True crime reigned supreme at the third annual PollyGrind Film Festival in Las Vegas this year.
Chris Sun’s Australian masterpiece Daddy’s Little Girl was named the Biggest Baddest Mother of the PollyGrind, while The Video Diary of Madi O, Final Entries and My Name is A by anonymous rounded out The Big Three with the official announcement of the film festival’s list of more than 100 winners.
Aside from the festival’s grand jury prize, Daddy’s Little Girl, a heartbreaking revenge story inspired by true events, also won Best Director, Best Overall Individual Performance (Michael Thomson) and Best Screenplay.
The Video Diary of Madi O, Final Entries, which is supposedly a true New Zealand police tape submitted by Harold Brodie, was first runner up and won Best Found Footage Film.
Shane Ryan’s My Name is A by anonymous was second runner up. The film inspired by 15-year old Alyssa Bustamante, who was convicted of killing a 9-year old neighbor won Best Arthouse Film.
Last year’s top three films were The Bunny Game, Dear God No! and The Super. The big winners of 2010 were Slime City Massacre and Dead Hooker in a Trunk.
Legendary filmmaker Albert Pyun was another big winner at PollyGrind 2012. In addition to taking home a Lifetime Achievement Award for being a Filmmaker of a Different Breed, three of his films won various awards.
Road to Hell, which screened to a crowd of 200-plus at Rave Cinemas, won Best Fantasy Film and Audience Favorite. It won a slew of other awards, including Best Actor (Michael Paré) and Best Actress (Clare Kramer).
Pyun’s Bulletface was named Best Crime Film and its star Victoria Maurette won the Bad Girl Award, while his festival closer H.P. Lovecraft’s Cool Air picked up awards as well.
PollyGrind’s 2012 event, which was called “epic” by Las Vegas Weekly and “mind-blowing at its best” by CouchCutter.com, ran for five weeks with 17 days of programming in October. The festival screened 13 feature film world premieres. Early awards were announced October 17, 21 and 27.
For more information on PollyGrind, which has now had more than 36 films it has screened in three years land distribution deals with the likes of Troma, Showtime, IFC Midnight, Lions Gate and more, visit www.pollygrind.com.
2012 PollyGrind Awards
FEATURES
THE BIG THREE
Biggest Baddest Mother of the PollyGrind
(Grand Jury Prize)
Daddy’s Little Girl
Written & Directed by Chris Sun / Produced by Leah Bray, Dominic Crisci & Sean Gannon
(First Runner Up)
Best Found Footage Film The Video Diary of Madi O, Final Entries Submitted by Harold Brodie
(Second Runner Up)
Best Arthouse Film My Name is A by anonymous
Written & Directed by Shane Ryan / Produced by Shane Ryan, Kevin Gage, Alisha Rayne & Ryan Nicholson
BEST OF THE REST
Best Exploitation Film
Day Job, dir. by Dave O’Shea
Best Horror Film
I am a Ghost, dir by H.P. Mendoza
Best Crime Film
Bulletface, dir. Albert Pyun
Best Thriller
Zero in the System, dir. Tim McCann
Best Action Film
Burlesque Assassins, dir. Jonathan Joffe
Best Fantasy Film
Road to Hell, dir. Albert Pyun
Best Dark Comedy
Race War: The Remake, dir. by Tom Martino
Best Foreign Language Film
Fat Cat, dir. by Michele Fiascaris
Best of Zombiepalooza
After the Dawn, dir. by Mitchel A. Jones
Best Experimental Film
Blood for Irina, dir. by Chris Alexander
Best Animated Film
Blood Trail, dir. Emerson Frakes
Best Science Fiction Film
Trash and Progress, dir. Abraham Dieckman
Best Transgression Film
Hate Crime, dir. James Cullen Bressack
Best Documentary
Nightmare Factory, dir. Donna Davies
DIRECTING
Best Director Chris Sun (Daddy’s Little Girl)
Best Woman Director
Lindsay Denniberg (Video Diary of a Lost Girl)
Director on the Rise
Henry Weintraub (Killing Me)
Director Showcase Award
Richard Griffin (The Disco Exorcist / Exhumed)
ACTING
Best Overall Individual Performance
Michael Thomson
as Derek in Daddy’s Little Girl
Best Overall Cast
Exhumed
Debbie Rochon as Governess,
Michael Reed as Chris,
Evalena Marie as Rocki,
Sarah Nicklin as Laura, Jocelyn Padilla as Cute College Girl,
Nathaniel Sylva as Matthew. Jonathan Thomson as Nate,
Rich Tretheway as Lance, & Michael Thurber as Butler.
Best Actor
Michael Paré
as Cody in Road to Hell
Best Actress
Clare Kramer
as Caitlin in Road to Hell
Best Supporting Actor
Scott Paulin as Brendon Wexler in Bulletface
Best Supporting Actress
Angela Favella as Gloria in Fat Cat
Best Cameo Appearance
Jessica Cameron as Marilyn Monroe in The Black Dahlia Haunting
BEST OF CATEGORIES
Best Screenplay
Daddy’s Little Girl written by Chris Sun
Best Writer
Cynthia Curnan (Road to Hell / Cool Air)
Best Cinematography
When Time Becomes a Woman (Zaid Baqaeen)
Best Visual Effects
Road to Hell (Daniel Ray Gutierrez)
Best Song
Road to Hell (Streets of Fire)
Best Film Score
H.P. Lovecraft’s Cool Air (Tony Riparetti)
Best Editing
President Wolfman (Mike Davis)
Best Sound Design
Bulletface (Tony Riparetti)
Best Poster
Play Hooky (Frank S. Petrilli)
BEST USE OF
Best Use of Nudity/Sexuality
The Black Dahlia Haunting (Brandon Slagle)
Best Use of Violence/Gore
Day Job (Dave O’Shea)
Best Use of Music
Road to Hell (Albert Pyun)
FILMS WITH THE MOST
Most Innovative
Play Hooky (Frank S. Petrilli)
Most Outrageous
Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger (Emanuele De Santi)
Most Creative
President Wolfman (Mike Davis)
Most Heart
Johnny Ghost (Donna McRae)
Most Cool
Beyond the Grave (Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro)
Most Horrifying
Hate Crime (James Cullen Bressack)
SPECIAL POLLYGRIND AWARDS
ACHIEVMENTS IN ACTING
Breakthrough Role
Nicole Kruex (After the Dawn)
Newcomer Award
Roxy Gunn (Road to Hell)
Scream Queen Award
Devanny Pinn (The Black Dahlia Haunting)
Super Thug Award
Howard Calvert (Race War: The Remake)
Actress in a Horror Film
Debbie Rochon (Exhumed)
Actress in a Fantasy Film
Priscilla McEver (Video Diary of a Lost Girl)
Supporting Actress in a Fantasy Film
Deborah Van Valkenburgh (Road To Hell)
Supporting Actress in a Horror Film
Wendy Phillips (H.P. Lovecraft’s Cool Air)
Actor in Multiple Roles
Morgan Weisser (Bulletface / H.P. Lovecraft’s Cool Air)
Bad Girl Award
Victoria Maurette (Bulletface)
Ultimate Badass Award
Tony Todd (The Mannsfield 12)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Mudsploitation Award
Lowlife (Seth Smith)
420 Award
Smoked. (Joshua Staley & Jamie DeWolf)
Retrosploitation Awards
The Disco Exorcist (Richard Griffin)
The Turnpike Killer (Evan Makrogiannis & Brian Weaver)
It Came From the 80s Underground Award
Video Diary of a Lost Girl (Lindsay Denniberg)
Skate or Die Award
VEER! (Patrick Barry)
Best Title Awards
Fuckload of Scotch Tape (Julian Grant)
You Can’t Kill Stephen King (Ronnie Khalil, Monroe Mann & Jorge Valdés-Iga)
Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast (Sam Qualiana)
Bubba Moon Face (Blake Eckard)
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Filmmaker of a Different Breed
Albert Pyun
MEDIUM FILMS, SHORTS, TRAILERS, MUSIC VIDEOS AND PROMOS
Best Medium Film
Beyond The Pleasure Principle (J.P. Norlin)
Best Medium Documentary
Herschell Gordon Lewis and the Making of the Uh-Oh! Show (Tony Perri)
Best Short
‘Til Death (Philip Chidel)
Best International Short
Twisted (Norbert Keil)
Best Horror Short
Sunday’s Child (Virgile Dean)
Best Experimental Short
Everyday Today (Sean Ferris)
Best Dark Comedy Short
The Ballad of Joey Chestnut (Sean McGlynn)
Best Crime Short
Gasp (Thomai Hatsios)
Best Animated Short
Tar Zombies Barbecued (Norm Fassbender)
Best of Zombiepalooza
Velvet Road (L. Gustavo Cooper)
Best Arthouse Short
Transgressions (Hong Zhou)
Best Exploitation Short
She’s Not Alone! (Mike Streeter)
Best Transgression Short
Fresh Piss (Sean Gill)
Best Thriller Short
Christmas Eve ’45 (Evgueni Mlodik)
Best Action Short
The Graveyard Shift (Jessica Burgess)
Best Found Footage Short
Feed A (Clarke Mayer)
Best Science Fiction Short
Jaypen Code 20 (Trishul Thejasvi)
Best Documentary Short
I Need a Hero (W.H. Bourne)
Make It a Feature Awards
Predator/Prey (Kent Kitzman)
Eaglewalk (Rob Himebaugh)
Astrid (Jason Jensen)
Best Actor
Thomas R. Martin (Velvet Road)
Best Actress
Misty Mundae (This Girl’s Gun)
Best Supporting Actor
M. Simon Lim (The Ballad of Joey Chestnut)
Best Supporting Actress
Mink Stole (Bugbaby)
Best Director
Philip Chidel (‘Til Death)
Best Woman Director
Jennifer Campbell (Hike)
Best Director Under 18
Ben Kadie (Molly and the Masked Storm)
Best Director Under 15
Elizabeth Herrick (My License)
Director to Watch Out For
Jason Jensen (Astrid)
Best Screenplay
Crush the Skull (Viet Nguyen & Christopher Dinh)
Best Music Video
Supercute’s Dumb Dumbs (Greg Hanson)
Best International Music Video
Viktoria Agbayani’s Wild Side (Rob Agbayani)
Best Music Video Song
Dreams by Chinwe
Best Fake Trailer
The Bicyclist (Norman Siopis)
Best Real Trailer
Territory 8 (Kelly Schwarze)
Best Fake Promo
Blonde Booster (Trey Solberg)
Best Real Promo
JDP/NASCAR Quicken Loans (Marc Ruiz)
Best Television Episode or Webisode
The Uncle Mike Show (Cable Hardin)
Best Television or Web Series
Flat Whites (Max De Bowen)
Best Unique Submission
POX – Opening Titles (Brian Lonano)
AUDIENCE FAVORITES
Feature Film
Road to Hell (Albert Pyun)
Short Film
Velvet Road (L. Gustavo Cooper)
Music Video
The Illuminati Princess’ Stay on my Grind (Logan Myers)
