David “Rock” Nelson is a manic former Marine and aspiring boxer and he just might be the new Ed Wood. Although it’s hard to tell just how much of an effect getting hit in the head repeatedly had on him creatively, the former Golden Glover has been making his amateurish DIY camcorder monster movies since the early 90s. His insane films often star himself, his off-again/on-again girlfriend and his barely indulgent (now deceased) elderly parents who seemed more perturbed, if not totally disinterested at what their weird adult son was getting up to. His baffling and inept work makes almost no sense to anyone except for (maybe) David himself, and therein lies the charm of his peculiar “school” of no budget cinema, a genre in his case, where he resides most assuredly alone. People have been making bad monster movies for decades, but nothing like this.

If you’re the sort of cultural miscreant who goes in for, say, Andy Milligan films or the music of Jandek, then maybe the cinema of David “Rock” Nelson is for you?
 

 
Enthusiastic Nelson is the subject of Outsider a new VICE webseries that goes far far beyond the valley of mere indie film, taking the viewer into the eccentric worlds of the people behind the world’s strangest movies. It’s hosted by collector, author and longtime programmer at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Zack Carlson and produced by Evan Husney, a veteran of underground and indie cinema (he’s worked the PR and marketing angles for things like Birdemic and Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre for Severin Films and numerous cinema releases for Drafthouse Films).

The delightful Outsider has made three episodes so far and quite accurately describes itself as “American Movie meets Anthony Bourdain as our host meets each subject in their hometown to create a stark portrait of their day-to-day life and their truly singular body of work.” They’ve also profiled “Laz Rojas: The Man With 100 Faces” (if you know who this is you already clicked on the link before you finished reading this sentence) and told “The True Story of Miami Connection.”

If you like this kind of thing—and I sure do—there is much to enjoy about Outsider. Admittedly they had me from their bad 80s opening graphics. And now on with the show…