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Author Tom Fowler of Overland Park, Kansas, is a big B-movie fan…and that’s really lucky for us in the Mihmiverse because he recently watched and loved Christopher R. Mihm’s B&W 1950s-drive-in-style creature feature, House of Ghosts. In fact, he loved it so much, he has purchased the entire set of Mihm’s seven movies (also including: Monster of Phantom Lake, It Came from Another World, Cave Women on Mars, Terror from Beneath the Earth, Destination: Outer Space, and Attack of the Moon Zombies), and he plans to review each in turn throughout the summer. He’s calling this the Christopher R. Mihm Summer Reading Festival.
Be sure to check his website frequently to catch his reviews.
http://www.tomfowlerwritings.com/christopher_mihm
Or better yet, join him in his quest to immerse himself in the Mihmiverse by purchasing your own full set of his films for the special LOW PRICE of just $49.99 + $9.99 shipping and handling. That’s more than a $27 savings!
Visit http://www.sainteuphoria.com/merch.html#dvds to pick up your set!
Get ’em while you can, folks! Seriously, the buzz on this marvelously cheesy, funny/scary, B&W 1950s-drive-in-style creature feature by writer/director Christopher R. Mihm is over the moon, so to speak! The Heights Theater, where the premiere will be held on May 25, is not huge and I really think it’ll sell out fast! To co-opt a phrase used by my PetPAC colleague pet photographer Patrick Nau, “Don’t say ‘I wish I had.’ Say ‘I’m glad I did.'”
An added bonus is you’ll get to see my goofy ’50s hair as Administrator Ripley! I’m open to ridicule. 🙂
This event is a red-carpet affair—just like in Hollywood!—and everyone is encouraged to put their glad rags on. Assuming this will be following in the footsteps of Mihm’s five other movie debuts, you’ll meet the director and all the stars, hear a wonderful Wulitzer organ played, watch 1950s newsreels, eat cake and meet the Zombies created by Mitch Gonzales.
To order your advance tickets, click here.
Read about Christopher R. Mihm, the man and his movies in this May/June issue of SciFi magazine due out in April (It’s the official magazine of the SyFy channel) and in an upcoming Mpls/St. Paul magazine!
I first learned of Christopher R. Mihm through a story about his movie Cave Women on Mars published in the Southwest Journal in Minneapolis. His motivation for making B&W 1950s-drive-in-style B-movie homages was to honor his deceased father, who’d instilled in him from childhood a love of charmingly crappy cinematic works. He named his production company “All for George Productions.”
I then attended the world premiere of Cave Women on Mars (2008), and I was sucked into the Mihmiverse forever, where I now happily fester.
The plot, and there actually was one, which is always a bonus, involved a handsome astronaut (Dan Sjerven) who is stranded on, you guessed it, Mars, surrounded by primitive warring Amazonian beauties. Oh, the cheesy sets and costumes…the purposely stilted line delivery ala Shatner…the overacting of the villainesses (who were, it turns out, tinier than Alan Ladd and just filmed to look imposing—this I learned at the after party where I towered over chief baddie, Rachel Grubb, thinking I could have vanquished her simply by sitting on the waif)…What was not to love?
Cave Women was Mihm’s third film, and from the aforementioned article, I knew his first movie was Monster of Phantom Lake (2006). I assure you, the gang at “Mystery Science Theater 3000” would have been ecstatic to watch this one.
There were literally times in watching this film I guffawed so loudly I scared my dog, Mortimer! I’m a ‘50s-ophile and adore most things created at or about that time. Monster of Phantom Lake had it all. It featured hormone-driven/twist-dancing teens, a crazed war veteran turned urban legend thanks to toxic waste, inept but lovable Canoe Cops, awesome cat-eye glasses, and a lake creature Roger Corman’s special-effects crew would have coveted, adroitly played by Mihm’s teenaged stepson Michael Kaiser.* Also memorable, and truly hilarious, was the campy song Professor Jackson launches into: “A-Rockin, A-Rollin, All the Way A-Ramblin’.” (A quadruple threat in the talent department, apparently Mihm’s not just a writer/director/producer, he’s also an accomplished musician who performed all the musical tracks for the song).
Next, I bought It Came from Another World (2007), Mihm’ second film, and did it ever send me! Professor Jackson (a recurrent role of a sort for Mihm’s best bud/co-producer on most of his movies, Josh Craig) has to go searching for a colleague, Dr. Frasier (Mike Mason), who’s gone missing in the woods where a mysterious meteorite has been seen crashing to Earth. Enter our favorite Canoe Cops, Sven (M. Scott Taulman) and Gustav (Mike Cook), to help him with the tracking. I’ll not be a spoiler, but there’s a certainscene involving an oar and a mushroom you’ll need to be wearing Depends to safely watch.
Mihm masterfully uses public domain footage and music to set the mood, as well as ping-pong balls to create the alien-possessed creature’s fiendish googly-eyed visage. A highlight of the film is a fabulous campsite sing-along featuring the infectious song “Paddlin’ Along,” performed by Echo Driver, Mihm’s musical nom de plume.
More than any of Mihm’s movies to date, his 2009 release, Terror from Beneath the Earth, was truly a family affair, with his lovely spouse Stephanie, son Elliot, stepdaughter Liz Kaiser and stepson Michael Kaiser taking prominent roles. Dan Sjerven returns, this time as a frantic father searching caves**—made radioactive by local atomic testing, naturally—for his two lost children (Liz and Elliot). Mike Cook, otherwise known as Canoe Cop Gustav, is Dr. Vincent Edwards, renowned geologist and all-around brainiac, who is called in on the search with his assistant Rosemary Bennett (Stephanie). The mutant bat creature (Michael, the inveterate Mihm-monster portrayer) the search party discovers is one of the best film monsters ever devised. (Check out the corn-cob holders that have been used to make its teeth!)
The B-movie-loving world thrilled at last spring’s premiere of Mihm’s fifth film, Destination: Outer Space! (2010) at the historic Heights Theater in Columbia Heights, Minn. Josh Craig reprised his roles as Captain Jackson (and his father), taking the character to new depths as an alcoholic loser whose life has no meaning until he tests a rocket ship that flies faster than the speed of light and sends him into new galaxies of terror and adventure with a space pirates named Urina, a robot named ADAM (played by Michael Kaiser and voiced by writer/director Mihm himself), and evil, eyeball-headed Oculon monsters.
Mihm’s films have racked up the cult-movie accolades, including Best Science Fiction Feature—2007 ShockerFest International Film Festival; Best of Fest Award—Big Damn Film Festival, Kansas City; and Audience Choice Award—Big Damn Film Festival, Cincinnati and Indianapolis; and many others.
This brings us to Mihm’s 
latest movie marvel, Attack of the Moon Zombies, due to premiere May 25, 2011. Dr. Vincent Edwards (Mike Cook, of Terror from Beneath the Earth fame) is back, on the moon in the distant future (the 1970s), and readying himself for a peaceful retirement. That is until a mysterious space plant is discovered in a moon cave by his young replacement and seeks to replicate itself by any means possible, thus threatening all the inhabitants of the Moon Base. This movie marks a subtle shift in Mihm’s storytelling style, incorporating a much larger ensemble cast with, dare I say it, character development galore. The crazy-talented Mitch Gonzales created the zombie monsters, marking an up-notch in sophistication without the sacrifice of that precious cheesiness. This is bound to be one of Mihm’s very best and is a must-see for any true B-movie aficionado. I know I wouldn’t miss it for all the world(s) in the Mihmiverse!
Become an associate producer of Mihm’s movie for a mere $50 donation and you’ll get a free ticket to the premiere, several copies of the finished DVD AND your name on the silver screen for all time. More info on this at www.sainteuphoria.com.
Sid Korpi is a Minneapolis-based writer and former film studies teacher, and in the spirit of full disclosure, she also plays Administrator Ripley in Attack of the Moon Zombies.
* I now own framed pieces of the Monster of Phantom Lake’s actual scaly hide (i.e. painted-on bits of plastic lawn and leaf bag).
**Ever generous to his fans, Mihm bestowed upon me one of the original papier maché stalagmites from the bat cave, which is proudly displayed in my basement!
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