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.
Up Next in Season 1
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Female Trouble
Directed by John Waters • 1974 • United States
Starring Divine, David Lochary, Edith MasseyGlamour has never been more grotesque than in FEMALE TROUBLE, which injects the Hollywood melodrama with anarchic decadence. Divine, director John Waters’ larger-than-life muse, engulfs the screen with...
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Polyester
Directed by John Waters • 1981 • United States
Starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith MasseyFor his first studio picture, filth maestro John Waters took advantage of his biggest budget yet to allow his muse Divine to sink his teeth into a role unlike any he had played before: Baltimore housewife Fr...
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Cecil B. Demented
Directed by John Waters • 2000 • United States, France
Starring Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Adrian GrenierJohn Waters’s defiant takedown of Hollywood mediocrity stars Melanie Griffith as a pampered movie queen who goes guerrilla when she is kidnapped by a band of underground filmmakers act...
