Desperate Living

Desperate Living

Following the unrepentant outrageousness of Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble, director John Waters brought his notorious trash trilogy to a fittingly twisted close with this antifascist fairy tale. After hysterical housewife Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) murders her husband with the help of her fed-up housekeeper (Jean Hill), the newfound "sisters in crime" escape to the bizarro shantytown of Mortville, a depraved penal colony presided over by a despotic queen (Edith Massey) whose tyranny pushes her subjects to shocking revolt. Deviant cops, death by dog food, DIY surgery - Waters unleashes all this and more in an at once relentlessly warped and oddly moral vision of queer rebellion.

This new special edition Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection features a 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director John Waters, audio commentary featuring Waters and actor Liz Renay, a new conversation between Waters and film programmer Cristina Cacioppo, Back to Mortville, a tour of the film's main Baltimore location, led by Waters, new interviews with actors Susan Lowe, Mary Vivian Pearce and Mink Stole, an essay by critic Grace Byron, a new cover based on an original theatrical poster featuring photography by Peter Hujar and much more.