PollyGrind Film Festival more than just blood, nudity and scares

Oct. 5, 2011 - PRLog -- While blood, nudity and scares will be aplenty at the Second Annual PollyGrind Film Festival, founder and director Chad Clinton Freeman says there is so much more to the event.

"It's about being inspired," said Freeman of the underground festival that takes place October 7-17 at theatre7 (1406 South 3rd Street, Las Vegas, NV 89104 in the arts district. "There is so much creativity that will be on display throughout the event that I think it would be very rare for someone to experience PollyGrind and not walk away inspired."

Thirty-four independent feature films will screen, along with more than 80 trailers, music videos and shorts. More than 20 projects are from Las Vegas filmmakers, but some of what's screening comes from as far as India, Spain, Brazil, England, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Italy, making for a nice mix of cultures, human experiences and genres on display.

"Everything from arthouse to grindhouse is here," Freeman said. "There's brutality, there's blood and nudity, there's controversy, there's exploitation, there's experimentation, there's comedy and there are movies that are quite thought provoking."

According to Freeman, action, horror, sci-fi, experimental, dark comedy, hixploitation, mumblecore, horror comedy, crime, gore, found footage, avant-garde, biker, exploitation, western, sexploitation, documentary, and then some are represented at the event.

World premieres will include Creep Creepersin's Finger Bang, Michael Ricks' The Las Vegas Abductions, Logan Myers' Mondo Sexxxx: The Terry Kobrah Story, Aramis Sartorio's The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol, Shane Ryan's The Girl Who Wasn't Missing, and Craig McIntyre's The Los Angeles Ripper.



The world premiere of the sexy revenge thriller The Atonement of Janis Drake will close the event on Oct. 17. The debut feature by Glen Meadows stars Beverly Lynne and Angel Porrino.

Darren Ward's A Day of Violence and Ginnetta Correli's The Earl Sessions will have their U.S. premieres.

PollyGrind will also screen the latest from the legendary underground filmmakers Eric Stanze (Ratline) and Herschell Gordon Lewis (The Uh-Oh Show), who Freeman jokingly says are partially to be blamed for the event.

"When you see a Herschell Gordon Lewis film or an Eric Stanze film for the first time, it's quite mind blowing," Freeman said. "Discovering and watching Herschell's work from the 60's when I was in college made me fall in love with grindhouse. Then in the late nineties comes this kid Eric Stanze, making these raw and brutal indie films. He showed me that the pioneer spirit and the creative energy of the great exploitation films of the past were still alive and well."

Bill Zebub (Night of the Pumpkin), Joe Castro (The Summer of Massacre), Caleb Emerson (Frankie in Blunderland), Sean Garrity (Zooey & Adam), Sean Cain (Breath of Hate), Henry Weintraub (The Darkest Corner of Paradise) and Fred Vogel (Sella Turcica) are additional underground filmmakers being showcased at PollyGrind.

Other highlights are the debut features from Adam Rehmeier (The Bunny Game), Calvin Lee Reeder (The Oregonian), Billy Chase Goforth (25K), Sevé Schelenz (Skew), Matthew Pollack (Run Run It's Him), and Edward E. Romero (Butterfly).

Rounding out the features will be Dear God No! (James Bickert), Planet of the Vampire Women (Darin Wood), Rage (Chris Witherspoon), 15 till Midnight (Wolfgang Meyer), My Demon Within (Michael Su), Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements (Daniel Schneidkraut), Ashes (Elias Matar), The Super (Evan Makrogiannis / Brian Weaver), El Monstro Del Mar (Stuart Simpson), Beware (Jason Daly), and The Taint (Drew Bolduc / Dan Nelson).

Confirmed guests appearing at the festival include: Beverly Lynne aka The Queen of Late Night, who will be a guest on the PollyGrind Edition of The Will Edwards Show on Oct. 12; Scream Queen and producer Brooke Lewis; Darin Wood, Christy Savage, Liesel Hanson, Jawara Duncan and others from the film Planet of the Vampire Women; producer and editor Alex Lugones of The Super; WZMB Zombie Radio Show during Zombiepalooza on Oct. 13, and performance artist Rodleen Getsic of The Bunny Game.

Honey Lauren, Monique Parent, Dawna Lee Heiesing, Creep Creepersin, Shane Ryan, Sean Cain, James Bickert, Aramis Sartorio, Craig McIntyre, Nikki Wall, Ginnetta Correli, Michael Su and more  are also scheduled to attend.

Eight of the 13 features screened last year went on to find DVD distribution, including the top jury and audience winners Slime City Massacre and Dead Hooker in a Trunk.

This year, PollyGrind has signed on to offer DVD distribution deals from Breaking Glass Pictures to the top two winners, with other winners receiving deluxe sub-distribution packages from Apprehensive Films and Wild Eye Releasing, as well as arthouse distribution contracts from venue host theatre7. Also up for grabs is close to $10,000 in software prizes from Sony Creative, Final Draft and Red Giant Software. Freeman also has an additional $5,000 of swag for giveaways.

PollyGrind kickoffs Oct. 7 with a concert and a zombie walk during First Friday. Rocket Blue, The Roxy Gunn Project, Monster Zero, Of the Gods and Creepersin will provide the live soundtrack at Neon Venus, while 222 Imperial will be displaying an art show called 10,000 Skeletons, and Photo Bang Bang has a must-see torture chamber photo op.

Starting at 6 p.m. and going until midnight, the kickoff event will also offer free blood spattered Retro Bakery cupcakes, cult and horror DVD giveaways, a classic car show organized by Sin City Royal Riders, a zombification station via Suzanne Lugano, an appearance and performance by Jenny Hendrix, and many artists showing off their work.

At 8:30 p.m. there will be a red carpet walk for all the filmmakers, actors, etc. in attendance. A red carpet zombie walk will follow later in the night at 10 p.m.

"The aim of the PollyGrind is to celebrate individuality, diversity, creativity, community and empowerment," Freeman said. "On Friday we'll be celebrating all types of art in the Entertainment Capital of the World's booming arts district. It's the perfect way to kick off PollyGrind."

While PollyGrind is not solely a horror film festival, it does lean heavily toward scary movies, making it a perfect fit for October.

"Summer is dying," Freeman said. "The cooler weather is coming and Halloween is coming. The end of 2011, another tough year, is near. What better way to celebrate than a film festival that is all about facing our fears, facing our demons, becoming inspired and becoming empowered?"

For more information or to purchase advanced tickets, please visit www.pollygrind.com.

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The PollyGrind Film Festival is all about the darker side of cinema and the artists that bring those films to life. Our aim is to celebrate individuality, diversity, creativity and empowerment by showcasing the work of filmmakers with defiantly independent visions. The festival consists of programming in the tradition of grindhouse theaters with double features, bookended by trailers and music videos.