Haunted

Warning:  Adult / Graphic Content -- includes  the music video that MTV would not show. 

HAUNTED is a story of rock n' roll pioneer SELENE PLEAZANCE MARQUISE,  the lead singer of the rock n' roll band, IST.  HOLTZ X ,  a filmmaker fan of the band hosts this examination of life on the road with PLEZ and her life achievements.  
Not for the faint of hear or easily scared. 
 

Complete with interviews with manager MONTE SPEIGEL, fans from various shows and an eventual insight to Plez's own unique mindset, HAUNTED is a dramatic film that is a unique celebration of the rock and roll lifestyle emulated by millions around the world.   Award winning filmmaker JULIAN GRANT has assembled a cast of real musicians and delved into  the world of rock and roll courtesy of writer/lead performer ASTRID YOUNG, sister of Canada's own legendary musician NEIL YOUNG, to create a faux-documentary on IST and their ill-fated front person SELENE PLEAZANCE MARQUISE. 

"It's funny... IST the band actually exists," says GRANT.  "I met ASTRID during a film festival I was running and she told me the outline of the story and I started to build the film around her, the band, the roadies that assist them and their friends that are out at every gig.  For me it was really exciting because I would be working with non-actors and in a one-take documentary style that was stylistically much more challenging than my traditional dramatic work."

JULIAN GRANT is no stranger to the world of dramatic films having produced or directed over a dozen dramatic works for distributors such as Alliance Releasing, Lions Gate, HBO and other internationally recognized companies.  HAUNTED was a different deal though.  I couldn't go through my usual sources as they make commercially palatable films that are very American in style. This was much more of a film festival project for myself and ASTRID.   I had had great success with my dark short film CREEP, qualifying for an Academy Award Nomination and winning Grand Prize at the 1998 L'Etrange Film Festival and securing a TV showcase through Canal Plus.

The controversial hard rock film, BLEED, was designed (banned from MTV) as a "shock-rock" anthem that would be immediately banned from airplay.  GRANT succeeded all to well.  "I wanted to do an anti-rock video with BLEED and I secured footage from my friend Nacho Cerda. His film, AFTERMATH has won awards around the world and scared the hell out audiences from Toronto to Timbuktu.  I knew BLEED was an essential part of the mix."

HAUNTED features ASTRID YOUNG, NICO BOLAR, TIM WELSH, MALCOLM XERXEZ, DAVID KINER, directed by JULIAN GRANT, produced by JULIAN GRANT, music by IST

"When Power Comics approached us, we told them to take a hike.  Then they showed up with this awesome rag with all of us in it.  We're like super-f...... heroes or something!  Cool!"  Selene Pleazance Marquise, HAUNTED

HAUNTED is ultimately a dramatic work of fiction with the incidents portrayed all the product of ASTRID YOUNG and GRANT's warped imgination.  "The rules of the game blur a little with this one," says YOUNG. "I am a singer, I do have a band called IST, these are our songs, but the world that JULIAN GRANT created with me is a piece of fiction. I do not kill my fans and to the best of my knowledge have no intention of doing it in the near future."

JULIAN GRANT is proud of the work done in HAUNTED and has these parting comments to say, "This is a film that examines the very nature of the documentary process and the relationship between filmmaker and subject.  I want to actively maintain the illusion of HOLTZ X as a filmmaker and the illusion of IST as a real band with a real cult following.  Audiences want to be entertained, to be manipulated and in this film we have done just that.  I hope that fans of rock music will dig ASTRID'S work as it is very good. HAUNTED is a parody -- a dark one to be sure -- but I like to think it as a unique blending of styles that will please my fans around the world.  In short, it rocks!"
 

ZoieFest 2001 presents 2ND PLACE FEATURE FILM:  -- Directed by JULIAN GRANT