Coming April 1, 2019 to Morganton’s Marquee Theatre: the return of the mysterious Brown Mountain Lights of Burke County.
The lights, a natural phenomenon seen for centuries near their namesake mountain, play an integral role in Alien Abduction, a 2014 sci-fi thriller. Five years to the day of the World Premiere, the film is coming back to Morganton for one- show only! Marquee Theater will host the show at 7pm on April 1.
The independent movie was filmed in Burke, Avery and Watauga counties in 2011, and held its world premiere in 2014 in Morganton. Director Matty Beckerman and producer Cathy Beckerman, both of Los Angeles, are ecstatic that the film will be shown again on the big screen in Morganton.
Beckerman grew up on the East Coast and learned about the Brown Mountain Lights as a kid visiting his grandparents’ house in Blowing Rock. During those visits he also experienced the remoteness of North Carolina’s mountains, and combined those two ideas into a fictitious story that involves the lights and the disappearance of people.
“We would often get lost on some of the back roads. I remember sitting in the car and daydreaming about what would happen if we really got lost,” Beckerman said. “What would happen if our entire family got lost? That was the inspiration. That’s where I started.”
The movie uses the found-footage format to tell the story from the viewpoint of a family on a camping trip to Brown Mountain. Beckerman describes it as a “psychological thriller” that does not rely on blood and gore to stir emotion. “Sometimes the things you hear affect you more than the things you see,” he said.
Burke County tourism director Ed Phillips was instrumental in bringing the world premiere to Morganton, and after recent sightings of the Brown Mountain lights, felt it would be a great idea to bring the movie back. “The film is spooky and scary, it will definitely bring attention to the lights.” Appalachian State University has recently captured the lights on camera,” Phillips said. ” A quick search for Brown Mountain Lights on YouTube and you’ll find the footage.”
The movie also interviews the two people most associated with studying the lights – scientist Dan Caton of Boone and paranormal researcher Joshua Warren of Asheville.
The movie is fiction, but the lights are there; they’re real. Anyone can go to see them.
For ticket information, visit www.marqueecinemas.com or call 828-437-4640 For movie info, go to: www.AlienAbductionFilm.com.