Forrest J Ackerman

SUPER 8 Review

Unlike the kid leads of the new J.J. Abrams film "Super 8", I wasn't fourteen years old in the late 1970s, but I was maybe halfway there. Consequently, I didn't shoot my geeky homemade movies on Super 8 film. I got started in 1985, shooting on the glorious, short-lived Betamax video format. Working on videotape meant that I fell just short of participating in the Forrest J. Ackerman-inspired golden era of Famous Monsters fans making their down and gritty genre films in the backyard. Youthful aspiring pro filmmakers such as Don Glut would rally their fellow neighbor kids to make movies whenever they could, often times participating in a contest of some sort. For me, there were no contests, but the effort was no less serious. Every weekend and after school, whenever possible, friends would be gathered and we'd be shooting everything from alien invasions to zombies to cop movies. Based on the very personal feel of "Super 8", my guess would be that Abrams shared this experience. When you're a fourteen-year-old filmmaker, virtually no force on earth can get you to put the camera down. That is, no force beyond ones own gender pool. Once girls entered the picture, our whole filmmaking world came quickly crashing down. Scriptwriting flirtations with love relationships and hinted-at passions were a quick but brief last gasp before actual flirtations and dating derailed the whole operation. For the budding adolescent filmmaker, conflicting inner-priorities can evoke a war zone of emotions and priorities. Abrams actualizes all of this quite wonderfully in "Super 8", an otherwise distractingly Spielbergian homage depicting that wondrous time in the life of a boy movie-maker when the camera was still firmly in-hand, monsters and aliens still very much filling the viewfinder, but that pretty girl from nearby is beginning to occupy his peripheral vision. Maybe it's obvious by now, with my own life experience and continuing filmic passion, that I'm essentially the exact target audience for "Super 8". Factor in that I've been a fan of numerous other Abrams film and television projects ("Lost" ranks high on my list of all-time greatest TV shows, and his "Star Trek" reboot was my number one film of 2009), and you may correctly surmise that I went into "Super 8" with very high hopes. These hopes were, for the most part, met. But not quite.

Sci-Fi Gadfly Forrest J Ackerman Dies

"My wife used to say, 'How can you let strangers into our home?' But what's the point of having a collection like this if you can't let people enjoy it?" an exuberant Ackerman told The Associated Press as he conducted a spirited tour of the mansion on his 85th birthday.

His collection once included more than 50,000 books, thousands of science-fiction magazines and such items as Bela Lugosi's cape from the 1931 film "Dracula.

Forrest J Ackerman's World of Science Fiction:

... Kelly Preston, Ralph Bellamy, Russ Meyer, Steve Forrest, Joey _Travolta_, Ed Begley Jr., Forrest J Ackerman,...

Even though they spell their names differently, I like to pretend that is related to Forrest J. Ackerman

Forry, The Life of Forrest J Ackerman

This biography begins with a foreword by Joe Moe, Ackerman's caregiver and close friend since 1982.

The Gernsback Awards, 1926

This is the seminal story that first sparked the Sense of Wonder of Mr. Science Fiction.

Ackermanthology, 65 Astonishing, Rediscovered Sci-Fi Shorts

Worlds of tomorrow, the amazing universe of science-fiction art

The beloved science fiction and horror aficionado and publisher of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" presents this collection of more than 300 covers from science ...

Forrest J. Ackerman Presents Hauser's Memory