Surrender Dorothy

Follow me closely here: 26-year-old busboy Trevor's (Peter Pryor) fear of women is so intense that the closest he can come to heterosexual physical intercourse is masturbating over female diners' forks. When 22-year-old heroin addict Lahn (writer/director Kevin DiNovis) moves in with Trevor, a rather odd co-dependency blooms, with Lahn relying on his employed host for his next high, and Trevor forcing Lahn into the role of the dinner-making, housecleaning, apron-wearing Dorothy. As Trevor's need for "Dorothy" to become (to paraphrase Pinocchio) a 'real live girl' begins to assume clinically obsessive proportions, Surrender Dorothy rises to the level of a minor masterpiece of nail-biting, gender-bending horror suspense. Unfortunately, if the bizarre subject matter doesn't put viewers off their Orville Reddenbacher's, the low budget indie filmmaking/amateur acting combo surely will. Grand Prize winner at Slamdance, and both the New York and Chicago Underground Film Festivals, this flawed but promising directorial debut is a strong optional purchase for more adventurous collections. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review—Oct. 3, 2006—TLA, 87 min., not rated, $14.99—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1998's Surrender Dorothy sports a good transfer. DVD extras include an audio commentary (by director Kevin DiNovis, producer Rich Goldberg, and costar Peter Pryor), a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, cast and crew bios, production notes, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a bizarre little gender-bender shocker that continues to rattle around in your brain long after the end credits roll.]