Flesh For Fantasy.
By Fred Leland

December 16, 2001

When Surrender Dorothy ends, you have to first catch your breath, and second hope that Trevor is dead. This harshly lit black and white nightmare is the perfect holiday gift for that person on your list that you really want to creep out. It's shot like an old Roger Corman movie and could easily be written off as a B-movie if it wasn't for the strong acting.

Trevor, played by Peter Pryor, is a struggling waiter who lives in an abandoned warehouse space that is decorated thanks to Goodwill. Trevor's apartment could easily pass for a Performance Art gallery or an S&M club. Is Trevor a frustrated artist or a latent Homosexual? You decide. It is clear that Trevor has a fetish for the objects touched by women, but unfortunately he is easily intimidated by women and unable to interact with them socially. He steals used forks from his job and sucks on them while masturbating violently at home. Trevor's longtime friend and drug supplier, Dennis (Jason Centeno,) complains to him about Lahn: a junkie he took in as a favor to a friend. Dennis tells Trevor that this mutual acquaintance has stolen his stash and he wants to beat the heck out of him.

In the next scene Lahn is at Trevor's doorstep needing a place to hide. Lahn is a hard-core Heroin addict and can't go a single day without a fix. The brother that raised him is in prison, and he can't live in his tent with Dennis out to get him, so Lahn is ripe for being taken advantage of. Lahn's addiction and need for protection from Dennis doesn't allow him much room to complain either when Trevor starts making demands of him. It begins with Lahn playing houseboy in order to get his daily Heroine fix. But things spiral deeper into madness when Trevor comes to realize that he likes being in a dominant role over Lahn. While Lahn learns that his daily fix will require him to start dressing like a woman and feeding Trevor's fantasies of being with his Dorothy. The weakest part of the film, in my opinion, is that Lahn gives in to Trevor's reality too easily -he has to give up his girlfriend and has to adopt the Dorothy persona, clothing and all. Sure he protests and declares that he's not Gay, but not enough. The film's strength is how disturbing it is to watch Lahn become Trevor's living doll in order to satisfy his crippling addiction.

There isn't anyone to connect with at the beginning of the film: I mean Trevor is a worm, Lahn is a doped up slacker, and Dennis, while being a hunk, is a small time drug pusher. But by the time Trevor is buying female hormones from Dennis and secretly giving them to Lahn, I found myself cheering for Lahn to get away. Peter Pryor portrays Trevor as such a slime ball and has a nervous stage presence, that I was reminded of Gary Oldman (Lost in Space, Romeo is Bleeding, The Contender, etc.) Surrender Dorothy is one of those films that is definitely not for everyone, and a film that people will have strong opinions about afterward.

Therefore, I press on Surrender Dorothy.

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