Tuesday 14 February 2012

CritCon's FRED ADELMAN dies (updated!)


EDIT (September 22, 2012)
I'm not really sure what to say - but I guess I'll have to say SOMETHING.

Uhh, it seems FRED ADELMAN... isn't dead after all.

I've known about it for quite some time but didn't know what the fuck to say about it all. It's thee most bizarre situation ever. A couple of years back, Fred sent me a PM on facebook, or rather I wrote to him first and asked how he was. He had made a comment in a FB thread about how he didn't need his huge VHS collection "where he was going". I wrote and asked him about it and he said he was ill and didn't have all that much time left. So when he disappeared from FB for a couple of months at the end of last year (2011) I expected the worst.

And then someone logged into Fred's profile and introduced himself as an old childhood friend of Fred. And he said Fred had passed away. Given Fred's illness I wasn't surprised. Saddened, but not surprised. I wrote the obituary and posted it here and on my other blog. A few months passed and then... someone over on DVDMANIACS film message board (where Fred used to hang out in the old days) posted something that was quite a shock to everyone: Someone was posting on Fred's film site, CRITICAL CONDITION, and ... apparently, it was Fred!! You can read Fred's story about what happened on page 3 of the Letters' page section (I can't link directly to it so you'll just have to find it. Search "Facebook" on the page).

Apparently, that person who posted about Fred's passing was a hacker. I'm not at all sure what he wanted. To mess up Fred's life because he had a grudge against him? Or maybe to get money out of it? Or another reason maybe? But in any case, Fred is "again" among the living and hurrah for that. He's no longer on FB or anywhere else in Cyberspace except on his website. I must admit I was quite confused by it all when it went on. There was a long thread about it all on DVDMANIACS and a lot of crappy stuff was said (by others). Again, I admit I expressed bewilderment over the whole situation but I never spoke badly of Fred nor would I want to. I'm happy he's still among the living and happy that he's well enough to write again. Check his updates in the BIASED MUSINGS OF ANYTHING ON MY MIND section (direct link). Fred is usually an interesting read when he writes about films and stuff (he also talks about the recent situation in that section). I wish him well and all the best.

Hmmm, and I'm not quite sure if I ought to remove the obituary or not - but I think I'll leave it - otherwise this new edit would seem rather strange for new readers. Argh!


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[the original obituary from 14 Febuary 2012]

A number of the reviews I've used on this site were written by FRED ADELMAN. Originally Fred wrote them for his long-running on-line zine/review site CRITICAL CONDITION but Fred always said I could pick and choose whatever reviews I wanted from his site and use here. Fred said that the more people who discovered these films the better. And I couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately, there won't be any new reviews. Yesterday, I learnt that Fred passed away last month. I knew Fred was ill, in fact almost two years ago he told me he suffered from a terminal illness. And yet you still don't expect these things to happen. People you know aren't supposed to die. This is sad beyond belief.

Fred watched many action and horror moves but in contradiction to so many other genre film fans Fred also seeked out his thrills in "unusual" territories. He had discovered the Filipino films long before I did. I mean a loooong time before I did! On his site he made a special section dedicated to Cirio H. Santiago film. Fred's reviews have always been thoroughly written and full of detailed info.

Yes, this site is all about violent movies but it still doesn't prepare you for the harsh realities. Before he got ill Fred was in law enforcement; he was a crime scene investigator and a few years ago I asked him about his thoughts on these violent Filipino war movies; He said there was no connection. These films aren't real, he said. I remember he said that if the smell of blood would be something you could actually smell when you watch a gory film then most people would stop watching them because it's simply a disgusting smell. But, anyhow, that was then. This is now, and now Fred isn't here any more.

I never met Fred in person as I live across a big ocean from where he was but I knew him for a long time thru Dvdmaniacs film forum and later via Facebook. Anybody who got into a verbal fight with Fred soon discovered he was a hard-ass. He took no prisoners. But if you were his buddy he was the nicest guy around. One time he sent me a pile of rare Filipino and Indo films on DVD-R and asked nothing in return. Fred's zine Critical Condition (CritCon for short) ran from the early 80s and all the way until he passed away (originally as a real print zine and later as an on-line review site). It's highly recommended. But, of course, looking at it now is sad. It's all Fred. And Fred isn't here anymore.

Rest in piece, my friend.


Also check Andy Copp's good post about Fred here.

12 comments:

  1. R.I.P. He will be missed. Really enjoyed reading his reviews.

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  2. Absolutely. And he was way too young. Not that there's a "right" age I guess. :(

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  3. I am very sad to hear this. I, too never met Fred in person, but we corresponded over Facebook a lot. Between Fred, Jack Jensen and Andrew Leovold, I don't think anyone on this planet had as extensive knowledge about the films I did in the 80s. We were friends. RIP, Fred.

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  4. Dont' know if you heard.....Fred is among the land of the living. Still ill, but short of being the victim of identity theft, doing well.

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  5. Hey Mark,
    Thanks for your post. I just got the news 20 minutes ago. This is so surreal!! I'm really happy he's among the living!! And what a nasty experience to go thru and all. I'm not even sure what to do with this post now. I guess I leave it up and make an update. Thanks again.

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    Replies
    1. So he really isn't dead? That's excellent news if it's true; I've visited his site on an almost daily basis for around five years (it was an after school ritual for a while) and I felt awful when I heard that he had died.

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  6. I'm positive he's very much alive. He's posting on his website again, and I forget who but at least a couple of people reported that they've spoken to him. And he's selling video tapes on the auction site Wensy again. This is what he posted a couple of month ago (the letters' page segment I referred to in the above). I hope it's alright I re-post it here.

    ---------------

    "I will be posting reviews soon, but before that I have quite a story to tell my readers. I was a Facebook member and someone I thought I never heard of before hacked my account and told everyone that I died and my estate needed money to retrieve my collection of movie memorabilia. It seems he "data mined" every bit of information about me that he could find on Facebook (and figured out my password) and created a "mirror" PayPal account and changed all the passwords on my email accounts. I wasn't even aware of this until a friend of mine from Chicago called my ex-sister-in-law and yelled at her for not telling him that I died. I contacted Facebook technicians by phone and told them what was happening (beleive me, for tech-heads these people haven't got a clue what their software does) and eventually they restored my account to my regular password (it took over three weeks!) and had them track this phantom asshole's IP Address who hijacked my account. I quit using Facebook the same day and deleted my account. Since no one put any money in his mirror PayPal account, it seems that he did not commit any arrestable crimes, except to sully my good name and Googling my name will prove it. Now that I have this asswipe's name (seems he was a member of the same non-Facebook forum I was for years), he will get what's coming to him very soon. Here's my warning to everyone who has a Facebook account: You have no privacy at all. People with hacking software and some time on their hands can completely destroy your life (or end it in my case!). Facebook got way too big for its britches and lost control along the way, not to mention there is a total lack of privacy even with all the privacy filters checked-on. Unless you absolutely have to be on Facebook, delete your account (Nothing made me happier than Facebook's IPO taking a nosedive on its first day of trading!). Even when you delete your account, Facebook still keeps all your personal information for at least 90 days! The only thing I do now on the Internet is work on this web site, run my Wensy.com (User Name: fadelman) auction site and answer emails. I refuse to be a member of any corporate "social networking" site that can kill me off without my permission. I may not be in the best of health, but I am still stong enough to TCB. Well, that's my story. - Editor"

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  7. Fred Adelman did indeed fake his own death and even faked having cancer, as outlined in great detail in the now missing DVDManiacs thread (Freds childhood friend sending packages after he died, somehow in Freds handwriting, not like any hacker I have ever heard of!). Fred is a dangerous mentally ill toxic troll, for many years he has stalked many people in the horror community with a barrage of constant harassment. It is a shame because his site was a really great resource for low resolution VHS covers, before many of these covers were available on the internet.

    A few years later he posted an even more outlandish story about being kidnapped by federal agent as he was trying to meet his out of state internet girlfriend, who is with almost 100% certainty another victim of Mr Adelmans mental illness. He claims he was tied to a chair, tortured for 5 days and even went as far as seeking revenge on them after he threw a bucket of his own excrement at the Federal Agents. Seems like Fred has been watching too many special agent movies.

    I will post Freds original post about this incident along side.

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  8. PART ONE

    "This is a warning to everyone out there and this is no fake news. Chances are if any electronic equipment you have that is cable or W-Fi ready has a camera in it, whether you are told or not. I found a camera in my cable box and when the box failed, I took it apart and found a camera. My second box also had a camera in it and as soon as I taped it closed with black electrical tape, I got a call from my cable company, wondering if there was a problem with my box, since my first one was replaced. I said no, everything was fine and then I taped the lens shut on the second box and got another call from my cable company and I told them everything was working perfectly. It dawned on me all the equipment in my house, from my cell phones, tablets, laptops and other electronic equipment also had cameras on them, so I took little pieces of black electrical tape and blocked every camera I could think of.
    It was then I noticed a certain white van was following me. I know what you are thinking: I am paranoid, but just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you. I went to go see my girlfriend and went to Newark Airport, where I noticed a certain person always looking at me. When I landed at Memphis and went to rent my car, the same guy walked up to the counter. I jokingly said to him, "Are you following me?" and he said back in a threatening tone, "Wouldn't you like to know?" I couldn't go see my girlfriend with a person like this on my tail, so I drove a good 4 hour drive to Knoxville, where I have had legal trouble a few weeks earlier (too long of a story to tell).

    I went to the Agency where I was questioned and was immediately arrested on a "John Doe Warrant", even though they knew my name. Foe five days I sat in a room handcuffed to a table while the agents tried to get stupid info from me. I never said one word for five days. I was forced to piss and shit in a metal bucket, so one day when an agent came in, he got a full face full of my piss and shit. I was then repeatedly hit on the back of the head with a phone book (an old, yet effective, trick of inflicting pain without leaving a mark). Still I didn't say a word. After five days, they escorted me by plane to Newark Airport and drove me to the bottom of the mountain where I live. I had to walk up the mountain to get to my apartment.
    As soon as I got there, I knew something was wrong. My desktop computer was missing (just the CPU part, so it would be unnoticeable to my pet sitter. Too bad for them there is nothing on it that will involve me in anything illegal). Worse of all, by baby furry son Hinnie was dead and thrown under my bed (the sitter thought Hinnie just didn't feel like playing). He was stomped to death in my bedroom and thrown under my bed. But here is where the story gets good. You see, I have my apartment set up for a camera to come on as soon as the door is opened (I can turn the camera off with a control on my computer desk or by my tablet), so I got more than a good look at the scumbag who killed my boy. I have spent the last six days making sure these seven agents never bother me again and whenever it rains, their knees will hurt like hell. The only injury I have is a bruised shoulder and I am quite fine otherwise. These agents will never report what I did to them because, just before I kneecapped them, I showed each of them a video of the man who killed my Hinnie. He is the last person on my list and when I finally catch up to him, Hell will have to be paid."

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  9. PART TWO

    "So, if you think you are safe from your own government. think again. The police force are the best in the world, but the government agents have been given the right to do what they please. Don't believe one word that comes out of Number 45's mouth and if a government agent approaches you, run like hell, even if all you are doing is protecting what privacy you have left. We all should have privacy in our own homes, but other people have other ideas. That is all I am going to say on the matter. My life is safe and secure. I reapplied the tape removed from all my equipment at home and went over the apartment with a fine tooth comb for hidden cameras, but I had two cell phones and a tablet taken from me in Knoxville and I doubt I will ever see any of them again. I will be off Facebook for a while, but, please, heed my warning. Sorry Karen, but this is the best at least for now. I still love you with all my heart. I just didn't want you involved. I am in the process of getting a new phone just for you and I. Hopefully, they will let me use the same number."

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  10. It seems Fred Adelman has passed away! And it seems genuine this time. Almost ten years after I wrote my original obituary.
    https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/23574356/frederick-adelman/belvidere/new-jersey/macfadden-funeral-home?fbclid=IwAR2dAZnNTUW6STUqH_tSV0A6pV38fbjD9kLpG5AP6vUdchK5zt81j9PKh-8

    ReplyDelete

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