Making Monsters
By Nick Evans
Photography by Nicolette Bardos
Tucked away in a nondescript warehouse on 13th Street in Greeley, Distortions Unlimited’s scary monster designs include everything from zombies to demonic babies. Yet the most interesting part of the business is its owners.
Ed and Marsha (Taub) Edmunds, who met as students at UNC, have been creating monsters for 35 years. Their, um, body of work includes designs at amusement parks, haunted houses and retail stores all over the world. Some of their most recognizable creations have appeared in movies (Alien 3 and Batman) and on music sets (Alice Cooper’s Brutal Planet tour).
“We really do a wide spectrum of stuff,” Marsha says in a campaign promoting Greeley, www.greeleyunexpected.com.
Ed says that all of the projects require excruciating amounts of time. During a recent tour, he explained some of the more complicated designs.
“The last project I worked on was a giant 25-foot skeleton. In terms of difficulty, all of my projects are hard,” Ed says.
While Ed and Marsha were students at UNC, they made masks for a local novelty store. Word spread of their amazing monster designs, and they eventually made Distortions, founded in 1978, into what it is today.
Their business has become so popular that the Travel Channel gave Ed and Marsha their own TV show, Making Monsters. Season Two began airing Sept. 29.
More photos and clips from the TV show at www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/making-monsters
