The Dennis Woodruff Collection Vol. 1 (2010)

Studio: Troma/ CAV

DVD Release: June 14, 2011

Not Rated

Review by James Klein

Here in Chicago, we have a local semi-celebrity named Dave "The Rock" Nelson, an eccentric, obnoxious, hilarious, film maker who makes really cheap and bizarre home made movies and tries his best to get them out into the public eye. His films are done for probably a few hundred bucks. The production value and talent in front and behind the camera is minimal at best. But yet, the man is well known in certain areas in and around Chicago and goes to various film festivals and horror/sci-fi conventions, trying to sell or promote his films. From what I gather from The Dennis Woodruff Collection, Los Angeles has its own Dave "The Rock" Nelson named Dennis Woodruff. Like Mr. Nelson, Woodruff's films are cheap, sloppy, incoherent. Some may find them intolerable while others may find them enjoyable. I fall in the former.

The Dennis Woodruff Collection includes three of his films: Space Man, Obsession, and L.A. Space Man has Woodruff playing a simple space man who walks around the neighborhood in a cheap space costume, talking to various people off the street. Some can't act to save their lives while others may not be acting at all and wondering what the hell is this guy doing. If you can make it through this dull and boring piece of crap, you deserve a medal. Obsession is his best film which is like saying being kicked in the knee is better than being kicked in the balls. Obsession is about Woodruff looking for director David Lynch and asking people off the street if they know him. Some people try to act which is groan inducing and just plain awful.  While others don't seem to know what is going on and may not be in on the joke. Somehow 70's cult actor Joe Dallesandro, best known for being in a bunch of Andy Warhol pictures, shows up to talk to Woodruff briefly. This was the only interesting part of this mess of a movie. The final film L.A. is about a movie producer played by Woodruff who has just lost his touch in films, falling into drugs and alcohol. The less said about this one, the better.

Dennis Woodruff may have a cult following in his home town of Los Angeles but for everyone else, this guy is just an unknown no talent bore. I'm amazed that these films get picked up by DVD companies and released nationwide. Who watches this crap and enjoys it? Or am I the idiot and Woodruff is something of a genius?