Forrest J. Ackerman 1916-2008

He founded Famous Monsters, a magazine which inspired the likes of John Landis, Joe Dante, Stephen King, Rick Baker and countless others… He was the literary manager to many science fiction luminaries including Ray Bradbury, Clark Ashton Smith, and L. Ron Hubbard… He actually confirmed to me personally that Scientology was something L. Ron Hubbard confessed to making all up (Bradbury can confirm Hubbard’s admission)… He loved the pretty ladies… He coined the phrase ‘sci-fi‘… He owned countless treasures of fantastic film including Bela Lugosi’s ring from Dracula… He co-founded one of the first sci-fi fan organizations and the conventions that followed… He was part of what many consider to be the holy triumvirate of sci-fi: Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen and Forry himself…

… he will be missed. Good-bye, Forry!

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When Will LOVECRAFT Be Released?

A lot of eager fans have been writing us either through our lovecraft@wyrdstuff.com address or through our My Space page. Most have been asking when Lovecraft: Fear Of The Unknown will be available on DVD.

At this point all I can say is hang in there a little while longer. We at Wyrd are talking with different distributors about putting this out there in the way H.P. Lovecraft deserves. Obviously we would love to have the film handled by a major distributor so it can reach the most people. We have screeners at many such places (with initials like IE, ABE, and TWC).

With regards to seeing the doc on cable, we’re talking to the usual suspects. Believe it or not, a certain genre channel has already passed. They initially passed on Doctor Who, too, so we’re in good company. Maybe they’ll reconsider.

Documentaries in general are a tough sell, but it will be worth the wait. I’ve been compiling over an hour’s worth of extra interviews for the eventual DVD. That means, in addition to the 90 minute documentary, there will be close to 3 hours of Lovecraft discussion from Del Toro, Gaiman, Kiernan, Straub, Carpenter & Co.

We shall definitely keep everyone posted and please do feel free to write us directly for updates.

Rest assured… Lovecraft will be available soon!

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Montreal Reacts To LOVECRAFT

Cinema du parc

First I must announce that the demand for Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown in Montreal has led to an extended run! Cinema du Parc will be showing this Wyrd documentary for a whole week starting November 7th. Here are the times:

Friday, November 7 & Monday -Wednesday, November 10 thru 12 — 5 pm

Saturday, November 8 & Sunday November 9 — 3 pm

Cinema du Parc’s programmer, Jean-François Lamarche, wrote to tell us that “even if it was a sunny weekend and Friday night was Halloween we had 211 people overall (not bad for an indie doc). Everybody likes the film! But a lot asked us to keep the film another week.” Who are we to refuse?

We’ve also been receiving some kind words from our fellow cultists in Montreal. The first came from La Presse, Montreal’s top newspaper. The ever so charming Sonia Sarfati interviewed me about the documentary. The article is in French, but for those who parlez-vous

Here’s what a few people in the audience had to say (and I hope they don’t mind us posting some of their responses):

Read the rest of this entry »

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UPDATE: Cinema du Parc presents LOVECRAFT

Cinema du parc

UPDATE: The official screening times are:

October 31 - 9:30 PM ••• November 1 & 2 - 3:30 PM

Montreal’s Cinema du Parc in collaboration with the Fantasia International Film Festival presents the International premiere of Frank H. Woodward’s fascinating documentary LOVECRAFT: FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN on October 31st, November 1st and 2nd, 2008.

So says the press release for our screenings in Canada. This is a great honor for us Wyrd Ones. Thanks to Marc Lamothe of Cinema du Parc, Mitch Davis of the Fantasia International Film Festival and anyone I may have missed for giving us this limited run. It’s due to their belief in our documentary that we’ve been able to cross the Northern border.

You can check the Cinema du Parc site for ticket information. (Oh, and if you attend, there should be a personal recorded greeting since we will have to experience this premiere from afar.)

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UPDATED: BARS IX y Lovecraftiana

BARS IX

UPDATE:  We now have dates & times for the Lovecraft screenings at Rojo Sangre:

Thursday, October 30 -  22:00 (10 PM)

Friday, October 31 - 14:00 (2 PM) 

You can see a full schedule of films (in Spanish) at the Seleccion De Peliculas BARS 2008.

QuintaDimension.com presenta:  Festival Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre

Del 30 de octubre al 5 de noviembre de 2008

En Cinemark Caballito Av. La Plata 96 - Ciudad de Buenos Aires

llega el “9º Festival de cine de terror, fantástico y bizarro Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre

Entre otras novedades, este año se incluirá la sección Lovecraftiana, dedicada al gran escritor norteamericano de horror H.P. Lovecraft, donde se mostrarán films como “Fear of the Unknown”, documental que incluye testimonios sobre el creador de Los Mitos de Cthulhu, de figuras como Ramsey Campbell, John Carpenter, Guillermo Del Toro, Neil Gaiman y Stuart Gordon.

•••

(I know, this post is all in Spanish, but think of it this way. If you can’t read it, you also probably don’t live down in Buenos Aires where this full tilt horror festival is. But if you are… watch this space for more details!)

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Dread Media Covers LOVECRAFT

Dread Media

While attending the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, I (along with FOTU composer Mars) was interviewed by Desmond Reddick of Dread Media about Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown. That interview is now part of a massive 3 hour report on the festival (our interview comes at the 1 hour mark) that’s the nearest thing to actually having been there. I’ll let Desmond explain what else you can hear…

There’s several reviews of the films seen at the fest and interview with the likes of: Frank Woodward (director of award-winning documentary Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown), Mars (composer of said documentary and the man behind Dead House Music), Jovanka Vuckovic (editor in chief of Rue Morgue Magazine), Toren Atkinson (from The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets), Sean Branney (from the HP Lovecraft Historical Society) and Andrew Migliore (festival runner and head of Lurker Films). There’s also recorded footage of speeches, awards ceremonies and a panel on Lovecraft in Pop Culture. There’s also tons of inane and profane chatter with fellow cultists and guest co-hosts DZ (from Cinema Diabolica) and Brother D (from Mail Order Zombie). … Sit back, oil up your tentacles, relax and enjoy this massive show. [ 3:14:39 || 89.1 MB ]

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