From the basement to the big screen, “The SciFi Boys” is an unforgettable look back at the visionary geniuses who revolutionized film special effects
A band of visionary American filmmakers emerges from a far-flung group of youngsters devoted to creating homemade monsters and mayhem in “The Sci-Fi Boys,” a two-hour documentary special airing Wednesday, February 7 @ 11:00PM ET/PT on the SCI FI Channel. This compelling history of the evolution of film special effects traces an intricate network of young men who began making amateur movies in America’s garages and basements and ended up revolutionizing Hollywood with groundbreaking special effects.
Written and directed by Paul Davids, one of the original “Sci-Fi Boys,” the film documents the transformation of B-monster movies into the visual effects blockbusters realized by some of today’s masters of visual narrative, including Peter Jackson, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Featuring interviews with an army of visual effects pioneers as well as the Sci-Fi Boys themselves, the film offers an incisive look at the evolution of a thrilling new generation of moviemaking.
Davids, who produced the film in partnership with Hollace Davids, began his filmmaking career as the winner of an amateur film contest sponsored by “Famous Monsters of Filmland.” Like many of the Sci-Fi Boys, he was inspired to create his own movies and monsters by a trio of science fiction visionaries: “Famous Monsters” publisher Forrest J. Ackerman, pioneering special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, who changed filmmaking with his revolutionary stop-motion technique, and the gifted and prolific writer Ray Bradbury, author of science fiction classics such as “The Martian Chronicles” and “Fahrenheit 451.”
Interviews with these three pioneers, as well as legendary filmmakers Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Landis, Stephen Sommers and Roger Corman, film historian and critic Leonard Maltin, producer Bob Ducsay, actor Bob Burns, writer Donald F. Glut and special effects trailblazers Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, Steve Johnson and William Malone, lend the film an extraordinary authenticity as it pays tribute to the singular talents of some of Hollywood’s most creative and original minds.
[Special Note: Don’t miss our interview with writer/director Paul Davids : Slice of SciFi #94: Interview with Paul Davids on “SciFi Boys” .]
Synopsis
An insightful and nostalgic look back at the evolution of science fiction and special effects films, “The Sci-Fi Boys” captures the excitement of a group of boys inspired by Forrest J. Ackerman’s celebrated magazine, “Famous Monsters of Filmland,” to make their own amateur movies and later take Hollywood by storm. Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Dennis Muren, Ray Bradbury, Rick Baker, Roger Corman, Ray Harryhausen and other film legends take viewers from the crude and sometimes hilarious beginnings of special effects in B-movies to the technical marvels of current day blockbusters. Director and writer Paul Davids brings his first hand experience as a “Sci-Fi Boyâ€? to play, as he pays tribute to his heroes and his peers, whose inspiration and creativity have transformed the film industry.
CAST & FILMMAKERS
Cast: Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Forrest Ackerman, Roger Corman, John Landis, Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, Leonard Maltin, Stephen Sommers, Bob Ducsay, Steve Johnson, William Malone, Donald F. Glut, Bob Burns, Paul Davids.
Special airing Wednesday, February 7 @ 11:00PM ET/PT on the SCI FI Channel
