The Legend of Boggy Creek" is almost home-home, that is, on the big screen with a mid-June premiere of the 4K restoration at the Perot Theatre.
The spooky visage and shaggy, Bigfoot-like appearance of what's known to many as the Fouke Monster will haunt the thoughts of moviegoers once more.
Pamula Pierce Barcelou, one of legendary director and longtime Texarkanian Charles B. Pierce's daughters, worked to have the 1972 creature feature cult classic restored by the George Eastman Museum since she secured copyright. Sound file work was also done at Audio Mechanics in California.
With its remastered good looks, "The Legend of Boggy Creek" will receive a gala premiere at 7 p.m. Friday, June 14, at the Perot, followed by successive regular showings at the theater throughout the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), starting with a midnight show that initial night. The Perot is the theater where "Boggy" received a premiere so many decades ago.
After the gala premiere showing, a question-and-answer forum will follow, featuring many original cast members.
"Which really kind of makes it once in a lifetime because unlike festivals, where a lot of the same people go on the circuit, these are people that you won't see again in the same place like this," Barcelou said. Photo ops with them and a meet-and-greet are also part of that gala event.
Behind the scenes, Barcelou and others have been busy preparing for what should amount to a huge weekend in Texarkana's cultural life, finalizing premiere plans while handling the merchandise, the projector and more.
It's all about a month away. "It feels exciting," Barcelou said, although it's also a little bit scary, too, she admits. It makes her appreciate her father's first venture into moviemaking.
"And how scary it must have been for him. I know now that it's a cult classic and I'm doing this because people have asked me. They've said, will somebody do it? I was answering the call. There's a reassurance in that. I can't imagine not ever having made a movie," Barcelou said about how it must have felt for Pierce, an indie director, to make "The Legend of Boggy Creek" out on his own.
Barcelou has worked to finalize merchandising aspects like the T-shirts and a baseball cap. "We're using the original (Ralph) McQuarrie artwork, and we have created more or less a logo around that centered around the creature," she said. She worked with local graphic designer Alex Barlow on it.
Long sleeve and short sleeve T-shirts will be available, even hoodies. The gold color from the original movie poster and hunter orange have been incorporated, as well as camouflage.
"The hat looks like it's going to be very popular, the baseball cap," Barcelou said. Clothing will go live at LegendOfBoggyCreek.com. If "Boggy" fans don their "Boggy" shirt for the showing, they'll have a chance to win prizes.
"We want to encourage everybody to do that," Barcelou said, noting they're preparing charms, earrings and necklaces, too. "Merchandise is coming," she said.
Archival art prints on high quality, cotton paper-made from a high resolution photograph of the original poster art-will be sold, too. Barcelou has that original McQuarrie oil painting.
"They really are beautiful art prints," said Barcelou, who's financed the entire restoration and remastering project herself.
Speaking of that poster, Barcelou recently donated a book to the Texarkana Public Library about Ralph McQuarrie's art titled "The Art of Ralph McQuarrie Archives," written by John Scoleri. Published in 2015, the gorgeous coffee table book highlights McQuarrie's concept art through the years, including his work on "Star Wars" movies.
Before achieving success there, McQuarrie worked with director Pierce, including creating that iconic poster for "The Legend of Boggy Creek." Now, Texarkana Public Library patrons can get a look at these incredible McQuarrie illustrations, seeing that his work for Pierce movies sits alongside his work for "Star Wars" movies.
With "Boggy Creek" merchandise, there's a collectible creature figure crafted by sculptor Jean St. Jean, who's experienced with superhero collectibles. "He's doing ours for us," Barcelou said. Expect to see them later this year. You'll also hear it. "We are putting the creature's scream into a microchip," Barcelou said.
Barcelou is working with Perot Theatre staff to have the right equipment in the historic venue for the mid-June weekend screenings. Movies played at the Perot back when it was called the Paramount. The projection equipment required to screen a motion picture there now is expensive to rent, she said, so they've been considering various options.
"I will project it in the very highest I possibly can," Barcelou said, noting there's an art to four-walling the project in a theater where she can get the sales but puts up the fees to rent.
"I'm dealing with an established title. I can't imagine how scary it would have been for my father," Barcelou said, encouraging people to spread the word and buy tickets now to support the movie.
"I daresay it's better than before with the added technology. All of the visuals have been restored. Early on the critics had said it was visually stunning and that's all back now," Barcelou said. It's like making "Boggy Creek" new again.
Lyle Blackburn, cryptozoologist and "Boggy Creek" fan, feels the excitement at seeing the film in a theater again. He'll lead that gala premiere post-screening talk on Friday.
"It's almost like it's something that I envisioned years ago and wished it would happen, but really didn't expect it ever would," he said this past week. The film had been lost in limbo, so to speak, Blackburn said. Then Barcelou came along, they joined forces, and Pam had the heritage connection to take over and pick up where her father left off, he said.
"It's surreal that she literally got it done, and it's going to be seen in a version that perhaps surpasses the original quality," Blackburn said. People can appreciate the cinematography and the craft that went into the film. A new generation who loves horror movies will see it.
An author who's written about many a monster subject ("The Beast of Boggy Creek"), Blackburn has been assisting Craig Woolheater of the Texas Bigfoot Research Center with the Fouke Monster Festival to be held on Saturday, June 15, at the Fouke Community Center in Fouke, Ark., that same weekend as the movie screenings.
"I'll be doing a presentation on the history of the creature sightings as well as the most current sightings," Blackburn said. At that festival, he'll talk about about legends and lore, and the effect on Fouke itself. Guided tours will be conducted. Cryptozoologist and TV personality Ken Gerhard and Bigfoot researcher and author Jerry Hestand will talk at the festival, which has already sold out for the indoor events.
Special guest participants at the festival, who will also be part of the gala premiere, include actors from the original movie: Keith Crabtree (the monster), Bunny Dees (Mrs. Ford), Glenn Carruth (Bobby Ford), Cathy Cox Lee (trailer incident) and Aaron Ball (Ford baby).
"It will be interesting to hear some of the behind-the-scenes in making that movie and sharing that because no one has ever talked about this in a public format ever," Blackburn said of what he describes as a panel discussion, actors telling their favorite stories about filming the movie. It's a chance to get real insight into "Boggy Creek."
"'The Legend of Boggy Creek' and the Fouke Monster are an integral, important part of the local history there in Texarkana and in Fouke," Blackburn said. Whether people believe in the monster or not, it's a part of culture here.
"Famous far beyond the little town of Fouke," Blackburn said.
And for one weekend in June, that fame will be splashed on the big screen, right at home in the Perot Theatre, back where the movie and Fouke Monster belong.
(Gala premiere tickets are $50. Other showings are $12. On the Net: LegendOfBoggyCreek.com. Movie screening tickets: TRAHC.org/perot-theatre or itkt.choicecrm.net/templates/PERO/#/events.)