Desperate Living (1977)

the audience applauded

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Desperate living has got to be the most horrible, sickening, disturbing piece of **** I',ve ever seen. First, the freaks (calling them freaks instead of people is a lot more accurate) in this movie don't just talk to each other, they shriek and yell, continuously! Second, none of the sex in this film has any love or nice arousle to it, it's all sick and perverted. Then comes the very worst of all. Third, a man actually starts cutting off his penis and we see him doing it close up!!!! Fourth, the fat bitch queen, who is ugly and cruel throughout the movie, actually gets cooked in a big oven and we see her being carried out all cooked whole on a large platter, with her face still visible in all cooked form!!!! And the other movie characters call this their big, celebrated roast!!!! I have never seen anything like this in my life!!! This is not a movie, it's over an hour of the sickest most demented **** that would only be of desire to someone who's mind is disturbed. And worst of all, I can NOT believe how many people gave this horrible sick **** great reviews, like 8 and 10 ratings! I've seen many more bad, ugly reviews for all those wonderful, sweet 1940s musicals (i.e. "Till the clouds roll by, which a lot of people called saccharine and annoyingly sicky sweet) than I have for this sick, disturbing trash. That just says something right there about the mentality of people in today's society! People are a different species in the 21st century than they were in the 1930s - 1950s.

DESPERATE LIVING, John Waters' first movie without his muse Divine, is a fitfully entertaining and really bizarre affair that's hard to sit through at times, but still kind of works by sheer force of will. The story (if one can call it that) is about a woman named Peggy (Mink Stole) who has been recently let out of a mental institution. After accidentally killing her husband, she runs away to the (fictional) town of Mortville, a slum which is ruled by a tyrannical queen, Carlotta (Edith Massey). This film serves as kind of an intermediary between his earlier "trash" and the more mainstream fare Waters began making in the 80's. The cinematic quality has yet to be cemented, and his actors shout most of their lines as if the audience was deaf, but there still is humor found in some pretty dark and off-the-wall material. Towards the end, there's even some political commentary thrown in about fascism, oppressive government and class warfare. It would seem slightly shoehorned if the movie hadn't taken place in this fictional/alternate universe, but it still gives the film a little depth. As far as acting goes, nobody really gives a "great" performance, but they still have fun with the lines they were given to say. Edith Massey was probably the most entertaining out of them all, as a sick "monarch" who gets pleasure out of making her subjects miserable, and even torments her own daughter. The camera-work and cinematography isn't too great either, but it was fairly standard for Waters' lower-budget work. The music was fine too, and there's a nice tune that bookends the film. Overall, it's not as great as the collaborations with Divine but it still stands out as one of John Waters' better films before he went more mainstream. For me, it was a little hard to sit through at times but I'm glad that I stuck it out until the end.

"Desperate Living" and "Female Trouble" are Waters' best films, fully realized trash epics with great characters, gorgeous production design and an unapologetic affection for trailer trash values.The story is simple. Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), a neurotic suburban snob, flees to Mortville, the town where criminals live scot-free, after her obese maid, Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill), sits on and squashes her sermonizing husband, Bosley Gravel (the great George Stover). The women share a bed in Mortville under the roof of a disgusting hovel run by Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe), a snot-dispensing, pre-op transsexual with impeccable table manners and a luscious lesbian lover Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay). But the living arrangements prove less than harmonious and the entire place is trashed when the women offer refuge to Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce), the downtrodden offspring of the domineering, boy-crazy Queen of Mortville (Edith Massey), who objects to her daughter's hippy-fied lifestyle. Complications ensue once the sycophantic Peggy worms her way into the Queen's chamber (and confidence) and a groundswell of support for a revolution intensifies.The set-up of "Desperate Living" is pure magic. The idea of there being a town where miscreants can live scot-free is brilliant, as is Waters' enthusiastic take on the entire thing. The tone is that of a fairytale painted with snot and mucus and every detail is consistent in its intention to make you want to puke. The sight of Mary Vivean Pearce doing the town with rabies is a green, grotesque delight, as is the scene in which Mole's new penis is severed, then roughly sewn back on.This is an unforgettable freak show from the puke-loving pope of popular culture.You'd be a misfit to miss it.

This is Waters' second best movie, next to Pink Flamingos. There are so many memorable lines in this puke-fest that it's nearly impossible to list them all. The story and events are so repulsive and sick that I'd rather let them be a surprise. Desperate Living is quite funny, quite gross, and quite nonsensical. If you are looking to watch something that makes any form of sense whatsoever, this is not your movie. If you want stomach-churning grossness for the sake of stomach-churning grossness, juvenile acting, low-budget film-making, and line after line of hilarious dialog, then Desperate Living should please you. John Waters still hasn't topped this one or Pink Flamingos to date.