Andy Milligan Double Feature: The Body Beneath (1970) / Guru, The Mad Monk (1970)

Andy Milligan (1929-1991) is considered one of the most iconoclastic filmmakers to come out of the Sixties. Taking inspiration from the work of Andy Warhol, he began making low-budget, independent movies in 1965. They attracted the attention of exploitation distributor William Mishkin, who admired Milligan’s ability to create sophisticated (yet bloody) tales of terror with almost no money. It was Mishkin who would finance and distribute the director’s most notorious films, including The Body Beneath and Guru, the Mad Monk, which screened as a double feature on New York’s 42nd Street grindhouse circuit. Though Milligan tragically died of AIDS at the age of 62, his influence is still felt among “trash cinema” legends like John Waters and Lloyd Kaufman.

THE BODY BENEATH (1970): Reverend Algernon Ford arrives in England, looking to reopen the Old Souls Church near Carfax Abbey. The Reverend is in reality a centuries-old vampire, hoping to draw his descendents to this house of worship. It is only them upon which he can he can feed and sustain his immortality. The plan succeeds beyond his wildest dreams. His great-granddaughter, Susan, is pregnant. Through mystical means, the Reverend prepares to reincarnate inside the unborn child...extending his power and lifespan for another thousand millenia. The Body Beneath was shot at Sarum Chase, the same British mansion seen on the sleeve of the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet album.

GURU, THE MAD MONK (1970): On the island of Mortavia in the 15th century, the insane Father Guru runs a decaying prison with an iron fist. The lunatic blackmails a prison guard, Carl, into becoming his personal assassin. Soon he is executing the mad monk’s enemies right and left. But all is not what it seems, and Guru slowly realizes to his horror that his servant is now his master...Milligan’s first movie shot on 35mm, Guru, the Mad Monk was filmed completely at St. Peter’s Church in New York City.