Desperate Living 4K 1977 Ultra HD 2160p

A rich homemaker murders her husband with her overweight maid's help and the two go on the run, ending up in Mortville, a town that provides refuge for criminals. They shack up with a lesbian ex-wrestler and her murderess lover before running into tyrannical Queen Carlotta, ruler of Mortville.

User Review

The heroine, Mink Stole, is released from the mental hospital. Why? No answer. Some time later, she kills her husband (women should understand her, I suppose) and, together with her fat maid Griselda—ha-ha-ha—goes on the run. “Just look at these trees, stealing my oxygen!” our madwoman exclaims. There is no joy in this world, no love—just pure debauchery. Let me remind you: Mink Stole is the red-haired vixen from *Pink Flamingos*, who kept girls locked in her basement and sold their newborn babies to lesbians.

Now she’s against debauchery, ha-ha-ha, I love Waters. Anyway, little Mink (I call her by my own name, I love her) and the maid Grizzy run into a cop—or rather, a pervert. The guy pulls their panties off and tells them about the wonderful city of Mortville. That’s where all the murderers hide! By the way, there are comparisons online to the city of Tromaville (Kaufman and Herz). I’m not going to take that kind of responsibility on myself. “Troma” was founded in 1974, Waters’ movie came out in 1977, but as for the city itself (still a long way from Toxic), damn it, figure it out without me.

Our heroines head to Mortville (on their own two feet) and end up in a veritable dump. Why? The thing is, this town belongs to the stinky queen Carlotta. The spiteful old hag is running a total free-for-all. If she feels like it, you’ll be walking backward all day. And the people, as you’ve already guessed, live in poverty and dance to her tune. Something not to your liking? Stick a gun in one of the holes, pull the trigger.

The billion-dollar question—who plays Queen Carlotta? Edith, of course, ha-ha-ha. Justice has finally prevailed! After all the torment John Waters put her through in his previous films, she’s finally had her way, sitting on the throne and hooking up with young guys. I’m happy for her. Well, seriously though, this is John Waters’ most political film, if you can even put it that way. A simple and clear message: if you abuse power, it won’t end well.

Also, this is a very feminine film from John. Look, David Locari got hooked on drugs; it was a huge loss, as I wrote in “Women’s Problems.” And old man Divine couldn’t take part in this film. Of course, he played women, but he was still a man. So, Waters was left alone with his girls—Mink, Mary Vivian Pierce (Princess Kuku), and old Edith.

He gave more screen time to Susan Lowe. She’s like the opposite of Divine here. It turned out to be quite a colorful character (special thanks to John for the behind-the-scenes wrestling footage). And there were new faces too—Jean Hill, Liz Renée, and others. In short, he went all out. Ha-ha-ha, now is the moment to mention that John Waters is openly gay.

Funny? Sometimes insanely so. Entertaining? Yes. The actress? They give it an A+. The castle? Made of cardboard. Swearing and genitalia? Of course. Worth watching? We sing a song to the madness of the brave. In fact, this is a very important film for Waters. He left the ’70s with songs and dancing. Ahead lay the ’80s, where John would no longer be the same. Whether for better or worse—not quite the same…

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (82.3 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 1.0
#English: Dolby Digital 1.0 (Commentary by writer & director John Waters and actor Liz Renay)

Info Subtitles