Weird Wisconsin

So, this is what I’ve been busy on since December and up until a few weeks ago: making a feature-length doc about Bill Rebane, the Wisconsin-based cult filmmaker behInd MONSTER A GO-GO, INVASION FROM INNER EARTH and THE ALPHA INCIDENT, for the first ever box set of his films, including the above-named titles and also DEMONS OF LUDLOW, THE GAME and TWISTER’S REVENGE! It was a wild and crazy journey, and I met so many nice people, all without actually leaving the house. Cast, crew, critics, academics, writers and the great Mark Borchardt (COVEN and the forthcoming COVEN II and THE MORE THE SCARIER IV).

Viewers will learn about eight-foot-tall giant Henry Hite’s special car, Tiny Tim’s unusual diet, Rebane’s surprise cameo in NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Ulli Lommel’s bad pig idea and much, much more. I myself went from wondering who’d want to watch this stuff to becoming obsessed and fascinated by it. Do de-programmers exist for cult cinema acolytes?

The doc, which is longer than any of Bill’s films, should serve to at least partially explain the movies, how they came to be, and what made them the way they are. A Rebane Rosetta Stone, as it were.

Too many people to thank all at once — I’ll settle for thanking Fiona for her patient support, and producer Neil Snowdon for saying yes to everything I asked for.