Directed by John Waters • 1977 • United States
Starring Liz Renay, Mink Stole, Susan Lowe

Described by John Waters as “a lesbian melodrama about revolution,” the third installment in the director’s Trash Trilogy, following FEMALE TROUBLE and PINK FLAMINGOS, is a demented fairy tale wherein a screeching, hysterical suburban housewife (Mink Stole) kills her husband with the help of her alcoholic maid (Jean Hill) and then goes on the run, ultimately landing in the shantytown of Mortville—a haven for criminals and deviants presided over by the tyrannical Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). Even without the presence of the director’s usual star Divine, DESPERATE LIVING pushes the filth quotient to the max, resulting in what may be Waters’s most uncompromising provocation.