The AckerMonster Chronicles!

Excellent followup!
Some time back Jason and Sunni Brock wrote and produced a wonderful documentary about the writer Charles Beaumont. It was a freshman work that remains one of my favorite documentaries.

So I have been eager to see their follow-up work, THE ACKERMONSTER CHRONICLES, a film about Forrest J Ackerman.

To just about everyone in science-fiction fandom and the related fields, Forrest J Ackerman is one of the most famous personalities the genre produced. He was a classic huckster with a powerful ego who was as instrumental in the promotion of genre literature as Stan Lee has been to the comic book industry.

"Uncle Forry" as he was commonly known was a true character. He was often generous, always friendly, and a natural born promoter.

This documentary--as the name implies--chronicles Forry's life. Unlike the Beaumont film, this one contains interviews with Mr. Ackerman, the project having been initiated a couple of years before his death. So we have...

One of the seminal figures is sf, fantasy, horror and hundreds of creative careers!
This is a topnotch labor of love, for a brilliantly quirky, beloved, and inspirational figure in the world of fantastic storytelling, whether in book form or realized as film, Forrest J. Ackerman.

For those of us who found him through Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine--later shortened to Famous Monsters--in the late fifties, early sixties, he helped deepen and direct our already fertile imaginations. Many are interviewed or mentioned in this documentary. His inspirational power goes deep into the late twentieth century and beyond, and that reach is quite apparent both in term of cinema and fiction. Ray Bradbury and Stephen King are the most prominent examples of the latter, though many writers of my acquaintance hold a cherished spot in their hearts for this generous man.

In my early teens, I bought at the drug store and sneaked home under my jacket not Playboy but Famous Monsters, forbidden by Mom and the only time I defied her. That magazine helped seed my...

An Important Documentary
I picked up Jason V Brock's new documentary "The AckerMonster Chronicles" while I was at the World Horror Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, 2013.

It's just a terrific film, I highly recommend it; featuring some great interviews with William F. Nolan, John Landis, Forry Ackerman himself, and the late, great Richard Matheson. The film provides a very in-depth study of one of the most important periods in American literature, film, and genre culture. Brock doesn't shy away from digging deeper into his subject matter, either, and his bravery produces some unique perspectives about life, fandom, and sexuality from the people he is interviewing. Also, his persistence to remain original in the stylistic and artful presentation makes sticking with the film a breeze, as the visuals and sounds (superb editing as well!) make it easy on the eyes and ears.

There's no time like the present to pick this DVD up and get yourself educated on some of the most interesting and...

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