Desperate Living in 35mm

Showings

Grand Illusion Cinema Sat, Apr 22, 2023 7:00 PM
Grand Illusion Cinema Sun, Apr 23, 2023 4:00 PM
Grand Illusion Cinema Tue, Apr 25, 2023 9:00 PM
Grand Illusion Cinema Thu, Apr 27, 2023 9:00 PM
Film Info
Release Year:1977
Rating:R
Genre:Comedy
Crime
Fantasy
Production Country:USA
Original Language:English
Format:35mm
Cast/Crew Info
Director:John Waters
Cast:Mink Stole
Jean Hill
Susan Lowe
Liz Renay
Edith Massey
Screenwriter:John Waters

Description

Celebrate John Waters' 77th birthday and the Grand Illusion's 19th anniversary as a volunteer-run establishment with a 35mm screening of this wholly original trash art comedy epic from The Sultan of Sleaze, The King of Filth, The Duke of Dirt, The Prince of Puke, The Baron of Bad Taste...

 

Things get rocky at the Gravel household when paranoid Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) and her murderous maid Grizelda (Jean Hill) kill Peggy's husband. They escape from the law, only to wind up in the crazy town of Mortville, where Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) presides over a sleazy collection of misfits, including the vivacious Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay). When the Queen disinherits her daughter, Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce), and decides she wants to infect the town with rabies, the citizens of Mortville decide that it's time for a few changes!

 

Waters’ first feature made without Divine or David Lochary—the latter passed away the year of the film’s release—is a catalogue of horrors shot on 16mm that veers between comedy and disgust, or, as Waters himself described it, “a fairy tale for fucked-up children.”