Desperate Living - DVD Review

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

Two Discs (See Polyester review for first disc)
1.33:1 Full Frame - Original Aspect Ratio
English Dolby Digital 2.0
English Subtitles
Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary
Run Time: 90 Minutes
Foldout Case

MOVIE
Rated X for language, extensive nudity, castration, gore and a host of perversions the likes of which you've never seen.

I've probably seen Pink Flamingos the most of any of John Waters' early films (up through Polyester) but it's not my favorite, it's not the best, it's just the bad seed, the one that got caught. Desperate Living is strange because, along with his first two movies, Multiple Maniacs and Mondo Trasho, it is available at Blockbuster. Yes, BLOCKBUSTER! This is the corporation that forced Paul Verhoven to slightly tone down his already fairly tame Showgirls. The only video company that flat out refuses to carry NC-17 films. This is why studios release the R rated version separately, so Blockbuster'll carry them. But oddly enough, during my employ at said video store, I stumbled upon a copy of Multiple Maniacs and Mondo Trasho in the previously viewed bin and bought a brand new copy of Desperate Living on video. Pink Flamingos is tame in comparison to these, and certainly not as well executed as Desperate Living.
It's the story of Peggy Gravel, a lunatic housewife who is being driven further and further over the edge of her paranoia of the family around her. With the help of her maid Grizelda (Jean Hill) her husband is murdered and they go on the lam. A cross dressing police officer (Turkey Joe) tells them he won't bring them in if they give him their panties. Then he sends them to Mortville, a fairytale village under the rule of psychotic Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey), where criminals can live, having to put up with the Queen's bizarre fetishes. Backwards Day is a favorite of hers.
This story is bizarre and I know it came from a drugged up mind because I read about the types of drugs Waters was doing in those days. He makes no bones about it. But within the surreality of the story is a really great political satire. Albeit the only political satire ever to involve castration, roach eating, spreading a plague of rabies, a mentally challenged princess with a crush on a nudist garbage man. Yes, REALLY. Desperate Living is delightful. It's sick and twisted and revels in its perversity and absurdity. While Pink Flamingos was an exercise in poor taste, this is an exercise in satire, with poor taste. My favorite line: Queen Carlotta: "Silence! You're obstructing my flow of power!"

VIDEO QUALITY
Okay, okay, don't panic! The movie was shot on 16mm that has a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Only when the film was blown up to 35mm did it get a 1.85:1 ratio. This transfer took the original 16mm source material and cleaned it and transferred it. This full frame version is the original, not pan and scan. That being said, the difference between this print and the video print are quite vast. This is a very overtly colorful movie, being a fairytale of sorts, and the colors are reproduced quite well, with deep rich blacks. Desperate Living has never looked better and while still looking low budget (shot for $65,000), it nevertheless is impressive.

AUDIO QUALITY
The audio isn't nearly as impressive as the video, but not bad in any case. Once again, the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is just right for the film and the scenes are fairly full and deep. The audio is well separated except for a few exceptions, usually when there are multiple talking quickly.

EXTRAS
Once again, we have a trailer and commentary. The trailer's fine, also in full frame. The commentary however has John Waters joined by Liz Renay, former stripper and "big star" in the film. They did their recordings separately and Liz gets a little bit too much of the track. Her comments are sometimes interesting and strange when you realize you're listening to a woman in her seventies talk about sex and lesbianism and the like, but I found myself often wondering what John might have had to say about the given scene and really wished they'd either been together in one room or done two separate tracks.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
As my favorite early Waters film, there was no question about whether or not I needed this in my collection. Beware though, it is vile and filthy and disgusting at times, but it also has a strange lovable quality about it. There's something there that you can recognize as truly unique, something special. Waters clearly seems to love the movie, despite Divine's absence (he was doing a play in London and couldn't get the time off) and I love it too.

Go to The John Waters Collection, Volume 2 (Part I - Polyester)