Happy New Year!

Since the Mihmiverse was born, the January issue of the Mihmiverse Monthly has served as an in-depth look back at all the significant Mihmiverse-related events that happened during the previous year. Not one to spit in the face of tradition, this month's issue celebrates all the Mihmiverse fun that transpired in calendar year 2016...

As 2015 closed, a very intense crowd-funding campaign was underway for "The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!," the all-singing, all-dancing stage adaptation of the first Mihmiverse film. Ten days into the month, with only minutes to go, the campaign reached all of its goals and made it possible for the production to not only be held in the historic Mabel Tainter Theater, but an official cast album could be recorded and released!

Blu-ray versions of "The Late Night Double Feature" and "Danny Johnson Saves The World" were released on the 15th. Toward the end of the month, writer/director Christopher R. Mihm appeared on Monster Kid Radio, the Rondo-award winning, twice-weekly podcast celebrating the classic, and sometimes not-so-classic, genre cinema of yesteryear! In the episode, Mr. Mihm and host Derek M. Koch discussed the Mihmiverse, listed their top three favorite John Agar films and delved deep into EXACTLY what made Mr. Agar the BEST B-movie actor of the drive-in era!

The final (and no less important) thing to happen in January was that most of the cast "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" met at Saint Euphoria Studios to do a table read of the new script (photographic proof below)!

At the beginning of February, pre-production of "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" frantically churned forward in anticipation of the beginning of principal photography—which officially commenced on the 12th! The first scenes to go before the cameras involved flashbacks of the main character's capture and subsequent torture at the hands of evil Nazi scientist Schramm (played by the ever-talented James "Dear God, No" Norgard).

At the end of the month, tickets to the 10th anniversary DVD release party of "The Monster of Phantom Lake" IN 3D went on sale just days before "Danny Johnson Saves The World" was nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award. This is the fifth Mihmiverse film to be nominated for this prestigious award after "Terror from Beneath the Earth," "Attack of the Moon Zombies," "House of Ghosts" and "The Giant Spider." Of these, "House of Ghosts" was the only winner!

The first "mobile friendly" Mihmiverse Monthly newsletter was released this month. In honor of the 10th anniversary of the release of the film that started the Mihmiverse, "The Monster of Phantom Lake," writer/director Christopher R. Mihm released a one-off podcast called The Phantom Lake Almanac. It was written and recorded as if it were a community radio show one might hear if you lived inside the 'verse. According to Mr. Mihm, The Phantom Lake Almanac is what you get when you mix "A Prairie Home Companion," "Welcome to Nightvale" and the Mihmiverse!

To download an .mp3 of the episode, visit archive.org where the file is stored or download it for free from iTunes!

The 10th anniversary celebration of "The Monster of Phantom Lake" held on March 9th was a rousing success. The event began with pizza, soda, cookies and marshmallow crispy rice treats and was followed by a screening of the first Mihmiverse film in 3D! Afterwards, attendees competed in several activities including "The Monster of Phantom Lake" trivia (the winner of which took home a nifty "basement Jesus" painting), a "Dear God, NO!" contest judged by James Norgard (Dr. Gabriel), a game of "Fling-the-Frog" in which participants had to throw rubber frogs into a not-particularly-large bowl while facing AWAY from their target AND a very aggressive game of musical chairs!

Roughly a week later, the world got its first look at the title creature of "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" when online horror portal Dread Central published their exclusive first look. Several days later, the cast of "The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!" entered the studio to begin recording the cast album and principal photography of "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" reached the halfway point!

Just days into April, the collection of Mihmiverse lobby cards expanded with the addition of a set for "Cave Women on Mars"—of which, as of publication of this newsletter, two sets remain for sale! (Click HERE to order one of the two remaining sets!)

Midway through the month, Midnight Monster Movies with Dr. Bob held the Mihmithon, a 24-hour marathon of the films of Christopher R. Mihm. The night consisted of all ten films (minus "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter," which had yet to be released) presented in "in-universe chronological order". Justen Overlander's tribute to the Mihmiverse, "The Bequeather," also screened, as did the entire "Radar Men from the Moon" serial.

Traditionally, most of writer/director Christopher R. Mihm's films held their world premieres in May. With the shift in the production schedule of "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" (to make room for "The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!"), this month turned out to be unusually quiet.

Principal photography of "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" came to a close in the first half of the month and post-production raged forward. The "X: The Fiend from Beyond Space" Pocket Steve was released in the second half and quickly sold out.

The 2015 Mihmiverse Award (which are colloquially known as the "Versies") nominees were announced on the 6th and the winners were revealed mid-month during episode 57 of the Mihmiverse Bonfire Podcast.

Shortly before the release of the podcast, advance tickets to the July production of "The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!" went on sale.

After a brief absence, "Attack of the Moon Zombies" was back in stock and made available in a special MIHMIVERSE DOUBLE FEATURE edition alongside "Terror from Beneath the Earth." This special edition DVD included new, higher-quality transfers of both films (taken from their original sources).

The media blitz for "The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!" was in full swing by the middle of the month and the show debuted on the 21st to an enthusiastic crowd! Reaction on social media was almost entirely positive, with words like "wonderful," "funny" and "masterpiece" being the most common. The show (rightfully) received extensive praise for its direction and catchy music. The true standout of the show was young Greta Kernkamp, who turned 16 just a day before the show opened and took on the role of Elizabeth. In particular, her rendition of the song "Afraid of Everything" sent shivers up the spines of everyone in the audience and showcased hers as a talent which will carry her far in life.

The photo below is of Ms. Kernkamp taken during a dress rehearsal of "Afraid of Everything" during which she sings opposite a spooky tree (played by Mike Cook).


In the end, the very short run of "The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!" was a roaring success...and it's all thanks to the amazing bunch of folks pictured below!

Pictured from left to right, standing: Josh Hertel, Adam Boll, Marlee Anderson, Julia Lopez, Greg Kernkamp, Cherie "Rhuby" Gallinati, Mike Cook, Michele Langhough, Christopher R. Mihm and Seth Berrier. Sitting: Kelan Smith, Cassie Pearson, Greta Kernkamp, Mandy Tietz, Joel Breed, Hannah Monterey Jones and Christopher Sturz. Not pictured: Violet and Irene Eigner.

Writer/director Christopher R. Mihm finalized his edit of "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" on August 4th and revealed the final poster design (based on a brilliant idea from James Norgard) less than a week later.

"The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!" was nominated for Best Local Musical by Volume One, the guide to culture & entertainment in the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin. Ultimately, the play did not win. BUT, it DID beat out several well-known titles to snag third place! Not bad for a plucky "outsider!"

As the month wrapped up, advance tickets to the "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" world premiere went on sale.

The film's official trailer was released and quickly reached thousands of views. Shortly thereafter, the film's DVD was made available for pre-order.

"Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" was officially released on September 28th. Darker and more adult in nature, the film was heralded as a major expansion of what a Mihmiverse film could be.

The DVD was officially released the same day and is still available!

The disc contains a high quality digital transfer of the film and several exclusive special features, including a blooper reel, two photo galleries, a music video for "Do the 'Squito" performed by 5¢ Psychiatrist, feature-length commentary with writer/director Christopher R. Mihm, English and Esperanto subtitles and much more!

$9.99 (+$2.99 shipping & handling)

	Check here if the shipping address is outside of the U.S.
	Check here to include writer/director Christopher R. Mihm's autograph
NOTE: Autographs require removal of a DVD's protective plastic wrap. By selecting this option, you agree to allow us to do this!

October has always been a busy time for the Mihmiverse and 2016 was no exception!

During the calendar year, the films of Christopher R. Mihm appeared across the United States (and outside it as well!) at places like the Lake Charles Film Festival in Louisiana, at numerous events at several Alamo Drafthouse movie theaters in Texas, multiple conventions across the country, the Jack-o-Lantern Jaunt in Mukwonago, WI (eleventh year running!), BlobFest in Phoenixville, PA and many, many more. Obviously, not every event took place in the month of October, but it was by far the busiest month with writer/director Christopher R. Mihm alone traveling over 5000 miles to promote the Mihmiverse!

On the final day of October, writer/director Christopher R. Mihm revealed the title of his next film ("Demon with the Atomic Brain") and did so in spectacular fashion by releasing a teaser and re-opening the contributor program.


For each $25.00 donation, all contributors will be entitled to having a single name* of their choosing listed in the contributors section of the closing credits of the film, a customized, framable document certifying their participation in the program and one (1) copy of the finished film! Additional copies of the film and/or world premiere tickets may be pre-ordered as "add-ons" ($10 each) with the purchase of at least one credit. Credits can be given as gifts!

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR CREDITS

QUANTITY 12345678910 *CREDIT(S) Separate credits by commas, & or "and."  ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THE FILM none12345678910 WORLD PREMIERE TICKETS none12345678910

NOTE: If you purchase one of the following credits, writer/director Christopher R. Mihm will contact you shortly after to discuss your purchase!

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER — $500 Associate producers will earn IMDb and on-screen credits and will be allowed certain privileges of producership, including free, exclusive merchandise and other perks (TBD).

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER — $1000 Executive producers will earn IMDb and on-screen credits and will be allowed certain privileges of producership, including free, exclusive merchandise, set visits, and other perks (TBD).

As the year slid toward the holiday season, writer/director Christopher R. Mihm worked diligently to write the script for his next film. In addition, he continued to edit footage he captured of the initial run of "The Monster of Phantom Lake: The Musical!" into something worthy of a home video release. To this day, it has proven more difficult to accomplish than he first realized...

The only other event of note in the month of November was the release of the first annual Mihmiverse holiday ornament. This exclusive collectible was created to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the film that launched the Mihmiverse, "The Monster of Phantom Lake!" These cute, individually-numbered rarities were hand made by members of the Mihm family and made available in extremely limited quantities.

December dawned and the temperature began to drop. Writer/director Christopher R. Mihm appeared as a guest on the Beetlejuice Minute podcast for an entire week's worth of shows.

The biggest news of the month came when the Mihmiverse held its first open auditions for several roles in "Demon with the Atomic Brain." These were the first auditions held for a Mihmiverse film since 2007!

Finally, "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" appeared on a very cool year-end list: 5 Most Unusual Independent Horror Movies of 2016.

2017 has arrived and the folks behind the Mihmiverse are determined to make this the most productive and exciting year yet!

"Demon with the Atomic Brain" has officially entered pre-production and filming is slated to begin in February. Should everything work out, the film will be released near the end of the year. Screenings, events and appearances are already being added to the calendar and lots of fun things are being plotted and planned for you, our friends and fans! With so many fantastic things coming up, we wish you the happiest of new years and hope to see you all at some point—and meet some new folks along the way!

The latest episode of the Mihmiverse Monthly Audiocast has arrived!

This month, writer/director Christopher R. Mihm discusses his plans for expanding the Mihmiverse (and potentially taking over the world) in 2017 and reads some fun Amazon reviews of "Cave Women on Mars!"

Also included: another "bad" joke from Dr. Bob Tesla of Midnight Monster Movies with Dr. Bob and a reading of part one of "The Perfect World," one of writer/director Christopher R. Mihm's scripts for his "Twilight Zone"-inspired series "The Phantom Files."

To download an .mp3 of the audiocast, click HERE, visit archive.org where the file is stored or download it free from iTunes!

Otherwise, if you'd like to listen to the episode right from this browser window, click the play button on the player below!

The Mihmiverse Monthly Audiocast is hosted by writer/director Christopher R. Mihm and is focused specifically on what's going on RIGHT NOW in the Mihmiverse. In addition, Mr. Mihm will discuss the monster movie-making process, touch briefly on the future of the 'verse, pontificate on random subjects, and be joined by guests from within and without the Mihmiverse. PLUS, each episode will include something unique you won't find anywhere else!

Directed by Gene Fowler, Jr.
Starring Tom Tryon and Gloria Talbott

After an oddly emotionless first year of marriage, a small-town housewife (played beautifully by the too-talented-for-this-genre Gloria Talbott) begins to grow suspicious of her unusually distant husband. Of course, space aliens from a dying world are involved, taking over the bodies of the town's men for the purposes of repopulating their species. Never feeling tired or overly clichéd, this little gem of a film borrows heavily from other great 1950's sci-fi films like the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Invaders from Mars!" The special effects are surprisingly innovative and effective...as long as you overlook the part where the aliens' true form is revealed. I don't want to give too much away, but it left me inexplicably wanting fruit-salad-infused Jell-O. All things considered, a worthy surprise from the golden age of creature features!

Horror of Horrors!

Of the hundreds of horror films made between 1940 and 1970, only a handful actually had "Horror" in the title. Here are a few. Name them, if you dare!

1. (1946) An unsuccessful sculptor saves a madman from drowning and, seeing an opportunity for revenge, tricks him into murdering his critics. The legendary Rondo Hatton starred as "The Creeper."

2. (1960) Easy one! Roger Corman directed this tale about a man-eating plant from another planet. Jack Nicholson had a featured role. The musical would come later.

3. (1964) Hot rodders, motorcyclists, and kids at a slumber party are in danger of being eaten by radioactive sea monsters, hungry for blood. It's up to a science teacher and his students to find enough salt to kill the creatures.

4. (1965) A photographer and his models go to an abandoned castle for a photo shoot where they encounter a lunatic who believes he's the reincarnated spirit of a 17th century executioner. It doesn't turn out well. Mickey Hargitay (father of Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: SVU" and husband of Jayne Mansfield) starred.

5. (1966) Patrick O'Neal starred in this film about a madman who loses an arm in a botched hanging, and uses various detachable devices to gain revenge on the people who wronged him. Wayne Rogers (of "M*A*S*H" fame) had a featured role as a cop.

There has been a lot to hate about 2016 and I've been hearing quite a lot about it. As the official horror host of the Mihmiverse and your personal guide through the world of SCIENCE, I decided to take you through the great moments of science that happened in 2016. I limited this list to just one event each month but don't let that fool you! Science was on the march last year!

January
Caltech's Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown announced that they have very strong mathematical evidence of a new ninth planet out beyond Pluto. It would orbit about every 15,000 years and be roughly 10 times as massive as Earth. The researchers are being cautious until "Planet 9 from Outer Space" is actually seen and have said "Until Planet Nine is caught on camera it does not count as being real. All we have now is an echo."

February
Scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory announce the first direct detection of a gravitational wave, which were predicted by Albert Einstein!

March
Paleontologists reported the discovery of a pregnant Tyrannosaurus rex fossil! This allowed them to confirm that the female T. Rexs did lay eggs and the discovery of medullary bone tissue will allow them to determine the gender of the dinosaurs much easier. No reports about if they tasted good fried but they seem, more and more, to have been really big chickens.

April
Scientists discovered a new hormone in the human body: asprosin! Asprosin is a hormone produced in our fatty tissues that stimulates the liver to release glucose into the blood stream.

May
Astronomers discover three potentially Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of a brown dwarf star, just 40 light years away from Earth! It looks like habitable planets are exceedingly common in our galaxy. Maybe "Star Trek" and Christopher R. Mihm's "Destination: Outer Space" have things right, after all!

June
China introduced the world's fastest supercomputer, capable of a peak performance of 125 petaflops. This is approximately 2000 times fast than "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" Commander Data!

July
The cause of "colony collapse disorder" among honey bee colonies was finally pinpointed. Neonicotinoids, a type of widely-used insecticide, were found to reduce bee sperm counts by almost 40% and cut the lifespan of bee drones by a third. Now, we know the culprit and it's up to us to fix it. We were able to save animals that were damaged by DDT last century; let's save the honey!

August
The Greenland shark was discovered to be the longest-lived vertebrate on Earth! They are able to live to be nearly 400 years old. Think about how much just one of those sharks has seen in its lifetime!

September
Astronomers found that the reddish-brown cap of the north pole of Charon, the largest moon of Pluto, is composed of organic macromolecules released from the atmosphere of Pluto and transferred over 12,000 miles to the orbiting moon.

October
Researchers in Australia report that adding a type of dried seaweed to the diet of cattle could reduce their emissions of methane by 50-70%! They found a way to save the planet from the cow flatulence!

November
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found a huge deposit of water ice just under the surface of the planet Mars! The volume of water detected is equivalent to the volume of water in Lake Superior. If Elon Musk is serious about colonizing Mars, that water will be essential. Hopefully, that doesn't start a war with any cave women on Mars!

December
Harvard researchers found an aerosol that could be injected into the stratosphere to cool the planet from greenhouse gases, while also repairing ozone damage. It's like a two-for-one sale!

Cool the planet AND repair the ozone layer AND make cow flatulence less dangerous to the planet! See? 2016 wasn't so bad. Ok, it sucked a bit. Carrie Fisher and Alan Rickman and all of the other entertainers will be missed. That doesn't mean the year was scientifically bad.

"The Monster of Phantom Lake," "It Came From Another World!," "Cave Women on Mars," "Terror from Beneath the Earth," "Destination: Outer Space," "Attack of the Moon Zombies," "House of Ghosts," "The Giant Spider," "The Late Night Double Feature," "Danny Johnson Saves The World" and "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter" DVDs are now available at SaintEuphoria.com, the online home of the films of Christopher R. Mihm.

In addition, exclusive movie posters, collectibles and other merchandise are now in stock. Everything is available in extremely limited quantities, so get yours today before they run out!