There are aspects that are unexplained.
Sometimes, things happen that seem inexplicable. The bell chimes for the first time in years, a feather appears as though from nowhere, and computers act strangely. The scientific method is at least 400 years old and yet people still fall foul of classic logical fallacies. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, “after this, therefore because of this,” is on full display in The Life After Death Project as well as conflating correlation with causation. Writer/director/producer/star Paul Davids correlates his friendship with Forrest J Ackerman with all kinds of odd goings on in his life and that of some mutual acquaintances.
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Sometimes, things happen that seem inexplicable. The bell chimes for the first time in years, a feather appears as though from nowhere, and computers act strangely. The scientific method is at least 400 years old and yet people still fall foul of classic logical fallacies. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, “after this, therefore because of this,” is on full display in The Life After Death Project as well as conflating correlation with causation. Writer/director/producer/star Paul Davids correlates his friendship with Forrest J Ackerman with all kinds of odd goings on in his life and that of some mutual acquaintances.
Read more...
- 7/24/2013
- by Jason Ratigan
- JustPressPlay.net
Paul Davids is a lifelong storyteller, a man whose career has involved great projects from the original Transformers cartoon to the wonderful Roswell. He is a director, producer, writer, and actor who brought us the delightful documentary The Sci-fi Boys, detailing the evolution of Sci-Fi. But now comes one of Paul’s most personal and important works to date: The Life After Death Project. This new work documents Paul’s personal experiences with strange occurrences in his life following the death of Paul’s dear friend, FM founding editor Forrest J Ackerman. What started out as a seemingly stray mark on a piece of paper has become a massive exploration involving numerous celebrities, experts, and academics into the nature of messages from beyond the grave. Paul chronicles his personal journey to uncover the science behind the unexplained happenings in his life as well as decipher the possible meanings of them all.
- 5/9/2013
- by The ED-itor
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Forrest J Ackerman Communicating from the Other Side in New Documentary The Life After Death Project
On December 4, 2008, the horror and sci-fi genres lost their favorite Uncle when Forrest J Ackerman passed away. Since then each day we miss him more and more. Now a new documentary has come that's intriguing to say the least.
From writer/producer/director Paul Davids comes The Life After Death Project, and it focuses on the very real possibility of after death communication, particularly with Forrest J Ackerman. The film, which airs on the Syfy Channel May 15 before getting a two-disc Collector's Edition DVD release nationwide on July 16, features interviews with authors Richard Matheson, Whitley Strieber, Dannion Brinkley, and Michael Shermer as well as scientists and top tier mediums. Check out the trailer and poster below.
Don't really know how to feel about this one. On one hand is exploitative, but on the other Forry just may have gotten a kick out of this.
Synopsis
A mesmerizing "CSI"-caliber quest...
From writer/producer/director Paul Davids comes The Life After Death Project, and it focuses on the very real possibility of after death communication, particularly with Forrest J Ackerman. The film, which airs on the Syfy Channel May 15 before getting a two-disc Collector's Edition DVD release nationwide on July 16, features interviews with authors Richard Matheson, Whitley Strieber, Dannion Brinkley, and Michael Shermer as well as scientists and top tier mediums. Check out the trailer and poster below.
Don't really know how to feel about this one. On one hand is exploitative, but on the other Forry just may have gotten a kick out of this.
Synopsis
A mesmerizing "CSI"-caliber quest...
- 5/1/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Submitted by FM Gore-espondent Joe Moe:
The latest version of The Thing hatched, metamorphosed, and oozed out last night at the red carpet sneak preview at Universal Studios’ City Walk.
When Universal announced production last year, the news was met by now common cynicism whenever the word “remake” is remarked. But fear not – well, actually, fear lots! In the best tradition of favorite reimaginings, sequels or prequels – Bride Of Frankenstein (35), Zack Snyder’s Dawn Of The Dead (04) – this new The Thing “shriekquel” delivers the best bits of its predecessor, pays respect to its originators, and innovates story and imagery to surprise and delight with fresh, mucousy fright.
I am an avowed John Carpenter’s The Thing (82) fan. My companions actually prefer the 1951 version starring recently departed James Arness. But we were all willing to give this new version a biting chance. I was grateful to be there as this...
The latest version of The Thing hatched, metamorphosed, and oozed out last night at the red carpet sneak preview at Universal Studios’ City Walk.
When Universal announced production last year, the news was met by now common cynicism whenever the word “remake” is remarked. But fear not – well, actually, fear lots! In the best tradition of favorite reimaginings, sequels or prequels – Bride Of Frankenstein (35), Zack Snyder’s Dawn Of The Dead (04) – this new The Thing “shriekquel” delivers the best bits of its predecessor, pays respect to its originators, and innovates story and imagery to surprise and delight with fresh, mucousy fright.
I am an avowed John Carpenter’s The Thing (82) fan. My companions actually prefer the 1951 version starring recently departed James Arness. But we were all willing to give this new version a biting chance. I was grateful to be there as this...
- 10/11/2011
- by Barrett
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Hello Forry fans! Long time no scream! It’s me, your monster cuz Joe Moe just checking in to update you on the latest in Forrest J Acker-tivity!
First off, there are a number of Forry-related products making the rounds in this final quarter of 2010. Currently on the bookstore shelves is Jim Green and Al Astrella’s photo-packed picture book of the Ackermuseum: A Forbidden Look Inside The Ackermansion. This full-color trade paperback is published by genre veterans Gary and Sue Svelha at Midnight Maquee Press.
Astrella and Greene’s book is a comprehensive graphic tour of the Akermansion in its’ hey day as well as some material on Forry’s final nesting place - The Acker-mini-mansion. John Landis writes a gracious Forryword for this edition and I am proud to have contributed the afterword to this tribute. Both Al and Jim are “fans-fans” and the book is composed primarily...
First off, there are a number of Forry-related products making the rounds in this final quarter of 2010. Currently on the bookstore shelves is Jim Green and Al Astrella’s photo-packed picture book of the Ackermuseum: A Forbidden Look Inside The Ackermansion. This full-color trade paperback is published by genre veterans Gary and Sue Svelha at Midnight Maquee Press.
Astrella and Greene’s book is a comprehensive graphic tour of the Akermansion in its’ hey day as well as some material on Forry’s final nesting place - The Acker-mini-mansion. John Landis writes a gracious Forryword for this edition and I am proud to have contributed the afterword to this tribute. Both Al and Jim are “fans-fans” and the book is composed primarily...
- 1/4/2011
- by GoJoeMoe
- DreadCentral.com
For the first time in over half a century there is no Ackermuseum of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Forrest J Ackerman (1916-2008), genre-giant and the heart and soul of the largest collection of memorabilia ever assembled, has left the building. Now the building is leaving us. Without question, the end of an era. But not necessarily the end of Forry’s dream. Even as we face the depressing barren walls left by Uncle Forry’s absence, we’ll also consider how the recent auction of his memorabilia may offer a glimmer of hope for classic genre fandom and a new generation of Monster Kids.
Part 1: The Dark Before the Dawn
Forry’s collection began at his boyhood home on Sherborne Avenue, grew to mythical proportions at the 18-room Glendower Ave. Ackermansion and was ultimately downsized to fit in the 5-room “Horrorwood, Karloffornia” house pictured above. This was the final...
Part 1: The Dark Before the Dawn
Forry’s collection began at his boyhood home on Sherborne Avenue, grew to mythical proportions at the 18-room Glendower Ave. Ackermansion and was ultimately downsized to fit in the 5-room “Horrorwood, Karloffornia” house pictured above. This was the final...
- 5/4/2009
- by GoJoeMoe
- DreadCentral.com
(Note: This story will be "stickied" at the top of our headlines for the day. Being able to host it is an honor beyond words.)
It was a Blood-Red-letter day for fandom as pros and fans alike gathered to bid a reluctant “Forry-well” to the late great genre-icon Forrest J. Ackerman! Hollywood’s historic Egyptian Theatre served as a temple for the filled-to-capacity ritual sponsored by the American Cinematheque, Profiles in History auction house and the Ackerman estate.
Guests began waiting on line at around 1:00Pm for the scheduled 3:00Pm reception. By 2:30 over 200 bodies had congregated at the doors of the theater. Inside, staff was scrambling. Pieces of Forry’s collection were being displayed (A first edition of Dracula signed by Bram Stoker and almost everyone who ever played the famous Vampire on screen, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula cape and Forry’s fave prop: the “Robotrix” from...
It was a Blood-Red-letter day for fandom as pros and fans alike gathered to bid a reluctant “Forry-well” to the late great genre-icon Forrest J. Ackerman! Hollywood’s historic Egyptian Theatre served as a temple for the filled-to-capacity ritual sponsored by the American Cinematheque, Profiles in History auction house and the Ackerman estate.
Guests began waiting on line at around 1:00Pm for the scheduled 3:00Pm reception. By 2:30 over 200 bodies had congregated at the doors of the theater. Inside, staff was scrambling. Pieces of Forry’s collection were being displayed (A first edition of Dracula signed by Bram Stoker and almost everyone who ever played the famous Vampire on screen, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula cape and Forry’s fave prop: the “Robotrix” from...
- 3/16/2009
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
- [Pierre-Alexandre Despatis suffers for his cinema. Now covering his second edition, our official festival reporter and multi-function human cyborg will provide us the sights (plenty of cool pics!), the sounds, the reviews and the occasional interviews of the still very young 5th edition of the Tribeca film festival. Below are some of Pierre-Alexandre’s reviews in easy to read, insightful capsule form. Enjoy!] Encounter POINTMany of the numerous movies about the israelo-palestinian conflict are, unfortunately, redundant and they don't bring anything new to the subject. Encounter Point choses a rather different approach by abstaining from depicting violence or the conflict itself but rather the film quite interestingly portrays the lives of people who want ... peace--yes they do exist! After having lost a son, a daughter or a close relative, these people decided to try to change the situation in every way they can. In doing so, they risk their social standing and even their own lives. Ronit Avni and Julia Bacha’s film is the result of 2 years of research, 16 months of shooting and hundred of interviews. The film does a very good job at portraying these people's lives and their very own intimate/public struggle; after all, the are so many things an individual can do by himself. Unlike many other
- 4/25/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
It's been a year since counter-culture philosopher Timothy Leary took his final trip into the great unknown, and Paul Davids and Todd Easton Mills' timely documentary is a disappointing cinematic flashback. Strand Releasing is opening "Timothy Leary's Dead" in limited theatrical engagements, but the specialty item is more likely to find an audience on video and the evolving World Wide Web.
The scant attention paid to Leary's embracing of the Web culture and any insight into his final years beyond uncomfortably exploitative material about the LSD guru's belief in post-death cryogenic preservation is indicative of the film's many shortcomings.
Leary's remarkable life -- from groundbreaking Harvard psychology professor to Socrates-like prisoner in the Nixon era to prolific author-lecturer -- has many contradictions and dimensions. What we get in this film, however, is a straightforward recap of his early-1960s rise to fame -- when his goal was nothing less than to "liberate the world" -- and 1995-96 interviews conducted with the terminally ill Leary and a few key contemporaries.
One is satisfied with seeing Leary at his height in archival interviews and still lucid on the brink of eternity, but the filmmakers take every opportunity to inject a humorous or self-consciously freaky sensibility at the expense of a more thorough examination of what his experimentations with drugs and altered consciousness were all about.
From fascinating glimpses of Leary's Millbrook, N.Y., hippie hangout to a contemporary group called "Naked People of Berkeley", the film is also preoccupied with showing bare-breasted women in a feeble attempt to evoke the sweeping social transformation that Leary tried to encourage. Along with the discussions of Leary's philosophical materialism in the pyscho-chemical age come many trite visual flourishes and such automatic laugh-getters as examples of 1960s anti-drug rhetoric.
There are many famous and important people in Leary's life that do not appear in the film -- reason enough to expect a better profile sometime in the future. What's left unexplained is why a contemporary police officer is given the task of declaring Leary a terrible influence on America and its youth. It's certainly another tactic to win over old constituents, but what is the point?
The finale similarly raises concerns of specious hucksterism triumphing over responsible filmmaking when the movie literally becomes "Timothy Leary's Head". Disturbing and once again pointless, the fake post-mortem operation shown only decapitates one's slim hopes that the film will rise to the level of its subject matter.
Timothy Leary's DEAD
Strand Releasing
Strand Releasing and Todd Easton Mills present
a Paul Davids film
Director:Paul Davids
Writers-producers:Paul Davids, Todd Easton Mills
Associate producers:Claire Burch, Hollace Davids
Editors:David J. Wilson, Mark Deimel
Director of photography:Paul Helling
Music:The Moody Blues, Ray Thomas
Color/stereo
Running time -- 78 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The scant attention paid to Leary's embracing of the Web culture and any insight into his final years beyond uncomfortably exploitative material about the LSD guru's belief in post-death cryogenic preservation is indicative of the film's many shortcomings.
Leary's remarkable life -- from groundbreaking Harvard psychology professor to Socrates-like prisoner in the Nixon era to prolific author-lecturer -- has many contradictions and dimensions. What we get in this film, however, is a straightforward recap of his early-1960s rise to fame -- when his goal was nothing less than to "liberate the world" -- and 1995-96 interviews conducted with the terminally ill Leary and a few key contemporaries.
One is satisfied with seeing Leary at his height in archival interviews and still lucid on the brink of eternity, but the filmmakers take every opportunity to inject a humorous or self-consciously freaky sensibility at the expense of a more thorough examination of what his experimentations with drugs and altered consciousness were all about.
From fascinating glimpses of Leary's Millbrook, N.Y., hippie hangout to a contemporary group called "Naked People of Berkeley", the film is also preoccupied with showing bare-breasted women in a feeble attempt to evoke the sweeping social transformation that Leary tried to encourage. Along with the discussions of Leary's philosophical materialism in the pyscho-chemical age come many trite visual flourishes and such automatic laugh-getters as examples of 1960s anti-drug rhetoric.
There are many famous and important people in Leary's life that do not appear in the film -- reason enough to expect a better profile sometime in the future. What's left unexplained is why a contemporary police officer is given the task of declaring Leary a terrible influence on America and its youth. It's certainly another tactic to win over old constituents, but what is the point?
The finale similarly raises concerns of specious hucksterism triumphing over responsible filmmaking when the movie literally becomes "Timothy Leary's Head". Disturbing and once again pointless, the fake post-mortem operation shown only decapitates one's slim hopes that the film will rise to the level of its subject matter.
Timothy Leary's DEAD
Strand Releasing
Strand Releasing and Todd Easton Mills present
a Paul Davids film
Director:Paul Davids
Writers-producers:Paul Davids, Todd Easton Mills
Associate producers:Claire Burch, Hollace Davids
Editors:David J. Wilson, Mark Deimel
Director of photography:Paul Helling
Music:The Moody Blues, Ray Thomas
Color/stereo
Running time -- 78 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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