Starring - Bryarly Lee (Omnibus, Studio One), Marcia Haufrecht (The Sopranos, Dog Day Afternoon), and Anne Linden (The Vixens, The All American Honeymoon)
Release Date - 1967
Genre - Sci-Fi
Tagline - "They always go down to the lowest depths of human sensuality"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
There is a lot of filmmakers that were lost to time over the decades as beta and VHS made way to DVD and blu but many boutique labels have made it their mission to find these films. Director Andy Milligan is a filmmaker I was somewhat familiar with. I began collecting movies when I was in high school and sometime during my college years I found a copy of The Ghastly Ones on DVD for a decent price. I went ahead and snagged it for my collection. One of the campus officers would often borrow this movie and during my last year there I gifted it to him. Sadly, this was one of the few Milligan films that I had seen until a few years back when Severin released their Andy Milligan set. I snagged a copy and checked it out. Not all of his films hit for me but I enjoyed most of them. A few weeks back Severin announced a second Andy Milligan release and this one would feature several lost films of his along with a documentary. I quickly shot them an email requesting this one for review and they were kind enough to send it over. It only made sense to start with the The Degenerates from 1967 which is the movie of his that I had always wanted to see but never had the chance. I want to thank Severin for sending this one over!
The film takes place some time after a nuclear disaster. A group of men are searching for survivors when they cross paths with a group of women barricaded in an old farmhouse. They soon learn that no everyone wants saved and not everyone is a victim.
I went into The Degenerates knowing a little about the plot but that is about it. I knew what to expect from the acting and the story but it wasn't until I was getting ready to put my review together that I learned that the film was originally unfinished and had to be edited together to make it more coherent. With that being said, I actually enjoyed it for what it was. It is extremely rough around the edges but it's still fun. The acting in this one is what you would expect from an early Milligan flick. The cast is really into their roles and you can see how dedicated they really are in some of the more intense scenes but the overacting and lack of emotional depth made a few scenes really awkward. Some of the cast would go on to have pretty stellar careers but it's clear that this is some of their first films and used it as a learning experience. The story for this one fits in with the late 60s sci-fi trend with the cold war in full effect. However, what sets it apart from the others is the role reversal of the women being the depraved. The film does suffer from pacing issues and I can only assume that some of the middle portion of the film was never filmed which left some gaps in the story but it still finds a way to work in a sexploitation kind of way. Finally, those of you looking for a bloody flick will be very disappointed. The film is very light on the effects and the deaths are not gruesome. The movie is clearly a no budget affair and they did not have money in the budget for memorable deaths. Overall, The Degenerates could have been a career defining film from a fringe filmmaker but was never finished for various reasons. I would have loved to see what Milligan really envisioned but this is the best we can do. This is a must see for any cult cinema fan. Check it out.
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