The Other Paper reviews Famous Monster

Turning fandom into a lifestyle

Click image to enlarge Obsessed by monsters: Forrest J Ackerman devoted his life to science fiction and horror films

A biography of the original "fanboy" will be screened during the Drexel's annual sci-fi film fest

By Richard Ades

Published: Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:28 PM EDT

This weekend, the Drexel Theatre will once again host the Ohio 24-Hour Science Fiction Marathon, its annual tribute to Tribbles, Wookies and tales set in a world not quite our own.
Along with the usual assortment of old classics and new features, the festival will include a documentary that’s appropriate for the expected crowd of sci-fi fans, as it’s about the man known as the greatest fan of all time. In fact, he may have been the original “fanboy,” said TV writer Ian Johnston, one of the two Canadians who made the flick.

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman is about the late “Forry” Ackerman, a journalist and literary agent who took his favorite film genre so seriously that in 1939 he became the first known person to show up for a sci-fi convention in costume.

“You can’t forget about that significance—’39, for God’s sake,” said Johnston.

As a result, said Michael MacDonald, the film’s director and producer, the documentary is not only about Ackerman but about the celluloid-worshiping lifestyle he helped to popularize.

“You can’t separate the two,” MacDonald said. “Through Forry, we celebrate fandom.”
Speaking on the phone Monday from Toronto and Halifax, respectively, Johnston and MacDonald explained how two Canadians came to make a film about the man whose devotion to science fiction is credited with helping to turn it into a mainstream phenomenon.
He’s the guy, in fact, who turned science fiction into sci-fi, reportedly coining the nickname back in 1953.

“I first met Forry back in the early ’90s,” said Johnston, who was writing for the fan magazines Fangoria and Cinefantastique at the time.

Ackerman had served as editor of his own fan magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmdom, from 1958 to ’82, and he remained active in the sci-fi and horror fields into the ’90s. Johnston said Ackerman organized two “Famous Monster” conventions, in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. In addition, he owned a vast collection of film memorabilia that he gladly showed to anybody who dropped by the “Ackermansion,” his LA home.

In 2005, when MacDonald was making a movie about sci-fi cover art, Johnston suggested that he talk to Ackerman. However, Johnston had been out of touch with Ackerman and wasn’t even sure he was still alive. When MacDonald not only talked to Ackerman but included footage of him in his film, Johnston decided it was time to make a movie specifically about the legendary fan, who was then in his late 80s.

“I said, ‘We’ve got to go down and film this guy quick,’” said Johnston, who signed on as the project’s writer and interviewer. “Not to be crass or anything like that, but after you’re in your 80s, all bets are off.”

The resulting 48-minute documentary includes interviews with Ackerman and with some of the many filmmakers and other celebs who’ve been inspired by him through the years, including Roger Corman, Ray Bradbury, John Landis and Joe Dante.

It also includes reminiscences about people who are no longer around to speak for themselves, such as legendarily bad filmmaker Ed Wood, for whom Ackerman served as an agent. Johnston said Ackerman’s support of Wood had nothing to do with the quality of his work.

“He accepted anybody, almost, as an agent,” said Johnston. “He was very disparaging of Ed Wood.”'
“He said Ed Wood was a drunken voice on the other end of the phone at 2 o’clock in the morning,” added MacDonald.

Even so, Ackerman not only worked with Wood but remained his friend for years.
“Forry was always for the underdog,” said MacDonald.

He noted that Ackerman also befriended Bela Lugosi, the one-time Dracula who died partway through Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space, often cited as the worst film of all time. MacDonald said Ackerman and his wife once helped the down-and-out actor by taking him to get his shoes fixed.

“That’s so cool,” Johnston said. “Like, who fixes people’s shoes?”
Of course, Ackerman himself is the main character in MacDonald and Johnston’s film. They succeeded in interviewing him and even filming his 90th birthday, held at a Los Angeles eatery called House of Pies.

The world’s foremost authority on science fiction was not above delving into fiction when talking about himself, they admitted. One example was a story he liked to tell of an H.G. Wells book that supposedly was mailed to him during World War II, but which went down with a ship that was sunk by a German submarine. The book eventually rose to the surface, and he finally received it.
Later, however, Ackerman revealed that the story wasn’t true. Nor could it have been, as the book wasn’t published until five years after the war ended.

“There was a lot of crap around that you’re not really sure about,” said Johnston. “Like Clark, for God’s sake,” he added, referring to the middle name sometimes ascribed to Ackerman.

So why did Ackerman use the middle initial J, which was never followed by a period?
“I always got the impression that he did it ’cause that looked cooler or something,” Johnston said.

Ackerman died Dec. 4, proving that Johnston had been right to turn his film biography into a rush job. The movie—which already had been seen on Canadian TV and at a 2008 film festival in Huntington Beach, Calif.—was screened at a tribute gathering held March 8 at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre. Also on the bill was The Time Travelers, a 1964 film in which Ackerman made a brief appearance.

The older flick is again on the schedule for this weekend’s Drexel film festival, following the third public showing of Famous Monster. “We booked Time Travelers specifically because it has a cameo appearance by Forrest Ackerman in it,” said Drexel owner Jeff Frank, “We thought the audience would get a real kick out of seeing it.”

A DVD of the Ackerman biography went on sale Monday.

INFO: The 26th annual Ohio 24-Hour Science Fiction Film Marathon runs from noon Saturday to noon Sunday at the Drexel Theatre, 2254 E. Main St. Tickets are $33 in advance, $36 at the door. A “halfathon” featuring six films begins at midnight Saturday; tickets are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. 614-231-1050, scifimarathon.com or drexel.net.

The Other Paper

Fun and Imformative - DVD REVIEW

itsonitsoff.com DVD REVIEW!

"Famous Monster is a fun and informative bit of merchandise that should be of interest to even the most casual sci-fi or horror geek."



DVD Review: Famous Monster
Posted on 17 March, 2009 by Jonathan Melville

I like to think of myself as a pretty clued up fan of the sci-fi genre, wearing my geek colours on my sleeve as I watch the latest BSG or plan a visit to a screening of a classic Kubrick.

Watching Famous Monster, a documentary about the world’s most famous sci-fi fan (he even coined the term sci-fi!) Forrest J Ackerman, who died last December, I felt suitably humbled: my geek chic pales in comparison to this guy.

Born in 1916, Ackerman was a Los Angeles based writer who, among his many accomplishments, founded the science fiction genre, edited the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, was potentially the world’s greatest collector of sci-fi and horror memorabilia and was once present during a talk by HG Welles.

During filming in 2007, the makers of Famous Monster found a clearly frail Forry living in his Acker-mini-mansion (a much pared-down version of his once infamous shrine to film merchandise known as the Ackermansion) with much of his enthusiasm for the world of science fiction still intact.

Famous fans such as John Landis and Ray Harryhausen give their thoughts on the man while photos and clips of the Ackermonster in action keep things moving. Soundbites from both Ackerman and the talking heads give a decent overview of his life, though the brevity of the film at 48mins and the lack of some meatier interviewees - Spielberg and Lucas are mentioned but never seen - does mean it lacks a bit of punch.

As an introduction to a man who lived for his passion and happily passed on the torch to the younger fans, Famous Monster is a fun and informative bit of merchandise that should be of interest to even the most casual sci-fi or horror geek.

Thanks Johnathan!

MJSimpson Cult Review from IMDB

This is a review by MJ Simpson, a reviewer of cult films, which appeared on the Famous Monster page of The Internet Movie Database. It is a review of the DVD, including the extras, (which has been officially released today in the United Kingdom.) Stay tuned for news of our North American release, soon to come!

Famous Monster

Director: Michael MacDonald
Writer: Ian Johnston
Producers: Michael MacDonald, Holly Hedd
Cast: Forry Ackerman, Ray Harryhausen, John Landis
Country: Canada
Year of release: 2007
Reviewed from: screener

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman (to use the full title) is a 48-minute look at the life and work of ‘Mr Sci-Fi’ himself, produced a couple of years before his death in 2009. It features most of the expected talking heads, some rare photos, lots of clips from trailers and PD classics and some newly shot interview footage with Forry himself who looks very weak and frail but clearly still had all his faculties.

Forry had a stock of anecdotes and well-worn gags which he trotted out in interview after interview, column after column, especially in the last decade or two of his life, so it would be very easy for this to turn into a singalongaforry as anyone with even a passing knowledge of the man mouths the stories word for word. It is to the credit of director Michael MacDonald and writer Ian Johnston (who share a curious ‘created by’ credit) that Famous Monster manages to largely avoid this, without leaving any obvious gaps in the story. There is the occasional “little boy, take me home” or “I am your reader, make me laugh” but they provide texture, not tedium, to the story.

Most of the interviewees need no introduction. They are, in order of appearance: Ray Harryhausen, John Landis, Ray Bradbury, Roger Corman, film exhibitor/historian Reg Hartt, Twilight Zone/Star Trek scripter George Clayton Johnson, actress Bobbie Bresee (Evil Spawn etc), actor Dan Roebuck (Matlock, Halloween remake etc), Rue Morgue editrix Jovanka Vuckovic, Joe Dante, David J Schow, director Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs etc), Del Howison (owner of LA collectibles store Dark Delicacies), Ib Melchior, Fred Olen Ray and Scott Spiegel.

There are also clips of Ackerman’s cameo roles in Ray’s Scalps and Melchior’s The Time Travellers as well as some archive footage shot inside the original Ackermansion. Forry sits in an armchair in the mini-Ackermansion that he moved into in his later years and is also seen at his favourite restaurant, House of Pies.

Forry looks very small and old in this film - he was 89/90 when it was produced - and his movements are small and slow. But he looks content, thankful for his (amazing) lot in life and comfortable in the knowledge that he is surrounded by friends who will care for him until Prince Sirki finally comes a-knocking. “He’ll probably outlast us all,” says Sullivan, which of course turned out not be true. “When he finally goes, he’s going to go happy,” ventures Dante, which thankfully did prove prophetic.

Although it was produced and broadcast on American and Canadian TV while Ackerman was still alive, the first DVD release of the documentary was this UK disc which hit stores a couple of months after his passing. There is a curious but, I suppose, unavoidable inconsistency in that some of the interviewees talk about Ackerman in the past tense but we can work out that they are talking about Forry as he was when he was still active; he was still with us when these people spoke.

Johnston’s script (narrated by Terry Pulliam) largely avoids any attempt to ape Forry’s punning style and acknowledges the controversy over the reincarnation of Famous Monsters without dwelling unduly on the matter or naming the other party involved. Johnston is also credited with ‘research’ and ‘interviews’ while MacDonald (who had previously interviewed Forry for his 2005 documentary Visions from the Edge: The Art of Science Fiction) shares camera credit with (brother?) Fred MacDonald and editing with James Patriquin. Warren Robert, sometime guitarist with rockers Avacost, provided the score.

Famous Monster strikes just the right balance so that it will appeal to both those who know little about Forrest J Ackerman and those who are completely familiar with the man and his legacy. Although there is, naturally, no reference to his passing, this serves as a generous, affectionate (but not cloying or hagiographic) tribute to a man who, directly or indirectly, touched the lives of millions of people around the world.

The DVD from Spirit Entertainment includes nearly two hours of extras plus a commentary by Johnston and MacDonald which starts fairly blandly but picks up later on. There is a three-minute ‘Blooper Reel’ which has out-takes from the interviews with Landis, Schow, Dante, Roebuck and Corman. Landis observes that there is no irony in Dan Aykroyd’s belief in UFOs, ghosts and conspiracy theories and that the actor really is “insane”. Corman can’t recall which of his films Forry cameoed in but, when told the details of one such appearance, then repeat sthem for the camera as if the information was plucked from the air. (Film journo secret: this sort of thing happens all the time.)

‘More Forry Memories’ is 27 minutes of additional interview footage, 17 minutes of which is Ackerman himself although this includes a rather pointless sequence in a car during which Forry barely says a word and a House of Pies sequence of Forry singing three songs, which is the sort of indulgence one extends to people of that age (and Forry always loved to sing to people) but is of little actual interest. The remaining ten minutes includes additional interview material with Dante, Bradbury, Roebuck, Sullivan, Spiegel and Landis.

On the commentary track, Johnston and MacDonald explain that they visited a convention where Forry was scheduled to appear but he didn’t show up. Since they were there anyway they grabbed three interviews with other guests but these have been omitted from the main documentary for two obvious reasons. One is sound quality - all three interviews were done on the fly in a noisy dealer’s hall - and the other is that none of the interviewees have anything to say about Ackerman except what a lovely man. Carla Laemmle (niece of the Universal Studios boss, now well into her 90s) is one of the ladies in question and the other two are Grace Lee Whitney (Star Trek’s Yeoman Rand) and Hammer/Bond hottie Caroline Munro. The fourth deleted interview is with a young, aspiring make-up effects artist, Casey Wong, who is seen in his studio and in Forry’s home. This whole ‘Deleted Interviews’ segment runs 22 minutes.

A seven-minute tour of the Mini-Ackermansion is really just long, unedited takes of establishing footage but it gives us a chance to view what remained of Forry’s collection after the great sell-off. On the other hand, ‘Dan Roebuck’s Hall of Horror’ (called ‘Dan Roebuck’s Living(??) Room’ on-screen) is a guided tour around the extensive collection of this likeable actor who turns out to be a massive, massive monster kid. Roebuck, whose many credits include episodes of Lost, Six Feet Under, Freakylinks, The West Wing, Lois and Clark and Star Trek TNG, explains that, unlike Forry, he has very few original items (a couple of Planet of the Apes costumes notwithstanding) but he has vast amounts of toys, action figures, books and other merchandise plus a number of lifesize waxworks, some bought from out-of-business museums and some specially commissioned. Finally there is a gallery of 37 photos of Forry or from his collection, some of which are seen briefly in the main feature.

One day someone may write a definitive biography of Forrest J Ackerman (whose middle name, I learned from this film, was actually Clark). I certainly won’t, but somebody might. It will be a difficult job, even at a remove of several years, because Forry was human and could, I have no doubt, be as cantankerous as any old man. But he is so loved, and is likely to remain so, that objectivity will be difficult and may well end up being condemned - which is one reason why I wouldn’t touch such a job with a barge pole, thank you very much.

In the meantime, this sympathetic, informative, well-crafted documentary serves as a fine record of a person whose historical importance and cultural influence were out of all proportion to his actual level of public awareness.

Sci-Fi Fans Not Human? NBC Thinks So ...

by Ian Johnston
Writer - Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman

March 18, 2009

NBC-Universal Declares Sci-Fi Fans Not Human
Ackerman To Rise From Grave In Protest

Where’s Dr. Ackula when you need him?

How would the creator of the term "sci-fi" feel about this?

Oh right. He’s gone to the great Ackermansion in the sky, leaving behind a legion of fans and a grave plate that reads “Sci-fi Is My High”.

Too bad. We could have used him this week to defend the word he created (or at least popularized) more than 55 years ago.

The Sci-Fi Channel – owned by NBC-Universal, who used to know a thing or two about creatures that go bump and buzz in the night – has decided to ditch the word sci-fi and replace it with the more “cool” brand of “SyFy”.

According to the president of Syfy…..oh god, I can’t even type it…Dave Howe, the name change is aimed at “building a broader, more open, accessible, reliable and human-friendly brand…”

Wait a second. Did he just call all his current viewers “non-human”? God damn. I think he did. Wow…

Well, we know what he’s saying, don’t we? He just decided he’s too popular to hang out with the nerds and basement geeks. He wants to hang with the cool kids. Cool kids who don’t usually go for aliens and monsters.

Women. Guys with jobs. Normal folks.

And all this after The Sci-Fi Channel recorded its largest audience ever last year – built on all those very geeks he’s dumping.

Don’t you think it’s a bit wrong-headed to abandon your core audience in favor of a viewership who can be fooled into watching by the sight of a shiny new logo?

Needless to say, the world of always-indignant sci-fi fans has risen up in derision of this cynical money grab. Oh beware the power of the geeky internet blog. My fave comment so far? “I want to punch NBC-Universal in the face”.

Not that sci-fi has had a particularly free ride. Back in 1953, Forrest J (no dot) Ackerman claimed to have coined the word while riding in a car, playing on the current popularity of the word “hi-fi”.

Some in the science fiction world at the time felt the shortened word trivialized the genre. Harlan Ellison said it sounded like “crickets fucking”. But the word lived on.

Don’t see “SyFy” catching on however.

I mean, depending on how you pronounce, it sounds a bit like air escaping. Or like an abbreviation for syphilis.

Is there a cure for this affliction?

Maybe that’s the crowd that NBC-Universal is targeting – the flatulent syphilis girl who is drawn to sight of shiny things. Hey – you got her number? There’s a Stargate Atlantis marathon tonight.