2007's "Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman" was a brief 48 minute celebration of 'Uncle Forry,' longtime editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland (lasting from 1958-1982), who became an avid horror fan from a very young age, thanks to his maternal grandparents taking him to see as many as 7 films a day. It was Lon Chaney's "The Phantom of the Opera" that truly started him on the road to the Ackermansion, where his vast collection of movie memorabilia was stored to allow easy access to fellow buffs eager to see them. From the early days befriending Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury to the 1950s, when Forry coined the term 'Sci Fi,' to the 60s, when Christopher Lee's reprise of Dracula included Bela Lugosi's signature Dracula ring bestowed upon him by Ackerman. Those were the days when 'Horrorwood, Karloffornia' was the place to be, when the SHOCK! Television package proved so popular that publisher Jim Warren cashed in on the growing 'Monster Kid' craze by hiring the biggest kid of all to be his editor-in-chief. Future directors weaned on the magazine included John Landis, Fred Olen Ray, and Joe Dante, whose initial letter detailing the worst horror films he had seen wound up being published as an article (collectors would read each issue from back to front in search of every item they could afford). Among numerous Forry anecdotes is meeting a 4 year old girl who knew about Dracula and Frankenstein but not Abraham Lincoln. When he showed her his picture on the front of a penny, she recognized him straight away: "Vincent Price!" The best thing about this cinematic valentine to an unapologetic acolyte of screen terror is that it was released just before Ackerman's inevitable passing in 2008 at the ripe old age of 92.
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