Ellwood City-set 'Bigfoot' sequel gets screen premieres

ELLWOOD CITY − Bigfoot is back on the big screen.

"Bigfoot The Movie: The Sequel," set and partially filmed in Ellwood City, premieres 7 p.m. May 4 at Century Square Luxury Cinemas in West Mifflin (minutes from the mall), then at 7 p.m. May 5, for free at the Tull Family Theater in Sewickley. Crew and cast are scheduled to attend.

Next up are screenings at the Guthrie Theater in Grove City on May 6; the Evergreen Drive-in in Mount Pleasant on May 7; the Oaks Theater in Oakmont on Friday the 13th, and the Hollywood Theater in Dormont on May 14.

"Yeti or not, here it comes" says a promotional pitch for the comedy-horror flick starring Curt "Pittsburgh Dad" Wootton, Nate Magill and Ellwood City area native Jared Show, who also produced the project.

Former Patterson Township resident Joanie Sprague (an "America's Next Top Model" runner-up) makes a cameo, along with WDVE-FM morning man Bill Crawford, former WDVE star Jim Krenn, Pittsburgh standup comics Aaron Klieber and Terry Jones, and former WPXI-TV news anchor Darieth Chisolm.

The sequel brings back the same central characters, a group of beer-guzzling guys with thick Yinzer accents, and an affinity for guns and mullets. They're called to action when reports surface of a Bigfoot running amuck at a ski resort.

"Since they kind of captured Bigfoot in the first film, they think they can help find him," the film's director, Show, said. "Though like the first film, they're easily sidetracked, and end up doing a lot of drinking and hanging out."

The trailer shows a hot tub scene, and a bar band scene filmed at the Chewton Polish Club in Lawrence County, featuring on-hiatus rockers The Hawkeyes, fronted by Ellwood City native Jay Wiley.

Bill's Valhalla event center in Big Beaver stands in for the ski lodge.

"It kind of looks like a ski lodge inside there," Show said.

For exterior scenes, Show relied on the real-life Seven Springs and Hidden Valley ski lodges in the Laurel Highlands.

"It's a lot more comedy than horror," Show said of the sequel. "More of 'creature-feature/comedy," he said.

Though when making the original and similarly categorized "Bigfoot The Movie" in 2015, he learned people take their Bigfoot seriously.

"That was fun. I loved to hear peoples' stories," he said. "They'd tell me about their Bigfoot encounters, just all kind of different stories."

Some viewers didn't like the first film's depiction of the mythical ape-like creature said to be roaming the woods of North America.

"They'd say, 'Bigfoot is not a bad person. Bigfoot would never do anything like that,'" Show said. "A lot of people take it to heart. They really love Bigfoot."

Many fans on the "Bigfoot The Movie: The Sequel," Facebook page clamor for an Ellwood City/Beaver County screening of the film.

After all, the original "Bigfoot The Movie," was set in Ellwood City, and this sequel's tagline once again proclaims, "Bigfoot has come to the town of Ellwood City, Pa., and is causing BIG problems."

And you can't miss the oversized Riverside headband a main character wears in the sequel's trailer, an homage to the Beaver County high school Show attended.

Show is working on scheduling an Ellwood area screening, maybe in a park, or at the nearby Strand Theater in Zelienople, which had too many events to squeeze in an early-May showing.

"As I said with the first film, Ellwood City is kind of a character on its own," Show said.

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Show proudly sets and makes his films in western Pennsylvania, having lived in California awhile, before moving back home amid the pandemic.

Hey, George Romero had his zombies, Show has his Bigfoots.

"Bigfoot's just an interesting topic," Show said.

To watch the "Bigfoot The Movie: The Sequel" trailer or for more info, visit bigfootthemovie.com

(Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Beaver County Times and Ellwood City Ledger, and is easy to reach at stady@gannett.com or on Twitter @scotttady)

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Ellwood City-set 'Bigfoot' sequel gets screen premieres