Rodleen Getsic: the singer and actress behind The Bunny Game

Overview

Rodleen Getsic is an American actress, writer, producer and singer whose two best-known credits sit a decade apart: her vocals carry the climax of Deftones’ “Knife Prty” on the band’s landmark 2000 album White Pony, and she co-wrote, co-produced and starred as “Bunny” in the controversial improvised horror film The Bunny Game (The A.V. Club; Dread Central). For the latter she won Best Overall Individual Performance in a Film at the 2011 PollyGrind Film Festival, where the film also took the festival’s top jury prize (Dread Central).

The voice on “Knife Prty”

Deftones released White Pony on June 20, 2000, and on two of the album’s best songs frontman Chino Moreno ceded the vocal spotlight to guests — trading lines with Tool’s Maynard James Keenan on “Passenger,” and “letting backup singer Rodleen Getsic take the spotlight on the climax to ‘Knife Prty,’” in The A.V. Club’s account (The A.V. Club). The same piece places her alongside Keenan and Stone Temple Pilots’ Scott Weiland, who sang uncredited backing vocals on “Rx Queen,” as one of the record’s three guest vocalists (The A.V. Club). The A.V. Club describes her contribution as otherworldly wails and shrieks — sublime and satanic in equal measure — a striking assessment given that she was sharing an album with two of rock’s most famous voices (The A.V. Club). It remains the most widely heard recording of her career, and the one that predates her film work by nearly a decade.

The Bunny Game

A decade later, Getsic became the center of one of independent horror’s most notorious productions. Dread Central’s 2011 PollyGrind awards list credits The Bunny Game as written by Rodleen Getsic and Adam Rehmeier and produced by Getsic, Sarah Rehmeier and Adam Rehmeier — with Getsic in the lead role (Dread Central). Bloody Disgusting’s review reports the film was shot in 2008 with no crew and no script: Rehmeier formed a one-man crew and filmed Getsic and non-actor Jeff Renfro over thirteen days in Hollywood and a nearby desert, on the condition that “anything goes,” with Getsic fasting for 40 days beforehand (Bloody Disgusting). Getsic told HorrorNews.net the film “is entirely an improvisation,” prepared only by brainstorming bullet points of “games” the antagonist would play, and said it was based on “real encounters with evil” from her youth — while stressing she was never a prostitute or a drug addict in real life (HorrorNews.net). She also said the film’s original intended co-star, Gregg Gilmore, backed out shortly before the shoot, and that she finished the production with shards of metal in her skin and the caduceus symbol branded into her back (HorrorNews.net).

PollyGrind win and the BBFC ban

At the 2011 PollyGrind Film Festival in Las Vegas, Dread Central’s full awards list shows The Bunny Game swept five jury awards: the top prize (“The Biggest Baddest Mother of the PollyGrind”), Best Sound Design, Best Cinematography and Best Editing — plus Best Overall Individual Performance in a Film for Rodleen Getsic as Bunny (Dread Central). That tally means a no-budget improvised shoot took the festival’s feature categories nearly wholesale, with Getsic’s acting award standing alongside four craft and top-prize wins (Dread Central). Festival founder Chad Clinton Freeman praised the film as containing “one of the best on-screen performances ever by an actress” (Dread Central). The same year, the British Board of Film Classification refused the film a certificate for UK video release, effectively banning it in Britain — director David Cooke said issuing one would be inconsistent with the Board’s guidelines (Bloody Disgusting). Autonomy Pictures then gave the film its US DVD and Blu-ray release in July 2012 (Bloody Disgusting).

Career milestones

Year	Milestone	Detail
2000	Guest vocals, “Knife Prty”	Takes the vocal spotlight on the climax of Deftones’ White Pony (The A.V. Club)
2008	The Bunny Game shot	13 days, one-man crew, no script; co-writer, co-producer, lead (Bloody Disgusting; Dread Central)
2011	PollyGrind award	Best Overall Individual Performance in a Film; film takes 5 jury awards (Dread Central)
2011	UK ban	BBFC refuses classification for video release (Bloody Disgusting)
2012	US release and interview	Autonomy Pictures DVD/Blu-ray in July; extended HorrorNews.net interview (Bloody Disgusting; HorrorNews.net)

Frequently asked questions

Who is Rodleen Getsic? Getsic is an American actress, writer, producer and singer. She is best known as the co-writer, co-producer and star of the controversial 2011 horror film The Bunny Game, for which she won Best Overall Individual Performance at the 2011 PollyGrind Film Festival. She previously sang guest vocals on Deftones’ “Knife Prty.”

Did she really sing on a Deftones album? Yes. The A.V. Club’s retrospective of White Pony (2000) confirms that Getsic — credited as a backup singer — takes the vocal spotlight on the climax of “Knife Prty,” alongside guest turns by Tool’s Maynard James Keenan on “Passenger” and Stone Temple Pilots’ Scott Weiland on “Rx Queen.”

What is The Bunny Game based on? Getsic told HorrorNews.net the film is “entirely an improvisation” based on “real encounters with evil” from her youth — dangerous men she met and escaped. She stressed she was never a prostitute or drug addict in real life, and said the production left her with metal shards in her skin and a branded caduceus on her back.

Was The Bunny Game really unscripted? According to Bloody Disgusting’s review, Rehmeier and Getsic set out in 2008 with no crew and no script, shooting over thirteen days with the single condition that “anything goes.” Getsic confirmed the improvisation method in her 2012 interview, saying they prepared only by brainstorming bullet points of “games.”

What award did she win? Best Overall Individual Performance in a Film at the 2011 PollyGrind Film Festival in Las Vegas, for her role as Bunny — one of five jury awards the film took that year, per Dread Central’s full awards list.

Timeline

• 2000-06-20 — Deftones release White Pony, with Getsic’s vocals on the climax of “Knife Prty” (The A.V. Club).
• 2008 — The Bunny Game is shot over 13 days with a one-man crew and no script; Getsic co-writes, co-produces and stars (Bloody Disgusting review; Dread Central).
• 2011 — Getsic wins Best Overall Individual Performance in a Film at PollyGrind; the film takes five jury awards (Dread Central); the BBFC refuses the film a UK video certificate (Bloody Disgusting).
• 2012-07 — Autonomy Pictures releases the film in the US on DVD and Blu-ray (Bloody Disgusting).
• 2012-08 — Getsic gives an extended interview to HorrorNews.net about the improvisation method, her real-life encounters, and the injuries sustained (HorrorNews.net).

What this profile does not claim

• It does not assert Getsic’s date or place of birth — those appear only in a Wikipedia mirror.
• It does not assert any film or music credits beyond The Bunny Game and the White Pony guest vocal — a reported role in Charlotta TS could not be independently verified.
• It does not repeat the unverified 2013 report of an injury and fundraiser, which appeared in a single lower-tier post.
• It takes no position on the evaluative debate over The Bunny Game’s production methods; it reports what the cited reviews and Getsic herself said, including her own corrective that she was never a prostitute or drug addict in real life.

What we could not verify

• Birth details (March 18, 1975, Granite Falls, Washington) — Wikipedia-mirror only.
• The character name “Sylvia Grey”: full-read sources credit Getsic as “Bunny”; the fuller name appeared only in a 2025 reissue announcement not read in full.
• Whether Getsic has acted in any film since The Bunny Game — no full-read source covered later screen work.
• The 2013 injury/fundraiser report — single lower-tier source, not independently verified, not asserted.

Sources

• The A.V. Club — Deftones’ White Pony is the only nu-metal record you don’t have to be ashamed of owning (tier2; White Pony guest-vocal credit)
• Dread Central — Exclusive: Second Annual PollyGrind Film Festival Announces Winners (tier2; 2011 PollyGrind jury awards and writing/producing credits)
• Bloody Disgusting — [BD Review] ‘The Bunny Game’ Doesn’t Play Nice (tier2; production facts)
• Bloody Disgusting — ‘The Bunny Game’ Becomes Latest Victim Of BBFC Censorship (tier2; BBFC refusal)
• Bloody Disgusting — Autonomy Pictures Comes Out Playing ‘The Bunny Game’ (tier2; US release history)
• HorrorNews.net — Interview: Rodleen Getsic (The Bunny Game) (tier3; Getsic’s own account, direct interview)