SERIAL MOM (1994)

  Going from the cool anti-mainstream punk-rock aesthetic of his earlier films to the sad mainstream space that these later works occupy is always a letdown when viewing John Waters' output. This one is down there at the bottom of the pile for me as far as his films go right above that last movie he did about sex or whatever. This one is about getting a big Hollywood actress(Kathleen Turner) to do the worst acting possible within a very stupid plot and laugh at her. At least that's what I think the point was. On the plus side it features scenes from BLOOD FEAST , DEADLY WEAPONS, STRAIT-JACKET among other films that I would rather be watching. Also Suzanne Somers and Traci Lords show up which is cool. Maybe this will be the next one of his works to become a big stupid Broadway show. 

POLYESTER (1981)

 John Waters' commentary on the "typical" American family? Of course in Waters-land that includes a 300-pound cross-dressing man(Divine) as the mom, a filthy, flatulent, porn-theater owning dad who's also sleeping with his secretary(Mink Stole), a glue-snorting foot-fetishist(and foot-stomping) son and a constantly go-go dancing daughter who's dating Dead Boys lead-singer Stiv Bators who plays a greasy punk with the awesome name of Bo-Bo Belsinger. In addition to these insane characters you also get the always wonderful Edith Massey as 70-something year old obese "debutante", who can always see the silver-lining in any cloud no matter how big or small from alcoholism to murder. Divine's sadistic mother and 50's idol Tab Hunter as a romantic Romeo. Hunter even gets to make out with Divine which is something I'm sure he never envisioned in his wildest dreams doing when he started back in the 50's. Jean Hill also shows up for a bit where she proceeds to hijack a bus, chomp on a tire and smack Bators around. If you like insanity, no one touches Waters as the king of off-the-wall antics. The man pretty much embodies what is the punk-rock aesthetic and amazingly did so before punk rock really even existed.
 I got a chance to experience this the way it was originally released  in full Odorama last night with scratch and sniff cards as big as your face and a full crowd which totally added to the enjoyment of the film.

A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES (2013)

 With this title you might assume this would be a very sleazy documentary about dirty-movie maker Joe Sarno. You would only be kinda right since just like many of Sarno's films this is actually a bit classier than that. It's really partly a love story about the relationship between Joe and his wife of many years, Peggy(who was in attendance when I viewed this theatrically). And it's also a view of the way adult movies changed from the sexploitation-filled 60's into the hardcore, show everything 70's. These later penetration-filled epics, which look like classic films in comparison to the overlong loops being churned out today were not what Sarno was all about though. His vision was more about turning on the audience by using a more subtle approach and it seems like he really wanted to make art films but ended up doing what he had to in order to survive the changing times. Swedish filmmaker Wiktor Ericsson really does a great job here presenting the whole story behind the filth including commentary by John Waters, Annie Sprinkle, Jamie Gillis and others and also sadly chronicling Mr. Sarno's last days to ultimately create a surprisingly touching tribute to one of the classier directors in a sleazy business.  

DESPERATE LIVING (1977)

                                                  "I hate the supreme court!"

 Known in Italy as PUNK STORY this is probably my favorite of all of John Water's films. The weird thing about that is that this one doesn't star Divine and he appears in all the other great Water's epics made before he dropped dead. In his place I find Mink Stole does an amazing job of being a maniacal woman barely in control. There's also the enormous black maid, Jean Hill, who commits homicide by sitting on Stole's husband and who blesses us by getting totally naked and having some hideously obese lesbian sex. Liz Renay, the star of a bunch of old b-movies including stuff like THE THRILL KILLERS, is also featured in a not-so classy lesbian role and the great Edith Massey is our queen! Every character from the background punk/biker-types to the bad-ass bull-dyke is perfect. The other great thing about this scummy classic is that it gets right to heart of what makes Water's classic movies so great. It's an ode to the disgusting aspects of humanity and bad taste in general. It's also told like some demented fairy-tale for degenerates and weirdos. It's also proven to be pretty clairvoyant in it's ability to predict how far society will devolve and it's, on top of everything else, pretty fucking hilarious. Castration, puke, murder, cannibalism, snot, bathroom perverts, a panty-snatching cop, boobs, female wresting, messy trans-gender-operations and a whole laundry list of disgusting antics and bodily fluids make this one a great all-time lowlife ode to the sickness of society.

MONDO TRASHO (1969)

The first full length John Waters movie to get shown publicly and it probably would've worked better as a short film instead as this does drag a bit.  There's very little dialogue and the story is mainly told through the use of 50's and 60's pop songs played over some quite trashy and distasteful scenes.  I guess this movie was underground enough that Waters didn't have to worry about all the copyright infringement going on with taking music from stuff like THE WIZARD OF OZ and that sort of thing.  The movie starts out with a bang as you watch a hooded executioner chop the heads off real live chickens then you get some foot licking for the fetishists out there followed by weird antics by "glamorous" cross-dressing Divine including some blasphemous fun in a church and then some wacky surgery hi-jinks.  Divine also shows up as a man in one scene.  The use of old records to convey a narrative is done really well but one of the coolest things about Waters movies is the absolutely insane dialogue which is missing from most of this movie and I think that's what brings it down for me a bit.  Check it out anyway though to see the beginnings of one of  the most absurdly entertaining directors in cinema's history.  

"dingle-berry":

PINK FLAMINGOS (1972)

What can you say about one of the greatest cult/underground/midnight-movies ever made? Did they pass a law at some point in the late 70's-early 80's that outlawed insane/crazy/original sleaze movies from being made? John Waters stopped making them and since then who has stepped up to take his place as Prince of Puke or Sultan of Sleaze? Not anyone in this country that I've seen. There's those brainless gore movies that try to be more "brutal" than the last one i.e.-AUGUST UNDERGROUND and its sequels. But stuff like that isn't even anywhere near the level of subversiveness or entertainment as this 30 year old piece of filth. Waters was a genius in his own disgusting way. 30 years from now I can't imagine anything being made today being held up as anything worthwhile for any reason or even remembered. But what do I know? Maybe time has a way of making garbage look better in hindsight. Many people would argue that about this movie too I suppose.