You know you’re from the Lehigh Valley if you watched filming of a ‘Transformers’ movie

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The set of "Signs" in Bucks County. The M. Night Shyamalan movie stars Mel Gibson and parts of it were filmed near Delaware Valley College (now Delaware Valley University).

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A military helicopter flies through the set of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" during filming at the blast furnace at the Bethlehem Steel site in Bethlehem in 2008.

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John Waters, the maverick filmmaker who filmed part of his movie "Hairspray" in South Whitehall Township in the 1970s, delivers the keynote speech at Creative Exchange: Where Arts and Commerce Intersect, a conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Allentown on Nov. 10, 2004.

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A back view of the set of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" at the former Bethlehem Steel site in Bethlehem in 2008.

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A crowd gathers late at night and into the early morning on the Fahey Bridge in Bethlehem to catch a glimpse of the filming of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Filming for the Michael Bay movie took place in 2008 at the blast furnace at the Bethlehem Steel site.

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A scene from the motion picture "Signs," filmed in Bucks County by M. Night Shyamalan. The movie, which stars Mel Gibson, was filmed at several locations, including Newtown, Tyler Park and this cornfield leased from Delaware Valley College along Alms House Road. The production crew built a house, carriage house and barn for the movie.

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Military-type helicopters are parked among the remains of the former Bethlehem Steel site, as crews prepare for the start of shooting of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," on June 2, 2008. The Dreamworks movie was filmed beside the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces.

Lehigh Valley residents have a reason to take Optimus Prime-sized pride in the "Transformers" franchise.

Let cranky critics scold director Michael Bay about his incoherent storytelling. If you’re from the Lehigh Valley, you can watch "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (2009) and groove on the opening scene, which uses Bethlehem Steel's hulking blast furnaces as a backdrop for an epic robot battle.

Bethlehem has a history of muscling its way into movies. No less a figure than Charlie Chaplin came to the city to shoot "His Prehistoric Past," a silent short released in 1914. Nearby Freemansburg provided the locations for "The Farmer Takes A Wife" (1935), a snappy 20th Century-Fox comedy about life on the Eric Canal starring Janet Gaynor and Henry Fonda, in his film debut.

Dorney Park enticed two productions to town. In the family comedy "Where Angels Go … Trouble Follows" (1968), the South Whitehall Township amusement park co-stars alongside Rosalind Russell, Stella Stevens, Milton Berle and Robert Taylor. Two decades later, shock auteur John Waters brought Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown and Ricki Lake to Dorney for the delightful "Hairspray" (1988), a musical about integration, body issues and big hair.

The Valley can play host to dark and sinister things, too. In the Phoenixville-shot "The Blob" (1958), an alien life form takes the shape of a giant glop of red Jell-O, all the better to consume everything in its path. Even spookier goings-on happen in the movies of Philadelphia's M. Night Shyamalan, who shot parts of his aliens-are-coming creepfest "Signs" (2002) in Doylestown.

Horror movies have dominated the Valley screen scene lately, with "Malevolence" (2004) and "Bereavement" (2008) helping to turn an abandoned slaughterhouse in Ironton into a location so scary it would give Freddy Krueger nightmares. Sure, these chillers are nerve-rattlingly intense but without them, locations like Hamilton Street, Orefield's Shankweiller's Drive-In and Wescosville's former Charcoal Drive-In might never have achieved the cinematic immortality they so richly deserve.

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