Desperate Living (1977)

My favorite John Waters classic, so many laughs, so many layers, it always holds up after all of these years.

DESPERATE LIVING is an hilarious assault on "good taste" and the last real John waters film before he went mainstream in the '80s. This "Alice In Wonderland on acid" cartoon full of "sex & savagery" (not to mention necrophilia, incest, and cannibalism) kicks off when suburban mom Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) goes on the lam with her 400 lb. maid after the hefty domestic kills the man of the house by sitting on him. "Thelma & Louise" make their way to Mortville, a safe haven for criminals ruled over by the megalomanical nymphomaniac Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) but as Mole the lesbian points out, "it isn't very pretty what a town without pity can do" and they land right smack in the middle of a dictatorship ripe for bloody revolution.I wouldn't watch something like this unless I was stoned and at first it was so shrill (with everybody screaming until I thought I'd get a headache) but once I started laughing I couldn't stop right up until the hysterical, anarchic ending. There's as many inventive deaths and set- piece slaying in this movie as there are in any good giallo and that kept me happy, too. I think the reason why I never tried too hard to track DESPERATE LIVING down before was because Divine wasn't in it but former Hollywood glamor girl and Mickey Cohen moll Liz Renay more than made up for it. Liz was an ex- con and a stripper at that point in her life and had no problem shedding her inhibitions to run around nude, bend over to have the queen kiss her butt, or get raped by her lesbian lover after a sex-change operation. I'm sorry I waited so long to see this -it's outrageous fun!

Once upon a time, in the sleazy land of Baltimore, there lived a very angry, very delusional woman, named Peggy Gravel, Peggy was recently released from the psych ward, and back with the family, but, even now, Peggy is borderline psychotic, she is convinced that kids, outside playing are trying to kill her, her own young children are getting it on, and that everyone else is just trying to get on her nerves. After a traumatizing morning, Peggy, with the help of her 5,000 pound maid, Grizelda, kills her husband in a blind rage. The sisters in crime flee the scene, apparently leaving the children to fend for themselves. Now, the nature-hating, hypochondriac, and her freakishly sassy maid aim to leave Baltimore, as luck would have it, our heroines are tipped off by a cop about a near by town, called Mortville, a half-ass little town meant for fugitives. Although, there will be a steep price for this information, we won't go into that. A Village of idiots, Peggy realizes, seconds after entering the grimy splendor of Mortville, although, the mental capacity of the residents are the least of her worries. No toilets, very little money, zero comforts, criminals everywhere, luckily, the ladies are able to convince a dysfunctional lesbian couple, Mr. Mole, and Muffy, to rent them a room. Just as things were looking up, Peggy and Grizelda are kidnapped by the soldiers of Queen Carlotta, the vicious ruler of Mortville. During their stay, the ladies are exposed to such outlandish atrocities as being made over by the ugly experts, force-fed roaches, but none of that would compare to the humiliation of backwards day, so, you wouldn't blame them when all they could do for comfort is, turn to each other. Well, what did you Expect? This is the greatest Dyxploitation movie ever made, and yes!! there is a graphic love scene, that honestly, should be viewed in the same manner as an eclipse, otherwise...well, never mind. So, anyway, If there is anyone in Mortville as evil as Queen Carlotta, it's Peggy Gravel. After realizing they both share a common hatred for the non-rich, not to mention, everyone in Mortville, they come to the conclusion that infecting the town with rabies is the only way to handle this. Meanwhile, Mole's Baltimore Lottery ticket, that she stole from Peggy, has won, so she does what any sensible lesbian would do, well, she goes to Baltimore and violently demands a sex change from a doctor, what else? Now back in Mortville, Muffy is horrified at the big change, discouraged, and humiliated, Mole cuts off his new penis, and says goodbye to the dream of manhood. Frustrated with men, their living conditions, and with their lives, in general, Mole, Muffy, and other lesbians band together, head up to the castle, kill all the soldiers, shoot Peggy in the ass, slaughter Queen Carlotta, and devour her body, in a cannibalistic feast. which celebrates a new era. All hail King Mole, All hail Queen Muffy!! Mortville is now a free city, and of course, everyone lived happily ever after. 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.