Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas cult filmmaker Ted Mikels dies at 87

cult filmmaker Ted Mikels dies at 87

TIFFANY BROWN / LAS VEGAS SUN

In this file photo, movie-maker of more than 50 years, Ted V. Mikels, at his Las Vegas office and studio on Monday, Oct. 6, 2008

Updated Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 | 4:32 p.m.

Cult Filmmaker Ted Mikels Dies at 87

In this file photo, movie-maker of more than 50 years, Ted V. Mikels, sits amid the props from some of his films at his Las Vegas office and studio on Monday, Oct. 6, 2008. Launch slideshow »

In the 1960s and ‘70s, longtime Las Vegas-based filmmaker Ted V. Mikels was nipping at the heels of Russ Meyer and Roger Corman for the title of Hollywood's “B Movie King.”

Making cheap and creepy movies about killer house cats and flesh-eating zombies, Mikels crafted a career that spanned from the early 1960s to his latest film, “Paranormal Extremes: Text Messages from the Dead,” released last year.

“I really have to get on that lecture circuit (at film schools throughout the nation) to make some money,” Mikels told the Sun in 2009, claiming that although some of his films grossed millions of dollars, her was flat broke. “How many people have been writer/producer/director/cinematographer/lighting/sound effects/music editors for 60 years? How many?”

Mikels died Sunday at his Las Vegas home. He was 87.

Mikels’ biggest hit film was “The Corpse Grinders,” (1971) about cats that attacked people after discovering that they loved the human flesh that had been ground up and mixed in with cat food. Made for just $47,000, the film reportedly grossed $10 million worldwide.

Mikels also was noted for producing the films — each with large, colorful, eye-catching promotion posters — “Girl in Gold Boots” and “The Astro-Zombies,” (both 1968) and “Blood Orgy of the She-Devils,” “Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things” and “The Doll Squad” (all in 1973).

In 1993, Mikels opened Las Vegas’s TVM Studios, a 2,500-square-foot facility near Mandalay Bay that produced both video and film works until it went out of business in 2009 and cost him his home, the equity of which he had borrowed against to try to keep his failing business afloat.

On Aug. 28, 2005, Mikels was presented with a Certificate of Recognition for his lifetime contributions to filmmaking by then-Nevada Lt. Gov. Lorraine T. Hunt on the day of the screening of his newest film, “Heart of a Boy,” the only G-rated movie of his career. (The film was about a child seeking a heart transplant.)

Mikels, who sported a pronounced, old-fashioned white handlebar moustache, often was referred to as a “perverse film genius” and a disciple of the Ed Wood school of filmmaking, referring to the bizarre 1950s’ B-movie directing icon who, like Mikels, had a huge cult following.

In 2008, Mikels was the subject of the John Waters-narrated film documentary “The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels: A Man Gone Mad With a Movie Camera.” That same year, a book, “Film Alchemy: The Independent Cinema of Ted V. Mikels” by Christopher Wayne Curry was released.

Mikels’ films did well when they occasionally were shown on giant screens in major local theatres. In March 2004, a standing-room-only crowd attended Mikels’ then-latest release, “The Cauldron: Baptism of Blood” at the Brenden Theatres at the Palms.

Born Theodore Mikacevich on April 29, 1929, in St. Paul, Minn., Mikels started out as a amateur photographer as a teenager, using the family bathtub to develop his film. Also as a teenager, Mikels appeared as an actor in stage productions and soon got interested in film production.

In the early 1960s, Mikels was the owner of a small record company, where he recorded radio advertising spots and produced vinyl discs for small-time local singers. At the time he reportedly had a number of irons in the fire for major filmmaking projects.

During his long career, Mikels made nearly 90 films — some sources say more than 100 movies — and by 2007, some of his earlier films were available on DVD.

Mikels is survived by two sons, Theodore Mikels Jr. of Oregon and Troy Mikels of Las Vegas; four daughters, Michele LaComb, Celine Martens and Janine Rasmussen, all of Oregon, and Cherisse Gomez of Las Vegas; 23 grandchildren; and 50 great-grandchildren.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy