a better look (for better or for worse) inside the world of Milligan and his work.

If you haven’t taken the dive into Milligan’s work, I will say it might not be for everyone. But if you’re into the odd, subversive, strange, and just freaking odd type of filmmaking, then you might find yourself being entertained, or at least fascinated by what Milligan had accomplished in his life. And these two box sets from Severin will most likely help you down that path.

Just click HERE to order your copy today! They also still have the first Milligan box set they released available too!