A new documentary on Forrest J Ackerman World Premiere May 15 on the SyFyChannel

[Monster Kid]

A new film by Paul Davids, enthusiastically received during its sneak previews at a paranormal conference in Taos, New Mexico and at the 2012 Mad Monster Party, has its world premiere on the SyFy Channel on its Midnight Movie May 15!


Paul Davids, award winning director and producer (THE SCI-FI BOYS, STARRY NIGHT, ROSWELL made for TV movie, BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE, and many others)  did not set out to produce this documentary based on any ideas he had... the events came to HIM!  He could but record them for posterity.

Profoundly amazed by a strange blotted out portion of printed notes an ordinary sheet of paper which he had left on his bed for a moment for a break, all alone in his home in New Mexico one night in the  spring of 2009, Davids knew he had experienced something inexplicable.  Later, on communicating with Forrest J Ackerman's best pal and caregiver Joe Moe, about an intriguing dream Joe had had in which Forry spoke to him about the magnificent tribute to him in Hollywood just weeks before, he began to wonder... was there a connection?

Davids' quest would take him to two eminent chemistry professors and their laboratories and would involve him with over a dozen other individuals, many of whom had also had unusual experiences seemingly connected to communications with Forry in spirit.

I am in this documentary, and as I am a scientist myself, I can vouch for the sincerety of Mr. Davids and am impressed with his careful and meticulous handling of this data and other data that kept coming to his attention.

Many celebrities appear in THE LIFE AFTER DEATH PROJECT, including Richard Matheson and noted skeptic Michael Schermer, but this is not about celebrity status .. it is about after death communication.

http://www.lifeafterdeathproject.com/

[Gillfan]

I am sorry to have to say that I find this somewhere between tasteless and offensive.
Forrest J Ackerman was an atheist.
He wasn't a questioning agnostic, he was a hardcore atheist through and through.
While I would not go so far as to say we were "best friends"  (because Forry had many friends and frankly, I'm sure I was not even in the top 200) we were more than casual acquaintances.

Over our many meals at the local Sizzler when in CA and at whatever restaurant struck our fancy while in NY and NJ we would talk of not only monsters but many things, and religion came up numerous times. He was very firm in his beliefs and once, when I innocently made a comment about his beloved Wendy "Looking down and smiling" he raised his voice to me and went on at great length about her neither looking down nor up nor sideways because she was gone and there is no afterlife. He was very annoyed with me, as though I was a small child who had, despite being told not to, gotten into some kind of mischief repeatedly.

In light of the fact that he so fervently believed in the absence of a hereafter, to link him with...this program is repugnant. He would not have participated when he was alive except to try to disprove it. To "force" his participation when he is gone and unable to  stop it seems like a terrible violation of his memory and his beliefs.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I feel very strongly on this subject and loved Forry like he was family.

Forry wrote a letter to be published after his death, you can read it here:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39346

[Scatter]

A new film by Paul Davids, enthusiastically received during its sneak previews at a paranormal conference in Taos, New Mexico and at the 2012 Mad Monster Party, has its world premiere on the SyFy Channel on its Midnight Movie May 15!


Paul Davids, award winning director and producer (THE SCI-FI BOYS, STARRY NIGHT, ROSWELL made for TV movie, BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE, and many others)  did not set out to produce this documentary based on any ideas he had... the events came to HIM!  He could but record them for posterity.

Profoundly amazed by a strange blotted out portion of printed notes an ordinary sheet of paper which he had left on his bed for a moment for a break, all alone in his home in New Mexico one night in the  spring of 2009, Davids knew he had experienced something inexplicable.  Later, on communicating with Forrest J Ackerman's best pal and caregiver Joe Moe, about an intriguing dream Joe had had in which Forry spoke to him about the magnificent tribute to him in Hollywood just weeks before, he began to wonder... was there a connection?

Davids' quest would take him to two eminent chemistry professors and their laboratories and would involve him with over a dozen other individuals, many of whom had also had unusual experiences seemingly connected to communications with Forry in spirit.

I am in this documentary, and as I am a scientist myself, I can vouch for the sincerety of Mr. Davids and am impressed with his careful and meticulous handling of this data and other data that kept coming to his attention.

Many celebrities appear in THE LIFE AFTER DEATH PROJECT, including Richard Matheson and noted skeptic Michael Schermer, but this is not about celebrity status .. it is about after death communication.

http://www.lifeafterdeathproject.com/

Are you freaking KIDDING me?? Someone tell me today is April 1st. Please.

[CreepyJeff]

I've met Forry many times and had the privilege of touring the Ackermansion (back in Sept of 2000).  He was a gracious host and while I heard and read certain things about his beliefs (or lack thereof), I loved him and love him for the joy he spread for our beloved Famous Monsters and all things classic horror and sci-fi. 

As far as this documentary is concerned, I will probably check it out and keep an open mind as to its content.  I may hate it or may like it but like many shows on the now Sy-fy channel, virtually nothing they air is real.  It's all for entertainment which is why I love my monsters so much.  Not real but really cool and fun.  I only met Paul Davids and his wife one time when they visited the UMA Toy Museum at Wonderfest back in 2006 or 2007.  Seemed like very nice people and were very enthusiastic about  the display.       

[Pauspy]

What is the goal of this show? I honestly don't want to start a theological argument here, but believe or disbelief in an afterlife is so personal that, if it's goal is to prove or disprove the existance of an afterlife, it's bound to be unsuccessful.  I know I haven't seen it, but personally my first gut reaction to the show is that it just seems kind of irrelevant.

[Paul L]

I'm interested.

[zombiehorror]

From the title of the post I was interested but then I read what the documentary was all about and I'm not so interested anymore!!  This is not a documentary on Forrest J. Ackerman!  This thing is a, "What If?!..." or some may say a farce!

This is a documentary on Forrest J. Ackerman!
Famous Monster

This is a documentary on Forrest J. Ackerman!
Tour of the Forrest J Ackerman Sci-Fi & Horror Collection Ackermansion

[Count_Zirock]

As someone who shared Forry's conclusion regarding an afterlife (because atheism is not a belief), I, too, find this somewhat disrespectful. But, I will also probably watch it, I'll admit. With a healthy order of skepticism next to the chips.

[Scatter]

Forry would have found this entire enterprise profoundly disrespectful and insulting toward him. And he's not here to defend himself from this characterization (or rather MIScharacterization).

What's the filmmaker's next project?

"Anne Frank: Hitler's Lovechild"?
"Martin Luther King, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the KKK"?

[CreepyJeff]

I guess I must have missed something or misinterpreted the short film clip.  I agree if Forry were alive he would likely have had nothing to do with this nor would have supported it in any manner.  But he's not here to ask so those of us who are here (fans, friends, family, enemies) have their opinions and are free to express them.

But does any living person KNOW what awaits them in death?  Is there a heaven?  Is there a hell?  Is there purgatory?  Limbo?  Nothing?  Are there such things as ghosts?  I have no doubt more than one person right here at this group believes in each of these possibilities. 

So what if Forry is a restless spirit and communicated with Joe Moe in a dream or is invisibly floating among us?  As long as a documentary such as this is presented respectfully and does not defame Forry (or anyone else for that matter) I have no problem checking it out and keeping an open mind. 

Personal note to Gary:  One of the things I love about you is your passion about whatever the subject is.  Not everyone sees eye to eye about everything but I know you have a heart of gold and you wear your emotions and share feelings right on your sleeves.

[zombiehorror]

But does any living person KNOW what awaits them in death?

No, we're all still awaiting word from Houdini!

[Gillfan]

I certainly want to be respectful of the beliefs of my fellow board members and I'm not looking to start any battles here, but at the same time we must think of the beliefs of the deceased.

I've been watching, and enjoying, shows about the paranormal and speaking with spirits for decades. I have no problem the such endeavors. My objection is that Forry vehemently stated that there was no afterlife and would make his thoughts on the subject clear to any who brought up the topic.
As others have said and I said before, he would not have participated in this program were he alive, except possibly as a skeptic. Frankly, I'm not even sure he would have participated in that capacity.

To focus the program on someone who would not have wanted to be a part of it, and who very clearly beyond any doubt indicated his position is wrong. Imagine a show where psychics contact The Amazing Randi after his passing. Do you think Randi would want to be a part of that?

There are many dead people. I don't see why Forry had to be the subject here.
Try to contact Houdini, he was a skeptic but said he would try to communicate, he wanted people to try. Leave Forry's memory alone.

[Monster Kid]

For the record, Joe Moe, Sean Fernald, myself, Richard Matheson, Paul Davids, Casey Wong and many others who loved Forry very much were interviewed for the documentary and it's not at all intended to be disrespectful. See the documentary before you judge it prematurely.   This documenary is not about religion, it is about scientists and others who, confronted wirh mystery, tried to understand it.

I knew for decades that Forry believed in the nonexistence of angels, devils, gods, or survival of the personality after death; he thought they were as fantastic a concept as banshees and fairies.  No new information there!

I'm telling you guys this because I know you all are rational and thoughtful folks and am sure mean no harm.

As a scientist I always say to people, when people tell me they feel "belief" in ghosts or UFOs or whatever settles the matter, no further discussion necessary... "belief is not important.  What matters is empirical evidence.  I can believe all I want that green sea turtles cannot be seen coming up the Virginia coast because no one has seen them here in 100 years, but that does not mean that a green sea turtle cannot be seen here.  In fact, just a week after someone told me green sea turtles absolutely don't come here, a beachcomber reported to US Fish and Wildlife Service a female green coming ashore here to lay her eggs!  My belief really has no control over Mother Nature whatsoever.  Furthermore, green sea turtles don't care what Monster Kid thinks about their abilities."

If we never try to understand an unusual phenomenon we observe in Nature, if we dig in our heels and say "that's impossible, I don't believe such a thing can be true and therefore someone faked it!" we close our minds and thus we could be missing out on some important data.

Of course one does not want to accept everything told to one.  That is the other side of extreme. Skepticism is a healthy thing! It even can help us investigate the unusual phenomena!!!

[horrorhunter]

     Keeping an open mind is always the best course to follow. I never met Forry but I love and respect him for his great work for FM and fandom in general. I tend to agree with his views on religion. But, there is also that feeling that maybe something is going on behind the scenes. I have an avid interest in the paranormal like most monster fans since life (or unlife) after death is probably the most common recurring theme in horror, as well as much sci-fi and fantasy.
     There is another way to look at this. If what Forry believed is true it can't possibly offend him after his passing. It can only offend the living if they choose to take it that way. That said, I hope the documentary is interesting and respectful.

[horror1o1]

From the title of the post I was interested but then I read what the documentary was all about and I'm not so interested anymore!!  This is not a documentary on Forrest J. Ackerman!  This thing is a, "What If?!..." or some may say a farce!

This is a documentary on Forrest J. Ackerman!
Famous Monster

This is a documentary on Forrest J. Ackerman!
Tour of the Forrest J Ackerman Sci-Fi & Horror Collection Ackermansion

ok the part where Dan's dad told the little girl he was retarded made me laugh until I cryed.