DESPERATE LIVING

The last movie of what John Waters labeled his Trash Trilogy, the infamous trio of shockingly grotesque and kitschy movies made before he went into the mainstream.

Following the murder of her husband, a neurotic suburban housewife and her maid agree to be exiled to Mortville, a shantytown of social outcasts ruled by a tyrannical queen regnant.

“If Female Trouble (1975) is John Waters‘ greatest narrative film, then Desperate Living (1977) is his inimitable descent into a surreal, kitsch abyss that few could imagine. Waters filmed his perverse anti-fairy tale on a meager budget three years after Female Troubles, although he had substantially more money here than on his previous films. Budget or no, Desperate Living is just as grandiose and epic as anything Busby Berkeley ever produced.

The midnight cult film scene was about to permanently change. Waters had one more film to go, the similar, but polished Polyester (1981); then, in 1984, Massey would join Lochary, followed by Divine in 1988. Desperate Living is really the last film in which everything came uniquely together for Waters in what was undoubtedly his era, when he was a powerful and influential visionary who literally took film goers to the edge of their seat (and often sent them running out the door).”
Alfred Eaker, 366 Weird Movies