KMSU cinema festival brings horror to the big screen

Grind-Fu Cinema, the annual film series sponsored by Minnesota State University’s KMSU-FM radio station, kicks off its 2021-22 season Saturday by showing five films and an intermission with free cake, all free of charge.

Films include “Island of Lost Souls,” “The Wolf Man,” “Dracula,” “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein.”

The first film starts at noon in the Wiecking Center auditorium. The last film starts at 8:45 p.m.

Grind-Fu was initially created by the hosts of KMSU’s Shuffle Function morning show. Shuffle Function co-host Tim Lind helped create Grind-Fu in hopes of doing something fun for the MNSU community and KMSU listeners.

In pre-COVID times, the radio show would host movie screenings like this all month long. They would show fun and weird movies, often showing the best movie classics. Lind mentioned that these events are always free for the campus community. 

“If you like classic horror movies this is a fun and free event with some of the best legendary films we will be showing,” he said. “These are your classic black and white films like ‘Dracula’ and ‘Frankenstein,’ all of those movies. Also we have cake, so who wouldn’t want to go?” 

There will be an intermission at 8:15 p.m. for viewers to take a quick cake break from the movies. Lind pointed out that cake may not be viewed as a common Halloween snack, but it’s a part of the movie tradition.

“We always love to make a big deal out of the Halloween October fun and cake is such a great way to do that. All of these cakes are specially made to work around each movie that is shown throughout the day. They’re all a bit odd and edgy in order to work with scary movies. It’s such a fun, quirky tradition” Lind added. 

Historically, the film festivals haven’t been consistent in popularity, largely due to the lack of knowledge from students about the events.

“For some of our movie events it’s really hit-or-miss, but our Halloween event definitely gets a crowd making it our most popular event. I guess people really love scary movies,” Lind stated. 

Brianna Reuter, a freshman studying nursing, confirmed this statement when she found out about the event from the posters hanging up around campus. 

“Scary movies are probably one of my favorite parts of Halloween, which is saying a lot because I love it all. I like to watch scary movies all year round, but it definitely hits different during Halloween,” Reuter commented.

Lind encourages everyone who attends the festival to dress up in their best Halloween costume, as it helps amplify the holiday spirit.
“We get people who wear their pajamas and slippers to people who go all out with their Halloween costumes. Seeing all the fun costume ideas that people come up with is definitely one of my favorite parts.”