As the short film "Polly" begins, it tells its viewers "On January 17th, 2007, a bloody and beaten woman stumbled into a police station in Chester Ridge, IL claiming she had been kidnapped and tortured."  The title character 24-year-old Polly Marie Davis was held captive by the 31-year-old Charles Morgan Lee and she was held for days.  JABB Pictures tells the story of what transpired within the 186 days, and it gives viewers a snapshot into the life of a serial killer.

Roughly 46 minutes in length, "Polly" is not structured like a traditional serial killer story.  In documentary fashion, "Polly" follows a disturbed serial killer who provides narration.  He explains his upbringing and the very first time he killed.  The first time he killed dates all the way back to when he was in fourth grade.  At eleven years old, he killed a kitten and was beaten by his father when he found it laying dead in his room.  He spent most of his time as a young child masturbating to bondage magazines his father had.  The film wastes no time in showing Charles torture Polly, who is tied to a chair in his basement.  His whole plan is to control Polly, to break her down with mental and physical abuse.  Polly is tough and her will is strong, and her tenacity irks Charles.

As a unique touch, Jason Hoover adds diary entries by Charles and the date in which they were written.  There is plenty of narration and the text excerpts from the diary is interspersed throughout the short.  While it may seem impenetrable at first, the diary is the bread and butter of "Polly," in the way it opens the imagination of the viewers.  It gives us a definite sense of how dangerous of a man Charles Morgan Lee is and how long he's been killing for.  Equating his victims to animals, the character gives his guide to breaking them down -- and it's really quite eerie.  Through text superimpositions, he takes us through the process while he applies his methods on Polly.  "First, you gotta break them of their bad habits," but sometimes, "you gotta crack them on the fucking head to get their attention."

Brandon Williamson is chilling as the relentless serial killer Charles Morgan Lee.  He plays Charles with a mean streak; his calculating approach matches well with his look of an average construction-worker type.  In the role of Polly, Michelle Patrykus is convincing and believable.  Though she doesn't really do much but act as a helpless victim, she fills the role excellently.  The film is called "Polly," but it focuses much more on the serial killer than the victim.  I love the idea of a "role reversal," but the film ends too suddenly.  For the most part, "Polly" is fairly well done.  For a short film, Jason Hoover exercises his ability to tell a story from beginning, middle to end.  I fully expect he will eventually make a feature film with a reasonable budget.  It will be interesting to see what he makes.  From the looks of it, he already has the courage and will to make a dark, twisted horror film.  Every filmmaker has to start somewhere, and "Polly" is a pretty decent start for Jason Hoover and JABB Pictures.

Available on DVD, "Polly" features a trailer, images, and bloopers.

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 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
 - Trailer
 - Images
 - Bloopers