Desperate Living
JOHN WATERS: DIVINE FILTH, PART 4
“Go home to your mother! Doesn't she ever watch you? Tell her this isn't some communist daycare center! Tell your mother I hate her! Tell your mother I hate you!”
With DESPERATE LIVING, John Waters pushed his vision into wild new territory — a surreal, grotesque fairy tale set in the trash-strewn, totalitarian town of Mortville. Made without Divine for the first and only time in this era, the film instead centers on an unhinged cast of women revolting against a corrupt, fascist queen.
In this episode, we explore the chaos and controversy behind the making of DESPERATE LIVING, including the film’s challenging production, its reception in the underground film circuit, and how it further expanded Waters’ mythology of filth and transgression. This is John Waters at his most unrestrained — and unhinged.
Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.
This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop, and Todd A. Davis.
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