Monsters make for good time at Cranberry Bash
CRANBERRY TWP — Enthusiasts crowded into the DoubleTree by Hilton on Friday celebrating an era when monsters ruled silver screens across the country.
Ron Adams, program director for Monster Bash, said it's the 23rd year for the event, and it draws people from across the state, country and world to the township. He said there are other classic movie festivals, and there are other horror festivals. He said this one is special.
“It's almost a niche within a niche,” Adams said. “We really celebrate and examine sci-fi and horror movies through the eras.”
Josh Putt of Cranberry Township works at the hotel. He said he offers to work every year because he enjoys spending time near the bash.
“This event is the most fun that comes every year,” Putt said. “I want to at least walk through once or twice.”
He said the old monster movies appeal to his sense of family.
“My dad always watched monster movies with me,” he said. “Last week my mom watched the original 'King Kong.'”
Putt said his generation is beginning to be appreciate the older films.
“Nowadays they're remaking so much stuff, and people are now getting into the originals,” he said. “If you watch them, they were awesome for the time they were in.”
Putt said the bash shows films, hosts speakers and sets up 200 memorabilia-selling vendors.
One of Friday night's special movie selections was “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” and as visitors strolled through the halls of the hotel toward the vendors and other attractions, one booth stood out in the name of this film.
Former actor Ricou Browning sat behind a booth covered in photographs of his younger self dressed to play the part of the underwater gill man from the movie.
“I was the underwater creature in all three films,” Browning said.
Browning said there were three other actors who played the monster's land appearances, but he was the sole actor for the underwater scenes. He said he is also the last actor alive from Universal's classic film.
“I'm the only one left now,” he said. “For how long, I don't know.”
Browning said it is amazing to see today what the actors saw little of around the time when the movie came out. He said he and his fellow actors never imagined the praise and legacy their movies created.“No one that worked on it did,” Browning said. “I didn't really hear from fans until 20 years after the film was released.”A Cleveland horror host duo of Janet Decay and Grimm Gorri, who host the show “The Mummy and the Monkey,” had some insight on the lack of attention to the early horror flicks.“You take it for granted when it's there,” said Gorri, dressed as a monkey with slicked back hair, sunglasses and a denim jacket. “There's also a lack of anything like it since then.”Dressed in the wrapping of a mummy, Egyptian crown and symbolic face paint, Decay said the classic films are more family-friendly than modern horror films. She said there's less focus on blood and guts and more focus on making the monster unique.She said today's generation will continue to connect with older eras as they continue to develop technology as a tool for information and historical documentation.“With technology now and social media, they can share more of these old movie memories,” Decay said. “You just feel so connected.”Putt said the bash brings people together — some from a sense of nostalgia and others from a sense of curiosity and discovery. He said what everyone shares is a good time.“Everybody, no matter what, they're walking around here with smiles on their faces,” Putt said.
