'Boggy Creek,' other horror classics come to life
CRANBERRY TWP — A Sasquatch entered a theater from a dimly lit hallway holding flowers with his large, hairy frame.
As part of the Monster Bash event, hosted at the DoubleTree by Hilton on Sunday, Sasquatch handed the flowers to actress Pamula Pierce, who is the daughter of “The Legend of Boggy Creek” director Charles B. Pierce.
The moment came at the conclusion of a question-and-answer period with Pierce that preceded a screening of the film.
Pierce was one of multiple marquee guests for the three-day event, and she shared her experience remembering her father's work on the film and her work in having it restored in recent years.
The culmination of her work came in the form of a fully restored Blu-Ray, 4K resolution, film.“This is the way the film was always intended to be seen,” she said. “It's as pristine as we could get it.”Pierce said it took years to find the right prints to restore the film, but the audio, that was original.She said with her father's heightened attention to audio, it only felt right to restore the original audio as well.“He would lay on the ground, and he would listen to these reels with only sound,” she said. “It would be crickets or other swamp sounds.”Guy Rushenberger, of Mars, said he was intrigued by Pierce's perspective on the movie's making.“It reminds me of the old days, my childhood days,” he said. “I love the old classic horror pictures.”Love of classic horror is what brings everyone back, year after year to Monster Bash, according to Ron Adams, Monster Bash producer. He said the lone exception was last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event's cancellation.“(Attendance this year) was maybe 70% of what we normally get, but people were pent up,” he said, “70% is really darn good after the COVID-19 shutdown.”Adams said in addition to Pierce, other guests were big hits at this year's convention, including Victoria Vetri.Vetri, Playboy Magazine's Playmate of the Year in 1968, starred in “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth” in 1970 for Hammer Films and “Invasion of the Bee Girls” in 1973. She also had a role in the seminal horror flick “Rosemary's Baby” in 1968.“She was an area of excitement,” Adams said. “People were lining up to get her autograph.”In addition to movie screenings and meetings with the stars, the event also featured a vendor area, packed with memorabilia, collectibles and other items related to classic horror films.
Vendor Scott Wilson brought his collection of movies, posters and knowledge to the table from his home in Raleigh, N.C. He said he has been a annual visitor to Monster Bash since 2011.Wilson showed off some of his favorite items to passers-by, one of which was a poster for the film “Nightmare Castle.”“Barbara Steele was a hauntingly beautiful woman, and that's one of the things we celebrate at Monster Bash,” Wilson said.Wilson said classic horror films always appealed to him because they were still entertaining, thrilling and yet also classy.Adams said people travel from far and wide to recapture the feelings they first felt watching these films and to bask in the fandom with like-minded people.“It's kind of a niche, but if you really like this stuff, people will travel to see it,” he said.For locals like Rushenberger, the removal of the travel requirement, makes it all the better.“I try to make it every year,” he said. “It's a very good feeling that I get to be part of this.”
