DESPERATE LIVING (1977) | John Waters, Part 4

Cinema Shock

After FEMALE TROUBLE, Divine — John Waters' muse — found his off-screen career beginning to flourish. When it was time for Waters to make his follow up to that film, that meant that Divine was unavailable, due to prior commitments. So for the first time in his career, Waters set out to make a film without his regular leading lady in the lead role.

The resulting film, DESPERATE LIVING, is Waters' most ambitious from this time period and is considered the final act in his so called Trash Trilogy. Unfortunately, possibly due to its lack of Divine, the film doesn't seem to garner the same amount of love as many of Waters' other early films, and was a box office disappointment, even by underground movie standards.

In this episode, we'll discuss in detail how DESPERATE LIVING came to be, the (many) trials and tribulations that its cast and crew endured during film, how cult icon Liz Renay became involved, and what critics and audiences of the time thought of it. Plus, we'll discuss our own thoughts on the film, its legacy, and its relation to Waters' career as we continue our deep dive into Waters' early films.

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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